New refugium, help I am killing chaeto!

[jdemarco]

I just set up a CPR hang on the back refugium onto my 110gal set up. This is my first refugium. I purhcased the light that comes with it from CPR. I put refugium mud and a layer of sand on top, following the instructions that came with the mud that i purchased. I bought two fists full of chaeto about a week and half ago. It looks like it is dying on me as many strands on the outside and throughtout the ball of chaeto have tunred pale color and mushy. I yanked out the dead stands (lots of them)but what am i doing wrong????

I thought the refugium was supposed to be a "no brainer" and super simple......Am i the only person who can kill chaeto????..any advice/information would be appreciated. Also what do people do to maintain your refugium....

 

[JayM]

how long are you running the light? Do you have nutrients to feed the cheato?

 

[mnavick]

I'm battling the same issue. My cheato has not grown in over 6months but has not died off either. It has plenty of flow and a 20w 65K CF. All my pods/snails and shrimp are multiplying like crazy so something is right.

 

[Takara]

I hate cheato for the same reasons, seems to catch everything and strands get caught in powerhead.

You should light your refugium opposite your display to keep ph constant.

 

[jdemarco]

I am runing the light from 8am till 8pm. I am not sure what you mean about nutrients? sorry please elaborate if possible

 

[fishindude]

I am interested, I am also having that problem. I know I have the nutrients because I have algae growth inside the aquarium. I am also running the same light cycle (8am-8pm)

 

[mnavick]

Similar with my light cycle but I have 2 hours of no lights on.

 

[JayM]

I am runing the light from 8am till 8pm. I am not sure what you mean about nutrients? sorry please elaborate if possible

Cheato needs nutrients in the form of nitrates and phosphates (fertilizer), light, and flow.

ONE of them is missing or in short supply.....you need to figure out which it is.

If it IS nitrate/phosphate that is in a scarce state....I wouldn't add them

 

[Kenny B]

Cheato needs nutrients in the form of nitrates and phosphates (fertilizer), light, and flow.

ONE of them is missing or in short supply.....you need to figure out which it is.

I'm not familiar with the refugium mud or if its iron content is sufficient for growth of macro algae, maybe someone else will know. But for me it sounds like Iron may be the missing fertilizer. Try Kent's or another iron supplement for macro algae . I've used it with in the past with good results. There may not be enough nitrate and phosphate in the system water to support the growth of macro's but with the iron the chaeto should make a comeback.

 

[stingythingy45]

JMO,but I wouldn't even think of putting mud in a refugium,again jmo.
How many of you have the fug after the skimmer?
How many have split the line from the overflow so the fug get a separate supply of tank water?
Also,not sure why anybody would run the fug light during the daylight hours for the DT.I've read many articles and threads stating that running the fug light at a reverse cycle to the DT helps with PH.
I run my fug light from 1:00 am till 12 noon.Flow is like 30 gph,with no powerheads.
My chaeto just started growing like crazy again.Not sure if that's a good thing...lol.I'm attributing this to a rise in CO2 since the windows...ect got closed up.
But at least I'll have some to hand out soon.

 

[jdemarco]

Cheato needs nutrients in the form of nitrates and phosphates (fertilizer), light, and flow.

ONE of them is missing or in short supply.....you need to figure out which it is.

If it IS nitrate/phosphate that is in a scarce state....I wouldn't add them

My nitrates are below 10 as i do weekly water changes of 15%
My phosphates I assume in very much in check as I have never had any nuisaance algae in any form.

hmmmmm......I agree with the opposite lighting schedule

 

[jdemarco]

JMO,but I wouldn't even think of putting mud in a refugium,again jmo.
How many of you have the fug after the skimmer?
How many have split the line from the overflow so the fug get a separate supply of tank water?
Also,not sure why anybody would run the fug light during the daylight hours for the DT.I've read many articles and threads stating that running the fug light at a reverse cycle to the DT helps with PH.

my skimmer is Hang on back to it is tanking direct tank water. my fuge set up is only 1-2 weeks old, not sure if there is break in period. i am using the properly rated pump that came with the fuge. The lights mayeb two bright???? maybe i need to run less as it is brand new set up

 

[stingythingy45]

JMO,but I wouldn't even think of putting mud in a refugium,again jmo.
How many of you have the fug after the skimmer?
How many have split the line from the overflow so the fug get a separate supply of tank water?
Also,not sure why anybody would run the fug light during the daylight hours for the DT.I've read many articles and threads stating that running the fug light at a reverse cycle to the DT helps with PH.

my skimmer is Hang on back to it is tanking direct tank water. my fuge set up is only 1-2 weeks old, not sure if there is break in period. i am using the properly rated pump that came with the fuge. The lights mayeb two bright???? maybe i need to run less as it is brand new set up

Sounds like a good theory.Maybe you're bleaching out the chaeto.
I think the light over my fug is a 65 watt 6500K spiral florescent spotlight.
The H.D. energy saver light.

 

[mnavick]

My skimmer is after the sump. Going to try the iron suppliment.

 

[stingythingy45]

I've never read anything about Iron supplements helping chaeto grow.But things change rather quickly in this hobby.
One thing that I do occasionally is turn the ball of chaeto by hand.
Basically roll it over and pull it apart once in a while.I have a 20L packed with the stuff.Almost ready to offer some to the masses.

 

[cobraz]

You need to run your lights from 10:00pm - 6:00am - in a reverse light cycle from your tank for 8 hours every day.
Also the light should be no higher than 6" above the cheato - to max the light.

 

[Kenny B]

+1 on the 6500k flourescent. I have a 27 watt bulb over my 10g fuge (no mud).A 5500k will work well too. Mine is fed, at least for t6he moment, by a small powerhead with the return from the fuge emtying next to my DT's main circulation pump.

I've never read anything about Iron supplements helping chaeto grow.

Chaeto os a macro algae isn't it ? Or does it fall into a different catergory ? I've personally used macro algae nutrients in the past on different types of calurpa. The stuff grew like a weed after the additions.

 

[Rob M.]

I ran a split overflow to the skimmer and fuge. Had about 100W 6500 CFC on the chaeto which grew fine. I got it so that the chaeto would "spin" and shape itself into a ball. Kinda cool.

However, and maybe this was just my setup, but I still had phosphates. The nitrates went down to 0 but the phosphates were above .04. I also had issues with some sort of weird white hair algae growth.

Anyway, I ditched the fuge and went with zeovit. Haven't looked back. I just make sure I do 10% water changes, keep the water well oxygenated, use GAC and skim wet. My nitrates are 0 and phosphates are 0. No algae growth at all. The coralline and coral growth went nuts too.

Anyway, my guess is that zeovit is some fancy form of carbon dosing that uses a more proactive and balanced approach to bacterial colonization by dosing with Zeobak (bacteria in a jar). But it does work.

 

[stingythingy45]

A PO4 of .04 wouldn't even get me to think of opening my wallet for zeovit.
But,that's just me. Maybe if I went all sps.I'm running a mixed tank so it's not really an issue right now.Secretly I only test for PO4 every 3 months or so.
I've never had any problems with nuisance algae.And the sps I have is growing at a good rate in my tank.Also the fuge makes for a nice little area for pods to grow and multiply.I even have lots of coralline on the fuge glass growing very thick.I have to scrap that to see in there often.

 

[stingythingy45]

Here's one month of growth.
When I first implemented the fuge.
Last year May 14 till June 26.
I have a 20L now instead of that 10 gallon.
I think my growth has slowed cause I haven't changed the bulb.....ever.