Chaeto...just toss it in?

[aquaman05]

I purchased some chaeto from a fellow reef central member. My question is once I receive it do I just toss it in my fuge right from the bag?

Thanks for looking
aqua

[rayn]

That's what I did. You may get some pods, which are good. You may get other critters too. Look through it a little before dropping it in. If it is densely matted pull it apart some and it will grow back in. Do you have a light for it? Any 6500 kelvin light will work, or if you have a spare pc light to place over it you can. I run my fuge light all night while my main lights are off too, basically a reverse time cycle.

[mike_cmu04]

Yup just toss it in so it is under the light.

[aquaman05]

Is there anything bad to look for to take off before I put it in?

[rayn]

Possibly LARGE bristle worms, eunicid worms, or any crabs you can't identify. You never know what comes from another tank that you don't want in yours. Qting it would be a little far, but if it comes in a bunch of water you have to think of ich cysts. Not trying to scare you, but you never know.

[cajunreefer]

Yikes... bad hitchikers

[aquaman05]

Possibly LARGE bristle worms, eunicid worms, or any crabs you can't identify. You never know what comes from another tank that you don't want in yours. Qting it would be a little far, but if it comes in a bunch of water you have to think of ich cysts. Not trying to scare you, but you never know.

Well I know there will be bristle worms in there, but are the still bad just in the fuge area?

[steelhead77]

Possibly LARGE bristle worms, eunicid worms, or any crabs you can't identify. You never know what comes from another tank that you don't want in yours. Qting it would be a little far, but if it comes in a bunch of water you have to think of ich cysts. Not trying to scare you, but you never know.

Oh Puhleeese!!! Seriously QT your chaeto!!?? Jeesh! C'mon rayn. Do you put yourself in a plastic bubble everytime you go outside? This is just a LITTLE ridiculous don't you think? Well obviously you don't, but most of us do.

To the OP, just throw it into your sump and don't worry about it. You don't need to QT it or acclimate it or rinse it or anything. It'll be fine.

[iwishtofish]

Oh Puhleeese!!! Seriously QT your chaeto!!?? Jeesh! C'mon rayn. Do you put yourself in a plastic bubble everytime you go outside? This is just a LITTLE ridiculous don't you think? Well obviously you don't, but most of us do.

To the OP, just throw it into your sump and don't worry about it. You don't need to QT it or acclimate it or rinse it or anything. It'll be fine.


Some will argue that if you have reason to QT a fish, you have equal reason to QT anything. As for the analogy - putting yourself in a plastic bubble every time you go outside would be unreasonable because it would be incredibly difficult if not impossible, and the benefits would not outweigh the effort. QTing additions to your tank need be neither terribly difficult nor impossible, and could save one a world of grief later.

One of the most argued topics in reefkeeping, perhaps? :rolleyes:

[streak]

Oh Puhleeese!!! Seriously QT your chaeto!!?? Jeesh! C'mon rayn. Do you put yourself in a plastic bubble everytime you go outside? This is just a LITTLE ridiculous don't you think? Well obviously you don't, but most of us do.

To the OP, just throw it into your sump and don't worry about it. You don't need to QT it or acclimate it or rinse it or anything. It'll be fine.

I agree 100% with Steel i looked it over after taking it outta the bag saw maybe 1 crawling hermit i threw it in my tank no sump yet :P i bought it becuse of a bad cyno outbreak and i wasnt going to do the chemical route thing and i cut back feeding to once a day and lights to 2 hours a day for 3 days and no more red slime.. lots of nasty in the skimmer hehe...

Here ill scare ya even more i bought a royal gorama from the petstore.. i aclimated it for hour and half.. only reason was they run there fish in copper and 1.017 ppm salinity.. and i wanted to make sure when i reached in there i didnt add copper to my tank.. that same day i added 2 coarls and RBTA..

RBTA was pretty much warm up lift up stung the **** outta me and dropped him straight in tank after he decided to let go...

all after looking at them only.. So Steel i know you take flack but hey..

[rayn]

I didn't say to QT the cheato, I said just short of it. If you have a new tank and don't want ANY disease in there you have to take the precautionayl steps. Plain and simple.
Bristle worms will be fine as part of your clean up crew as long as the aren't to large. Just don't touch them.

[jeff@zina.com]

The other thing to look for on chaeto is brown or dead areas, Just prune them out and get rid of them, it opens the plant up for better growth. I prefer to keep chaeto in a water stream so it tumbles, otherwise you tend to get new growth on one side and the other side dies off. Depending on your fuge, this may or may not be easy. I blocked the first part of the fuge off with egg crate to keep the chaeto in there and under the flowing water.

Jeff

[thegrun]

Oh Puhleeese!!! Seriously QT your chaeto!!?? Jeesh! C'mon rayn. Do you put yourself in a plastic bubble everytime you go outside? This is just a LITTLE ridiculous don't you think? Well obviously you don't, but most of us do.

To the OP, just throw it into your sump and don't worry about it. You don't need to QT it or acclimate it or rinse it or anything. It'll be fine.

I can't think of anything more likely to carry undesirable hitchhikers than cheato. It acts as a nursery for almost everything you have in your tank, good or bad. If you only have a few fish and corals, take a chance. If you have a few thousand of dollars of corals and livestock, I would think twice!

[Uncle Salty 05]

I can't think of anything more likely to carry undesirable hitchhikers than cheato.

I can.
It's called live rock.

[PaulieReef]

I can not see a reason to QT cheato.. seems a little overkill, like everyone else said, drop it in and you should be fine.

[steelhead77]

OK. So lets say you QT chaeto....How, or when, will you know if it's ok to put it in your tank? Are you going to sit there and watch it to make sure nothing bad happens to it? Are you going to pick thru it to get out any undesirables? If so, then do it right away and drop it in. Are you going to wait the 6 -8 weeks because it MIGHT be carrying some parasite? Then what's the point? If your going to be that paranoid, you may as well just have a sunken ship and a treasure chest that blows bubbles. You also may as well never step out your front door because you MIGHT get hit by a bus.

It seems that some in this hobby like to take things to the extremes. Seriously, why make things harder than they need to be.

[T Diddy]

Some will argue that if you have reason to QT a fish, you have equal reason to QT anything. As for the analogy - putting yourself in a plastic bubble every time you go outside would be unreasonable because it would be incredibly difficult if not impossible, and the benefits would not outweigh the effort. QTing additions to your tank need be neither terribly difficult nor impossible, and could save one a world of grief later.

One of the most argued topics in reefkeeping, perhaps? :rolleyes:



It is becoming more and more obvious to me that maintaining crypto sterility is almost impossible. I am starting to think that reef keeping is more so about the invertebrate life, and the fish are just for a little movement. If your tank is a healthy happy place, the fish will be happy as well. Happy fish with healthy tankmates tend to fend off outbreaks. New introductions are probably the most destructive in that regard. If you want to have show fish, and buy up the next coolest fish that comes into the fish store, be prepared to lose them, and possibly others or do. True reef keepers don't call their aquariums fish tanks :thumbsup:. If you disagree, then perhaps a FOWLR is in order.

[ali1]

QTing your chaeto :lol:

[aquaman05]

OK. So lets say you QT chaeto....How, or when, will you know if it's ok to put it in your tank? Are you going to sit there and watch it to make sure nothing bad happens to it? Are you going to pick thru it to get out any undesirables? If so, then do it right away and drop it in. Are you going to wait the 6 -8 weeks because it MIGHT be carrying some parasite? Then what's the point? If your going to be that paranoid, you may as well just have a sunken ship and a treasure chest that blows bubbles. You also may as well never step out your front door because you MIGHT get hit by a bus.

It seems that some in this hobby like to take things to the extremes. Seriously, why make things harder than they need to be.

So you are saying I will get hit by a bus if I don't QT my cheato?
Lol

[xbehmerx]

what is chaeto?

[crsswift70]

Chaetomorph... macroalgae most find to be beneficial in a fuge. Dark green, long stringy mass of absorbent goodness. Grows quickly and is a good way to export nutrients. Mine hosts pods, shrimp and worms as well.

[aquaman05]

So if you get the chaeto the pods will come?

[crsswift70]

Well no... unless they are in the chaeto already.. or their eggs. I am betting you already have pods in the tank. Especially if you got live rock that wasn't cooked or dry. Do you ever look in your tank at night with a flashlight? That's the only time i see them in the main tank. In the fuge however, they are always running around in the chaeto. Maybe you'll get lucky and have some in there.

[deep_sea_Dennis]

Qt everything!!!!

[Uncle Salty 05]

QT nothing!!!
It causes more problems than it solves.

[aquaman05]

Well no... unless they are in the chaeto already.. or their eggs. I am betting you already have pods in the tank. Especially if you got live rock that wasn't cooked or dry. Do you ever look in your tank at night with a flashlight? That's the only time i see them in the main tank. In the fuge however, they are always running around in the chaeto. Maybe you'll get lucky and have some in there.

The tank im talking about is in cycle mode wich i think is done,but i did put some live rock in there from my old tank. Must have been some worms in there cause i can see signs of where they have been crawling around in the sand.

Maybe ill check again with the lights out and see if i see anything

thanks

[borderjo]

no question, throw it in there. I sometimes order new chaeto just hoping I WILL get some new hitchikers (pods, microstars, etc). I have never seen/heard of anything negative that thrives in chaeto, which is usually grown in an isolated tank away from other livestock.

That said, I always err on the side of less QT rather than more. One day my luck will turn and I will probably change my tune, but so far things have worked out well.

[rayn]

Man, did I start a firestorm :) Didn't mean to nor intend to. I wasn't telling you to QT your cheato. I didn't even recommend it. I didn't mine when I got it, but also at that time I didn't QT anything. I had my tank crash and lost some 150ish dollars in fish. Not saying the cheato caused that, but I don't know. If your tank is new and fishless, through it in by all means. When you get a fish and QT it then your DT will be fallow hopefully long enough to not have the cysts.

[aquaman05]

I received my chaeto today and man smelled so bad I about puked! Had some dead bristle worms that I pulled off. I hope it was ok to toss it in cause it's in there now
????

[oxford]

:lmao:Where else else can you find people arguing so passionately about how or when to toss a green Brillo pad into some water?

Hopefully you got most of the decaying bits out. I would think your CUC will take care of anything you missed.

[rayn]

I resemble that comment.:)

[aquaman05]

:lmao:Where else else can you find people arguing so passionately about how or when to toss a green Brillo pad into some water?

Hopefully you got most of the decaying bits out. I would think your CUC will take care of anything you missed.

No clean up crew yet but a blue leg crab I pulled from my old tank and tossed in. I was gonna wait for a couple months before I put those guys in.