Chaetto algae is growing mad

[AquaWave523]

I started off with a fist full of this algae in my refugium at the beginning of the month and now its half the size of a basketball! Can anyone tell me if this is a good or bad thing? And what does this indicate?


Thanks!

[der_wille_zur_macht]

It's a good thing for your tank, in a sense - it means that the chaeto is doing what it's supposed to be doing - binding nutrients and removing them from the tank water. Go ahead and prune it back to the starting size.

On the flip side, it also indicates that your tank had enough nutrients to fuel that much growth. While this shouldn't be taken as a sign of gloom and doom, you might want to keep it in mind when making other decisions about the tank (i.e. feeding amount, etc.)

[AquaWave523]

Thanks! So what can I do with the extra algae? Does the Yellow Eye Kole Tang or Blue hippo tang eat this? So if I reduce it back to it's small size, does that reduce the amount of work it can do ?

[thegrun]

I give mine away to fellow reefers, I post in my local RC forum and there always seems to be someone who will take it.

[AquaWave523]

Ok, but what about my other questions? Can the tangs eat this? This has to be a food source to some fish? if it gets too much, what will happen?

[Newreeflady]

Man, mine died off in just under 2 months. What the hell?!

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Most fish will ignore Chaeto, hence most people toss it on the compost heap or give/sell it to other reefers.

Trimming it down is beneficial because you are physically removing the nutrients it has bound. It can slightly slow the growth rate, but at some point, you'll NEED to trim it, since it will quickly outgrow the container it's in. After a point, it'll become so dense that the interior algae will start to die off, releasing nutrients back in to the tank. You certainly don't want that.

Newreeflady, can you describe the conditions you were growing it under? It can be picky about light and flow, and if your tank is ultra-low nutrient levels, it won't do well at all (but that's not a bad thing.) Essentially, provided the right flow and light, it's self adjusting. If you give it good growing conditions and it grows, you should be happy - it's removing excess nutrients. If you give it good conditions and it doesn't grown, you should be happy - your tank already has nice low nutrient levels.

[Newreeflady]

Well, it was in my sump so low flow. It had 2 x 9w PC fixture over it with daylight spectrum. I do run phosphate remover (phosar) and carbon. Not sure why it didn't grow- you think the light is too low?

[ChadTheSpike]

IME chaeto likes higher flow vice lower. Some of my best chaeto growth was when I had a surge device on my fuge on an older tank setup that I had.
Every week or so, I turn the ball over and pull it apart to thin the sections and expose the inner parts to flow/light. I also do this because a lot of the amphipods in the chaeto come out, very much to the delight of my seahorses (who love chaeto maintenance day).
I thin mine out every 3-4 weeks or so and either trade it for some credit at the lfs (Ive saturated most of the local market though), give it to anyone who will take it, or throw it away.

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Well, it was in my sump so low flow. It had 2 x 9w PC fixture over it with daylight spectrum. I do run phosphate remover (phosar) and carbon. Not sure why it didn't grow- you think the light is too low?

FWIW I've never personally run phosphate media at the same time as chaeto, but I would guess that the media could easily outcompete it, no problem. Especially considering that it's easy for GFO to outcompete corals, which need immeasurably small amounts of phosphate in the water.

[Newreeflady]

Yes, my cap looks like it's bleaching, too. I was using only 1tsp of phosar for 25g of water. Not sure why this is too much. I think I'll change it out for 1/2 tsp.

Thanks!
Angela

[arrowheadpuffer]

I had a huge clump of cheato in my 55g fuge, with 2x110 VHO daylight over it, the thing got massive! I noticed it grew best when it was rolling in the flow, kinda like a tumble weed. If it got stuck too long in on position, it wouldn't form that dark green tight mass and start branching out. Flow seems to be key.