Cheato ball decreasing

J

jstdv8

Guest
I bought a large ball of cheato from the LFS about 2 months ago. for the first 3 weeks or so I didn't have a light for it but didnt notice any die off then i got the light and assumed it would start growing but it just keeps getting smaller. Little pieces of it are all over the bottom of the sump from when I turn it over every few days. I've seen threads that said that it is best if it tumbles, but I'm wondering how it stays together tumbling when mine fals apart from simply rolling it over once in a while.
What should I do to not lose my cheato ball?
My yellow tang loves the fact that he gets a snack every once in a while when a strand makes it to the DT.
Thanks
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
what nutrients do cheato need? my phoshates are at .5 maybe .8 and my nitrates are at 40.
As far as the tumbling I'm not really sure how to make it do that. Ive put it in several different places in my fuge but it doesnt float so it would be really hard for it to tumble. It does wiggle back and forth in the current though :)
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
Joe,
I'm afraid i don't follow. If I have nitrates and nitrates are what they want why is my cheato ball half the size it was when I bought it?
I don't see anything dead on it, all green and stuff, just shrinking.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
joe, you are a genius,and im an idiot. I hadnt tested my nitrates since I got my cheato ball, just assumed that they were still high becuase I have a bit of algae in the tank yet. I just tested and came back 0. first time ever.
So, now I guess the cheato is working, but will it just keep dissapearing until it is gone and then my nitrates go back up? or will it sort of self regulate?
 
ryancw01

ryancw01

Member
I would toss that one and get a new ball. Cheato can go through light shock also when you get a new refugium light or when you have your light shut off for a while and then turn it back on. If it was just sitting there in the dark for 3 weeks then I do not think it would be worth keeping.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Jstdv8
http:///forum/post/3242944
joe, you are a genius,and im an idiot. I hadnt tested my nitrates since I got my cheato ball, just assumed that they were still high becuase I have a bit of algae in the tank yet. I just tested and came back 0. first time ever.
So, now I guess the cheato is working, but will it just keep dissapearing until it is gone and then my nitrates go back up? or will it sort of self regulate?
Hopefully it will self regulate.
Now watch out for red slime or cyano. Because of the low nitrates. They come up and rob the phosphates from the macros.
You might try keeping nitrates at 5ppm or so with potassium nitrate (stump remover) or calcium nitrate. See if that gets the chaeto growing again.
also macros can become iron limited. So I use ferris gluconate (drug store) with 1 tablet dissolved in a 12 oz coke bottle the just dose a capful each week. That is a very low dose but still provides some iron for the macros but no where near levels that would affect corals.
my .02
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
I do have some cyano on the sandbed actually.
Ive tried increasing flow to these areas but it causes huge waves and dips in my bed all the way to bare bottom in one spot.
 
lol

lol

Member
Beaslbob! It's good to hear from you my friend.
I would do as Beaslbob suggested. He knows his algae. :D
I'm going to save the ferris gluconate and potassioum nitrate for my chemical file, thanks Beaslbob.
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Jstdv8
http:///forum/post/3243085
I do have some cyano on the sandbed actually.
Ive tried increasing flow to these areas but it causes huge waves and dips in my bed all the way to bare bottom in one spot.
that's because cyano can fix nitrogen gass from the water column vrs using ammonium/nitrates.
Try killing the lights for a couple of days on the display. the cyano will die off and return nitrates back to the system. Which will help feed the chaeto.
Then adjust lighting lighting duration to where the cyano does not come back (less lighting) but the corals look healthy (more light).
my .02
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by lol
http:///forum/post/3243191
Beaslbob! It's good to hear from you my friend.
I would do as Beaslbob suggested. He knows his algae. :D
I'm going to save the ferris gluconate and potassioum nitrate for my chemical file, thanks Beaslbob.
You're welcome.
Hope you kind words do not ruin your reputation.
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
the cyano, (im assuming thats what it is) can be rolled up like a red carpet off the substrate. It stays together and i can get it all out in just a couple minutes when its covering most of my exposed sandbed. Are you saying it wouldbe better to just have it die off so that my cheato gets trates?
 
beaslbob

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Jstdv8
http:///forum/post/3243508
the cyano, (im assuming thats what it is) can be rolled up like a red carpet off the substrate. It stays together and i can get it all out in just a couple minutes when its covering most of my exposed sandbed. Are you saying it wouldbe better to just have it die off so that my cheato gets trates?
Exactly.
Basically it rebalances the environment to favor the chaeto/corraline/corals over the cyano. then you keep that going by adjusting the lighting. Eventually the chaeto is in control especially by consuming the phosphates. Such that both the nitrates and phosphates are unmeasureable.
Chateo and other plant life (even cyano) use something like 16 nitrogens for every phosphate. The question is whether that is nitrates or nitrogen gas. So low nitrates allows cyano to feed off the nitrogen gas. Which the chaeto/corraline/corals can not. And in the process the cyano will consume phosphates insead of the chaeto. If nitrates are being reduced by anaerobic action like in rocks or sand bed it is possible for the tank to quickly become cyano dominated.
Killing the light breaks up that cycle. Then you adjust the lighting duration and other enviromental things to keep the tank plant dominated.
my .02
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
ok, so i havnt left my lights off yet, but most of the cyano has turned from blood red to a moldy looking green, does this mean anything? is it dying on its own?
 
jubbin2001

jubbin2001

Member
Now I am no where near an expert on this, but just thinking out loud.... Would running your fuge lights opposite your DT lights help cull the cyno, being as the cheato would be come active when the cyno is at it's weakest point?
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
i actually do run the lights on the opposite schedule. 18 hours a day off at 2 and on at 8
 
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