chaeto fading/dying..

[smokey_the_bear]

i run chaeto in my modded AC70 and it turns white or get covered in diatom and turns clearish ive tested it without the heater in the fuge for a week and same deal, i run a GE 6500k curly q light in my home made soda can lamp lol. i raised the flow today so it tumbles a little and that i didnt understand, i thought chaeto liked slowed currents but i might be wrong. so mabey i dont have enough nurients? or not enought phosphate? im not sure

10 gallon aga

ammonia-0

nitrite-0

nitrate-5-7ppm

calcium- 420

kh-9

any advice is welcome please!

 

Ryan-

[Dustin11]

tagging along.

I've also had that problem except with grape caulerpa. and could never figure out the exact cause.

[FindingBlemo]

I had mine in the second chamber of my BC8 with inTank's media basket (3rd chamber down) with inTank's submersible light. I checked on it every time I did water changes, about twice a week, and it slowly cleared, turned brown, and then disintegrated. What is your water change regimen? I think if you do too many water changes, you actually starve the chaeto of it's vital nutrient, phosphate. This is just what I've seen, I don't know about other peoples experiences, hope I could help!

 

Ben.

[Mr. Microscope]

I get some lightness on the top where it gets lit. I just rotate the thing 180 every week when I do a WC. Seems to help.

[92awdGSX]

ive found that it clears out and falls apart when the lighting isnt good enough.

[Dustin11]

One other possibility, if water changes are performed too rarely I believe that the iron can be depleted, a vital element for macros

[19jeffro83]

I kept my chaeto in the third chamber of my media rack as well. Until I figured out the the submercable light was cooking it and it was the heat of the bulbs killing it off. Those lights burn to hot and also raised the temp of my tank like two or three degrees. Now I keep them out of the water kinda kills the idea of not having to look at them. I like the media basket but the lights garbage IMO.

[cruiZe]

maybe your tanks are too clean? my chaeto doubled in size since I started feeding reefcleaners filter feeder formula !

[bringman]

If chaeto gets too much light then it will turn white, almost translucent at times, Rotate it like Mr. Microscope said. Also trim the amount down so that it can tumble around in your fuge. I trim my chaeto weekly. You dont need a large piece. Its growth that gets rid for the phosphates not the size of you chaeto.

[Dani3d]

I have 0 phosphates and my cheato grow like crazy. I have undectible nitrates and it still grow like crazy.

 

I do feed my aquarium a lot of filter feeder food so I guess the cheato eat the nitrates as soon as it is produced. I never had any phosphates though, so that's definitly not a necessity. Mine is nearly in stagnant part of the aquarium, not much current there at all.

 

I would turn it over often so that the diatom die from lack of light and the cheato get to be lit all over.

 

i run chaeto in my modded AC70 and it turns white or get covered in diatom and turns clearish ive tested it without the heater in the fuge for a week and same deal, i run a GE 6500k curly q light in my home made soda can lamp lol. i raised the flow today so it tumbles a little and that i didnt understand, i thought chaeto liked slowed currents but i might be wrong. so mabey i dont have enough nurients? or not enought phosphate? im not sure

10 gallon aga

ammonia-0

nitrite-0

nitrate-5-7ppm

calcium- 420

kh-9

any advice is welcome please!

 

Ryan-

[Mr. Fosi]

Does the cheato get hot? Heater or hot light near it?

[gojk]

My Chaeto was doing this when it wasn't getting sufficient lighting. I fixed the lighting problem and the chaeto doubled in size in less than a week.

[Bamato]

I kept my chaeto in the third chamber of my media rack as well. Until I figured out the the submercable light was cooking it and it was the heat of the bulbs killing it off. Those lights burn to hot and also raised the temp of my tank like two or three degrees. Now I keep them out of the water kinda kills the idea of not having to look at them. I like the media basket but the lights garbage IMO.

 

I've had 0 issues with running two of Stevie's submersible lamps. They work great for me. Are you running them in a pico or something? I couldn't imagine these lights giving off enough heat to even raise temps in anything larger than a few gallons.

[smirkis]

chaeto does die off. your supposed to trim it back often.

 

chaeto is hit or miss to be honest. some tanks it'll do great, others who have perfect tanks it wont grow at all. i've seen tons of people give up on it because of this.

 

try a lower K rating bulb. i use 5000k swirlys and my stuff doubles in size weekly

[smokey_the_bear]

ive heard of people using the GE 6500 so i dont think curly q with success, yes i trim it and it gets a slow tumble in the fuge and once a week water changes of 10%. i even "fluff" it up everyday

[sleeperls]

ive heard of people using the GE 6500 so i dont think curly q with success, yes i trim it and it gets a slow tumble in the fuge and once a week water changes of 10%. i even "fluff" it up everyday

 

Ive got the same problem. When i first put it in the system it grew like a weed. It got the soze where i needed to trim and once i started trimming is when it started to die and not grow. I know my lighting is fine and it tumbles in my fuge. I use the same lights that melve from dallas uses from melvesreef. I try to not leg it get bunched up and fluff it once a week like you do. My trimming is the dieoff. It just keeps getting smaller

 

I might try and grab some more from someone. See what happens then.

[smokey_the_bear]

Ive got the same problem. When i first put it in the system it grew like a weed. It got the soze where i needed to trim and once i started trimming is when it started to die and not grow. I know my lighting is fine and it tumbles in my fuge. I use the same lights that melve from dallas uses from melvesreef. I try to not leg it get bunched up and fluff it once a week like you do. My trimming is the dieoff. It just keeps getting smaller

 

I might try and grab some more from someone. See what happens then.

 

i got more too to see what it would do but its just the same.i guess i wait it out and see what happens to it