chaeto

[paul26]

i have a 29 gallon sump which houses a reef octo skimmer and a fuge section. the fuge section atm only has rock rubble and a sand bed . i have a light set up for macro algea. what will chaeto do for the tank and what does
it pull out?

thanks

[ninjamini]

It is an algae and it consumes nitrates and phosphates. Great stuff to add. You will have to prune it back one and a while and throw it away. Its a great place to let pods (there good) grow. There are not bad effects to cheato. Other than it looks like green brillo.

[Mavrk]

Originally Posted by ninjamini

It is an algae and it consumes nitrates and phosphates. Great stuff to add. You will have to prune it back one and a while and throw it away. Its a great place to let pods (there good) grow. There are not bad effects to cheato. Other than it looks like green brillo.

+1... The idea is for the macro algae to out compete the other algae in the DT. As noted above, you must prune and throw out pieces of it or you are not ridding the tank of anything. If the chaeto dies, the trapped N/P return to the tank. Mine doesn't grow like others, but rather becomes more dense. There are different species of chaeto, so this is why mine is different.

Also as mentioned above, it is a great place for pods to breed.

[mudskipper1]

definitely recommend it, also, ideally the ball of cheato is rotating, so it gets light on all sides, or at least you rotate it periodically, otherwise, I found that the underside starts to die off, or at least stop growing, which isn't what you want...

[ninjamini]

When you prune you will see the part that is decaying. Prune that off. +1 on it decaying and putting the nutrients back in the tank. You dont want that. But its real easy to care for. Far easier than you think. Its like a weed. You'll see.