Jump to content
Cultivated Reef

Tweaking a chaeto reactor


NanoRox

Recommended Posts

My cheato reactor is functioning a bit too efficiently.  My Nitrates and phosphates have been immeasurable for over a month and a half now and I am starting to see some of my zoas not opening completely.  I think the issue is that the water is too "clean" and would like to see a slight increase in nitrates.  Can you tweak the function of a chaeto reactor by perhaps decreasing the photo period? 

Link to comment

Sounds good.  I will harvest more of it this time.   I would love to have lab quality testing available.  I would like to see the rate of nutrient export as the chaeto grows and see if it plateaus at some time.   I have been harvesting every two weeks when the canister is full so perhaps I need to thin every week.  It's kind of a pain to do so I have been trying to squeak by every two weeks.  

Link to comment

@Duane Clark

I see no problem with reducing photoperiod.  

 

If you are trying to leave  more nutrients in the water, harvesting more frequently, IMO, produces the opposite results.  Even with thinned out chaeto, it grows faster because of better light penetration.

 

Do you record pH?  Curious to know what are normal pH fluctuations in a nano cube.

 

https://www.wardlab.com/plant-services.php

 

This agriculture lab is the best for plant tissue.  They also do scientific accuracy water testing.

 

 

Link to comment
39 minutes ago, Subsea said:

@Duane Clark

I see no problem with reducing photoperiod.  

 

If you are trying to leave  more nutrients in the water, harvesting more frequently, IMO, produces the opposite results.  Even with thinned out chaeto, it grows faster because of better light penetration.

 

Do you record pH?  Curious to know what are normal pH fluctuations in a nano cube.

 

https://www.wardlab.com/plant-services.php

 

This agriculture lab is the best for plant tissue.  They also do scientific accuracy water testing.

 

 

The pH has been rock solid at 8.1 to 8.2.  Never drops below that using a hanna ph meter.  

Link to comment

Before using  chaeto reactor, did pH fluctuate during lights out.

 

Steady state pH is not normal during lights out.   The natural reefs in the wild fluctuate between 7.85 - 8.15 pH.  At a pH of 8.1 aroggonite begins to dissolve.

 

Do you drip lime water for alkalinity control?

Link to comment

@Duane Clark

Gracilaria Parvispora, Red Ogo, grown under unfiltered sunlight in 150G Rubbermade growout tanks.

 

Nitrogen   @ 2.59%

Phosphorous @ 0.082%

Potassium @  13.54%

Calcium @ .555%

Magnesium @ 1.163%

Sulfur @ 4.81%

Zinc @ 139 ppm

Iron @ 107 ppm

Manganese @ 20 ppm

Copper @ 7.0 ppm

 

 

Link to comment

@Subsea I have not checked the pH at night actually. The Chaeto reactor light runs at night with about a 4 hour overlap in the day and a 30 minute overlap in the morning  when the display lights start to come on for a total of 14 hours. 

 

I add kalk to my ATO -  1 1/4 tsp per gallon of RO/DI.   

Link to comment

I'm experiencing the same thing with my Chaeto reactor and decreased from a 12 hour photoperiod to 10 hours yesterday. In theory, this should decrease the Chaeto's ability to assimilate NO3 and PO4!

Link to comment
1 hour ago, xiaoxiy said:

I'm experiencing the same thing with my Chaeto reactor and decreased from a 12 hour photoperiod to 10 hours yesterday. In theory, this should decrease the Chaeto's ability to assimilate NO3 and PO4!

If you were at 12 and came down to 10 then I should have plenty of room to decrease the photoperiod from my current 14.  I probably need to start decreasing it. 

Link to comment
7 minutes ago, Duane Clark said:

If you were at 12 and came down to 10 then I should have plenty of room to decrease the photoperiod from my current 14.  I probably need to start decreasing it. 

Since I just did it yesterday, I have no words of wisdom about how the Chaeto will react to this. I know for a fact, however, that people sometimes only run 4-6 hour photoperiods and still get growth.

Link to comment
2 hours ago, Duane Clark said:

Keep us posted will you?  Would love to see what your results are. 

Will do.


Currently my chaeto reactor is a combination of slime algae, chaeto and red gracilaria. All three are growing well, especially the slime :P.

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recommended Discussions

×
×
  • Create New...