Shrinking Chaeto

[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!!

[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