Ive been bit by the saltwater bug and need your help once again

pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
I found a great deal on it on eB*y, but that's been quite some time ago. It's available from most marine sites, and most LFS's should be able to get you some. It's fairly expensive no matter where it comes from, but you can get by with a "starter" baseball size portion. If conditions are good, it will grow rapidly. The process of nutrient export with Chaeto is by harvesting (removing) portions of it as it grows. You'll want to wait until it reaches a good size before harvesting, because a small portion won't have much affect on Nitrates/Phosphates. The ideal size would be just small enough to tumble in the refugium, but large enough to consume nutrients. It's not imperative that it tumbles, but if it does, it gets better exposure to light and water which will increase growth and efficiency.
 
tur4k

tur4k

Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by clownsRcoo http:///t/396427/ive-been-bit-by-the-saltwater-bug-and-need-your-help-once-again/20#post_3532379
How can I go about getting chaeto algae in my refugium? Where do I get it from?


One of my local fish stores sells it for $5 per handful. You really only need one handful to get started. I bought a couple of cheap clamp on work light fixtures from home depot and use two 5100K CFL flood bulbs (part number 1P381951) for lighting. You should be able to find those bulbs by googling the part number.

Here's an old pic of the mess under my tank. You can see the lights shining down into my fuge.

 
pegasus

pegasus

Well-Known Member
Tur4k, 5$ per handful is cheap. I can't find it locally, so I had to order mine online. I messed up initially and bought an LED refugium lamp. It wasn't nearly strong enough, and most of my Chaeto died. I started with two quart bags full of Chaeto, and by the time I realized that the light was the problem, I was down to a single handful. I got a handful more in an order of pods, so that helped. I now have a single clip-on reflector lamp with a 40W CFL daylight bulb, and my Chaeto is growing well. Even the additional live rock rubble is growing coralline algae.

Wow... talk about major salt creep! LOL!
 
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