Cheato experience

AmberSunrise

AmberSunrise

Reef enthusiast
Ok so I received my magical cheato about a week ago or so. I am still testing about 5.0ppm of nitrates though.

I do my tank scrub and water change every sunday and by thursday I have the brown dusty algae all over my glass again.

I only feed 1/4th of a cube of frozen food a day and they eat it all so I dont think its over feeding.

I use RO/DI prepared salt and fresh top of water only.

I am just wondering from anyone who has experience with cheato how long should I expect it to show improvement in my tank. I know things dont happen over night but just wondering if there is anything else I should try.
 
Remove extra growth of cheato once in a while so it can grow back. Also it's a way of exporting nutrients when you remove the excess.
 
Brown dusty algae? i had the same thing ALL OVER MY ROCKS AND GLASS! so i tried letting air in the tank by leaving the hood off 24 hours then it start going away :D when i close it more then 24 hour it start growing more and more becuase the only problem i think is that fish jump while im away
 
Mandarin66 said:
Brown dusty algae? i had the same thing ALL OVER MY ROCKS AND GLASS! so i tried letting air in the tank by leaving the hood off 24 hours then it start going away :D when i close it more then 24 hour it start growing more and more becuase the only problem i think is that fish jump while im away
Click to expand...

I dont have a lid I have a screen top

Kazarko said:
Remove extra growth of cheato once in a while so it can grow back. Also it's a way of exporting nutrients when you remove the excess.
Click to expand...

I have only had it about a week so nothing has grown yet. I guess I just takes more time.
 
I got my 29 to zero 'trates and I relied on lotsa rock (approx 30 - 35 pounds), strong flow (got a 365gph rio6hf with 2 outputs and a Koralia 1), fuge full of cheato and strong light (important!), carbon and no skimmer. Also do NOT over-stock. I am slightly over stocked now and starting to see some algae.
 
sen5241b said:
I got my 29 to zero 'trates and I relied on lotsa rock (approx 30 - 35 pounds), strong flow (got a 365gph rio6hf with 2 outputs and a Koralia 1), fuge full of cheato and strong light (important!), carbon and no skimmer. Also do NOT over-stock. I am slightly over stocked now and starting to see some algae.
Click to expand...

Well I only have 2 fish so I am not over stocked. I have about 25lbs of rock all together and tons of flow. I do use carbon and I dont have a skimmer

Sounds like our tanks are very similar.

How long did it take you to get to zero? My tank is just over 2 months old
 
You'll always get algae like that on your glass. Even using my scrubber and having zero nitrates I still have to clean my glass about once a week.
 
Do you have a light on your chaeto? Mine pretty much just sat there until I put a light on it, then it took off and my algae(green hair) cleared up within a week. Now the fuge light stays on 24/7.
 
johno1973 said:
Do you have a light on your chaeto? Mine pretty much just sat there until I put a light on it, then it took off and my algae(green hair) cleared up within a week. Now the fuge light stays on 24/7.
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Yep I do have a light it's on from about 7am to 9pm turn it off for bed cause it's in my bedroom
 
Well...I say just give it time and keep up the water changes. Also, if you don't have any I would get some cerith and/or nerite snails. I had diatoms really bad when I first started my tank and they cleared it up in short order.
 
I know I am supposed to clip off growth of my cheato but I am not getting any growth. Today I looked at it and it was just full of detritus so I pulled it all out and rinsed it good in a bucket of used tank water to dust it off.

I am concerned though that it actually seems smaller or shriveled up compared to when I got it and it was full and almost bouncy feeling.

I have a CF squiggle bulb on it from about 7am until about 9pm it is getting good flow through my filter.

I saw at the LFS that they had balls of cheato right in the tank bound up like a big ball. Do you think it would do better in the main tank with the better lights?

I dont know what to do I feel bad I dont want my cheato to die :(
 
can you take a pic of the setup? you can try adding a small power head to tumble it some also id try running light on it in reverse to your tank light so when tank light is off cheatos is on it can help to keep ph stable and it will give cheato some more time to grow
 
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Pwny said:
can you take a pic of the setup? you can try adding a small power head to tumble it some also id try running light on it in reverse to your tank light so when tank light is off cheatos is on it can help to keep ph stable and it will give cheato some more time to grow
Click to expand...


Here is the thread....
https://www.livingreefs.com/diy-filter-refugium-t32736.html

Its actually in my HOB filter which I removed all the guts from and I just have some LR rubble and the cheato and a small sponge.
 
Well, people keep saying you need "strong light", but it's not all it needs to be....a certain kelvin rating on the light makes a difference, but also, if the light generates too much heat, it will stunt growth as well...which is why cfls are definitely best if you find the right one, cuz it generates the right light, but not a lot of heat.

Can you post your light's ratings? I use a bulb that puts out 6500 K, making it whiter. Melevsreef did a great write up:

Melevsreef.com - Refugium Bulb

I had chaeto in my 45g, and it grew super fast w/ a cfl floodlight -- it was equivalent to 90 watts, and 6500k. My nitrates were always at 0. But eventually, growth stopped for some reason. Maybe due to low bioload. Growing chaeto doesn't seem to be an exact science :)
 

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