Algae growing on my Chaeto?

[phastroh]

Yeah so I noticed it a few weeks ago and ripped it off but today I looked and again I have this hairy green stuff growing off my Chaeto.

I have 0 Nitrates so what gives. I know my Chaeto turns white now since my Nitrates went to 0.

 

[Ariel110G]

I got the same on my Chaeto.

 

[sen5241b]

I've seen red cyano grow on cheato. I've also seen cheato turn white when its gets so thick the inner part can't get any light.

Also, cheato needs strong flow and strong light to do its job. It should then be able to out-compete other forms of algae.

 

[bjohanson1234]

Also, manually turning it every couple days lets all of it get light,

 

[wontonflip]

+1 sen & beej --- I shake mine off every couple of days and rotate it. In my old refugium setup, I had a powerhead aimed at the chaeto...I had zero unwanted algae growth on it, and it grew fast because there was nothing blocking the light.

 

[sen5241b]

One other note: Cheato may not be able to out-compete other forms of macro-algae like red turf algae.