chaeto in main tank

[jhong567]

just wondering, because of my constant mission to keep phosphates low and have more efficient nitrate export. I would like to know if its a good idea to put chaeto in my main tank, but i dont want it to strangle my corals. i have heard mixed reviews. people with experience please help out.

[dsoz]

While my tank is still in the start-up phase, I have chaeto in the main tank. Only because I have not set up a refugium yet.

 

Search for the soap dish mod. Basically you go to wal-mart or home depot and buy a clear plastic dish for shampoo bottles that has two large suction cups on it. Attach it to the wall of your tank, and you have more real estate to work with. I have one large one in my tank. Half of it has chaeto stuffed in it, the other half has crushed coral on the bottom. When I fragged my 'shrooms, the pieces went on top of the CC to attach. Whe they have attached, I take them out and super-glue the CC to the LR (better than super glueing the mushroom directly to the rock).

 

So ya, chaeto in the display works.

 

dsoz

[Juanhunglo69]

With Chaeto I don't think that it is a big deal if you just let it float around in your display. If it was Calupera it would be a different story. I floated chaeto in the display of a friends tank for the last 4 months and it has attached to nothing. He put the Calupera in there and it is now in the rocks. I think that is a big problem! It will always be there now.

[strangelove]

With Chaeto I don't think that it is a big deal if you just let it float around in your display. If it was Calupera it would be a different story. I floated chaeto in the display of a friends tank for the last 4 months and it has attached to nothing. He put the Calupera in there and it is now in the rocks. I think that is a big problem! It will always be there now.

 

Yep floating it next to your water intake is the easiest thing to do with cheato, did this in my 12g Nano Cube for over a year. After that I put it above the sponge filter. I just compressed the sponge down as much as possible which gave about a three inch space for the cheato. Just enough light gets in there for the cheato to grow. Trimmed it down whenever I did a water change and rinsed out the sponge filters. Worked great for me.

[Blacktone]

I'm always picking that junk out of powerheads, it grew so fast in my tank I have a half 5 gallon bucket of the stuff. Great growth don't look so good in the tank. fashion a refugium or something for it to grow in so you can cut it back and whatever without it taking over your tank. One time it got lose from the rock and was a spinning ball of death that twisted my kenya tree in half now I have 3 kenya trees. what a weed.

[Oregon]

There is nothing wrong with it but you will be pulling endless peices of it out of your intakes and spotting tiny strands of it hiding in every nook and cranny. Plus a fuge allows you to light it 24/7 which will boost its export properties, not to mention it just looks better.

[FishFreak77]

I have two large masses of chaeto in my 30 gallon and it is fine. I do not have that many corals though. It does look a little tacky, but gets the job done for we people without refugiums.

[jba6511]

i also just placed some in my tank behind the LR and had no problems. I did get tired of it getting in the power head and being all over the sand. I also bought a large travel sized soap holder and drilled many small holes in it and then attached 4 suction cups. Worked well and the clowns even hosted it. I did this cause I could not find one of the soap dishes everyone uses from wallmart. Look into modding an aqua clear though. I have done this and it is nice to run a reverse photoperiod to keep PH up at night and give the chaeto a place of its own, making trimming it easier. Not to mention you can add some sand and LR rubble in there as well.