macro explosion!

[jmack]

I bought a ball of chaeto (about softball size) two weeks ago...I added iron once each week to keep it going. Now I have a huge pillow sized wad of chaeto...how often do you have to prune it? And and should I stop supplementing iron?...or is this the normal growth rate??

[AquaReeferMan]

I prune mine whenever it doubles in size. I started out with about as much as you and I try to keep it at that size. I never add iron directly and if your only doing it for the algae I would stop.

[IslandCrow]

The good news about Chaetomorpha is that it doesn't have the issues of going "sexual" if it's not regularly cut back like with Caulerpa. In other words, I don't think there's really a need to prune it unless you're just running out of room for it. As for harvesting it for food for your herbivores or to give to your friends, according to Anthony Calfo/Rober Fenner's Reef Invertebrate book, "harvesting Chaetomorpha consists of a gentle portioning and separation of the colony." In English, I think that means you pull it apart.

[davidryder]

I daily feed some to my yellow tang...

As far as pruning it, I keep it down so it doesn't overtake the other macros. If it's the only species in the tank I would let it run wild and I don't think dosing iron is necessary.

[jmack]

Well I dosed iron this time cause the previous samples i had wilted away to nothing..the iron seems to keep it going for some reason..I'll try to cut back to 1x month and see how it goes..thanks for all the advice!

[davidryder]

How did you determine you had iron an deficiency? I think nitrates is more important than anything, along with a somewhat mature tank.

[vanmo92]

Almost every day I pull some of it out and feed it to my foxface, and some of my FW fish also like it. I just pull out a tiny sample of it when I do that.

[Frick-n-Frags]

The chaeto will turn really yellow if it needs iron, yet still be solid.
I doubt if too many people have hit this wall. IMO, the other thing like Kent Iron has is 0-0-3 fertilizer, which is K, which plants need. I have found (totally anecdotally) that my plantlife in general has done great with occasional kent iron dosing.
I'll have to think this through again though, now that I'm down into the low nutrient zone. The iron/K may not be necessary with the reduced plant mass.

If it is out of nutrients and just dying back it gets kind of fuzzy/brokendown looking along with turning yellow.

When I had my whole 50gal tank full of chaeto, it would need some iron every couple months. I was harvesting half out every month or so, so it was stripping a ton of nutrients.

In jan-feb, my entire tank load of chaeto started starving out. I gradually harvested probably 90% out until it got healthy again. Now the wad is staying fairly small.
So it needs to be tuned to the tank nutrients. If I would have left the whole wad in there, the whole thing would have starved and died. This is true for any algae population that gets too big. Some just make a bigger mess when they crash.

[HowardW]

<<< I never add iron directly and if your only doing it for the algae I would stop. >>>


Why?

[jmack]

The ball of chaeto I had when I wasn't dosing iron got smaller and smaller and shriveled up. Now it's growing so something in Kent Chelated Iron is helping..nothing else has changed in my tank parameters.

[davidryder]

Interesting... iron isn't the only thing macro needs is it? I guess iron is one of the things that are being depleted in your setups?

[wetone]

any pics of the chaeto?? I have a few macros, but not sure which is what

[davidryder]

<a href="http://www.phpstory.net/albums"><img src="http://www.phpstory.net/albums/aquarium/album/Refugium%20Stocked/slides/IMG_1067.jpg"></a>

It's the curly green stuff all over the place.

[bbehring]

david, mines in a big ball and floats. It has never hit the bottom. Your's almost looks like it is planted? I stir it every couple of days and rotate it around from time to time. No iron dosing. What's your photo period?

[davidryder]

My photo period varies GREATLY in the refugium. It's on display so the lights are definitely on when people are in the room... but if the algae growth (mostly micro) starts getting out of hand the refugium might not see any light for a few days (other than ambient light).

<a href="http://www.phpstory.net/albums"><img src="http://www.phpstory.net/graphics/75/041407refugium_full.jpg"></a>

I just took that! I don't want the tank to be overrun so restricting the lighting helps with that. I also have the flow going through there pretty low so that's probably why everything stays in place. I think that also slows the growth of everything. But like you said, I also shake it out weekly to get the detritus loose... I'm sure it shakes some pods back into the display, too.

[bbehring]

Back to your original question, just pull a clump apart and either post it for sale here on RC or give it away to a local club member or hunk in the trash. From the looks of your fuge photos, it doesn't look over grown yet. My cheato grows quite quickly and I have to pull a clump out about every 5 to 6 weeks.

[Rhodesholar]

What kind of lighting do you guys have it under?

[davidryder]

13w 50/50 PC

[bbehring]

24w 50/50