Shrinking Chaeto

[meixner55]

I have a fairly new setup, with sump / refugium. Up until this week, the chaeto has been growing well under a 24x7 light. But now, the chaeto appears to be shrinking because so many little pieces are breaking off and getting carried away from the refugium. Lots of 1/2 inch lengths of chaeto are all over my tank. I've added a pre-filter to my return pump to stop the chaeto from littering the tank any more. I thought that it may need more flow, so I put a small powerhead on it. The flow hasn't helped at all.

Water parameters are pretty good, but I've lost (literally) a small anthias about 10 days ago, so I can only presume it died in the tank between some LR -- so the nitrates are a little higher than it should be. Calcium is also on the high side.

Temp 78
SpecGrav 1.023
Amm 0
Nitrate 10
pH 8.2
Nitrite 0
Calcium 520
Phosphate <10

I have noticed some cyano coating on the sand bed this week, so I've just reduced lighting and the amount of feedings.

So, my big question is what is causing my chaeto to break apart and shrink into half its size in a week? What can I do to get it to grow again?

[DaBird47]

I'm watching your post, I have a ball thats slowly shrinking ....

[jap1]

I had my chaeto ball growing so well, but that's cuz it was in a bak-pak which was backed up to a window getting tons of natural sunlight. So, maybe you should check into you're lighting. Also I'd make sure my temp reading is accurate. Speaking of which, I need to by a new thermometer today!

[meixner55]

Thanks for sharing. Refugium is inside a cabinet and not very close to a window.

My chaeto was also growing like a weed up until last week. Since then, it has just started disintegrating -- breaking apart, piece by piece. I haven't changed the light bulb (75w 'daylight' flood light, ~900 light output, PAR38 ) which is only a couple of months old. And, all of the other parameters have remained stable, including temp. I'm stumped.

Any other advice or recommendations would be appreciated.

[MattK]

Maybe it's the 24x7 light cycle. Just a shot in the dark (no pun intended). Well, maybe a little pun.

Try running your fuge light only at night when your tank lights are off.

[brewercm]

I always ran mine 24/7 for almost two years without any problems. I know it's not an answer but may help in narrowing down one.

[MattK]

Maybe there's no "extra" nutrients in the water for the cheato. I have no clue.

[meixner55]

Lack of nutrients is something to be considered, but I'm adding B-Ionic regularly (every other day). I also add Kent Marine Essential Elements and buffer to my RO/DI water. So, I don't know what else I should add. Any suggestions?

[Richard]

Well for the obvious question, what do you have in the fuge with the cheato? Anything that might be tearing up/eating the cheato?



Phosphate <10


I presume this is just the best reading whatever test kit your using can give. If your phosphate is anywhere near 10 or 5 or 3 or 2 or 1ppm then you don't have a lack of nutrients problem for sure.

[meixner55]

The fuge chamber is bare, except for the chaeto and an Ebo Jaeger heater. Seems the problem must be related to the water quality or lighting... but I'm just guessing.

[Richard]

Well you could try dosing iron in order give the chaeto a kick in the butt so it will start growing well. You'd want to be real conservative on that though or you'll kick off a heck of an algae bloom.

Here's an article on iron in a reef tank...
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug2002/chem.htm

Just skip down to the useful info unless you find chemistry formulas interesting :zzz .

[brewercm]

Did you by chance change the way the water flows into that compartment?
I know when I change my water flow at one point to less turbulant my cheato looked to be getting smaller when in reality it was becoming just more dense. Rather than it growing outward and across the fuge area it was just balling up (but not growing at the same rate). Changed my flow back to the way it was and it started growing normal again.

[cbianco]

Maybe there's no "extra" nutrients in the water for the cheato.

I agree with Matt here. Could there be a lack of nitrate, phosphate, etc... in the water? Are you being TOO religious in your water changes or skimming agressively?


I have no clue.

We know! :P

Christopher :)

[Ping]

I would try Richard idea. Iron sounds like a good idea to me. I have been following this waiting for an possible solution. I would put my money on Iron. Cheato takes a fair bit of iron out of the water. I have seen someone blend up their cheato, strain it, and dose the green liquid to replace iron, among other things, in his system. And his system did look good.

[BadPig]

I had this problem before. I used a tetra fresh water plant food w/ iron to give it a boost. It also helped my mangrove plant. I hope this helps.

[meixner55]

I decided to give the tank a dose of iron, like many of you have suggested. I also received the same recommendation from Jason at Aquarium Design. He also recommended that I check the light lens to be sure it was salt-free so that the light could shine as intended.

My chaeto started breaking-up before I changed anything, other than having added a number of new corals. Fuge water flow remained steady and slow, but it definitely was not stagnant. Jason suggested that the corals and chaeto may be competing for some of the same minerals, so he recommended I dose more regularly with B-Ionic (daily instead of every 2-3 days) and to add iron on a weekly basis. I've already given the tank its first dose. I'll post again when I notice any improvement or change to the chaeto. I pray that I won't have a algae bloom ! !

[SoLiD]

You know I had this problem too for about 3 months and changed macro algae about a month ago. Cheato just slowly breaks down in my fuge. My fuge has 2 gallons of Miracle Mud and I dose Kent's Chelated Iron on an occasion (like every other week) to help things grow, but I did it sparingly because I'm still new to this and didn't want to over dose anything. I eventually pulled out all my cheato and went back to grape calurpa about 3 weeks ago. I even stuck a mangrove tree and 2 mangrove pods in there. They are all really growing fast while a small test clump of cheato started to dissolve again. So I stuck it back in my macro tank out back where it grows OK but not fast. I don't know what gives but the green grape calurpa is becoming a forest in a very short time. Maybe I should listen to the article and step up my Iron dosing. **Do you dose Iron often Cliff?** I'll watch this thread and wait for some answers. -SoLiD

[brewercm]

I never dosed anything into my tank other than kalkwaser. Sounds interesting, almost like some tanks can grow pulsing xenia like it's weeds and others it just dies in. There has to be a reason, but I have no idea what the answer could be.
In my previous fuge I was growing cheato and razor caulerpa and the razor would usually get choked out by the cheato. I may try that again and a couple of mangroves once this one is up and running to see how things work out. I won't use grape caulerpa again though, I had it once and it got into my main tank and was a pain to get it all out. Just a warning about it, it's great and a fast grower just make sure it stays put in your sump.

[meixner55]

Update:
I added iron to my tank 5 days ago. I have also started dosing B-Ionic on a daily basis, instead of every 2-3 days. The chaeto is coming back strong and dense. It probably has doubled in size during these past 5 days. I think the chaeto's density results from the powerhead I added to refugium chamber. It lightly tumbles the chaeto, making it fairly compact.

Thanks to all who gave recommendations and comments. I am convinced that my tank was iron depleted, causing the chaeto to disintegrate. This was a good lesson for me!! :D

[SoLiD]

I won't use grape caulerpa again though, I had it once and it got into my main tank and was a pain to get it all out. Just a warning about it, it's great and a fast grower just make sure it stays put in your sump.

My Tangs decimate anything that resembles plant life. I feed them garcilara, grape calurpa, ulva, razor algae every now and then as a snack. Depending on the size it seldom lasts more than an hour in there. They even pick at the coralline on occasion. So peices of grape or any algae would never be a problem for me. I Think... -SoLiD