Why Chaeto not growing (1 Viewer)

[Aquarist]

I have a new couple of months old 90G setup and Chaeto doesn't grow in the Fuge. I have restocked couple of times but it's melts away. I have used CFL Daylight (which I had used in the pas with success) then switched it with Plant Grow bulb (Red/pink) but nothing. I had been feeding tank 2-3 times, got fish, CC, mix reef. Amonia is at the lowest, no Nitrite, 5-10 Nitrate.

I direct 25% of 45GPH to the Fuge. I tried putting a small PH there as well for water circulation but nothing...

Any ideas?

 

[Seaworthy Aquatics]

My experience with chaeto is it will not grow well in a newer tank, parameter swings of a new tank I would guess, but It can be a number of things. While more flow is usually better for chaeto, you want it to tumble around if you can get it to, it will grow in almost no flow as well so that shouldn't be an issue. If it's just dying and falling apart then it sounds like either a light or nutrient problem. Sounds like you have the light figured out though so I'd try checking your phosphate. No phosphate and it will starve even with a ton of nitrates.

 

[sneezebeetle]

If your tank is too new it may not have the nutrient load to sustain the chaeto right now.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[Reefahholic]

Tank is too young. You best bet is to dose Iron & PO4 depending on your valves. But...this is best to implement when you’re advanced.

 

[Tenny]

I struggled with it previously. I have a new tank ( started in January) that I started with dead rock and have it growing great. I over feed the tank, have good flow in the fuge and have a AI Fuge light.

It's one of the three ( light, flow or nutrients ). I would guess it's nutrients and lights for you.

 

[Reefahholic]

I struggled with it previously. I have a new tank ( started in January) that I started with dead rock and have it growing great. I over feed the tank, have good flow in the fuge and have a AI Fuge light.

It's one of the three ( light, flow or nutrients ). I would guess it's nutrients and lights for you.

Speaking of good Fuge lights, I have a new Kessil H80 Tuna Flora for 30% off if anybody is interested. Perfect condition.

 

[PorpoiseHork]

I agree with the other consensus with the tank being a tad young for chaeto. I didn't bother with adding it to mine for about 4/6 months. Since then it grows like crazy. For lighting I used to run one of lights like this one on a 12 hour reverse lighting schedule.

LED Grow Light

But since shutting down my second tank I had a pair of Prime HD's sitting around so I put one of those over the fuge. I set it on it's own and dialed the light color temp to 6K, then made some manual adjustments to it by setting the channels to 4%, 11%, 25%, 100%, 50%, 129%, and 95% for an 11.5 hour runtime overnight. Since doing that the chaeto growth has skyrocketed well above any of the grow lights I have ever tried.

 

[Tenny]

I agree with the other consensus with the tank being a tad young for chaeto. I didn't bother with adding it to mine for about 4/6 months. Since then it grows like crazy. For lighting I used to run one of lights like this one on a 12 hour reverse lighting schedule.

LED Grow Light

But since shutting down my second tank I had a pair of Prime HD's sitting around so I put one of those over the fuge. I set it on it's own and dialed the light color temp to 6K, then made some manual adjustments to it by setting the channels to 4%, 11%, 25%, 100%, 50%, 129%, and 95% for an 11.5 hour runtime overnight. Since doing that the chaeto growth has skyrocketed well above any of the grow lights I have ever tried.

Do you have the AI running normal during the day and then 6k at night? Or only 6k.

I have a AI Prime HD on a nano tank that has some chaeto that isn't growing (lack of flow is the bigger issue.) But I thought about setting the AI to a grow spectrum at night. I know this will cause other algae to grow in the regular areas of the tank too....

 

[PorpoiseHork]

I am running 4 Hydra26's over the main display that are linked as two paired sets (inner/outer) and the PrimeHD by itself and not linked as a child to the Hydras. I did this so the inner Hydras can have the moonlight cycle keeping the outers dark so it's not as bright, and the Prime will have it's own schedule for the fuge.

 

[ITreefer]

I had a similar issue when I started up my frag tank. Chaeto wouldn't grow and to top it off I had dinos forming.
Daily doses of phosphate/nitrate powder for about a month did the trick. Chaeto was now growing and dinos went away.

 

[Aquarist]

Thanks everyone for their feedback on the issue, I guess I have to wait a bit and will try add the Chaeto again. When I setup a new tank earlier about 14-15 years ago, I didn't face this problem, Chaeto was growing from the beginning.

I rather wait then add chemicals...

 

[Reefahholic]

Thanks everyone for their feedback on the issue, I guess I have to wait a bit and will try add the Chaeto again. When I setup a new tank earlier about 14-15 years ago, I didn't face this problem, Chaeto was growing from the beginning.

I rather wait then add chemicals...

Smart move to wait. The first time I dosed Nitrates wasn’t a pleasant experience.