Chaeto trimming

[Jake007]

I trim my Chaeto every week or two. When I do, I just reach into the bucket and pull off the sections that have black stuff and yuck and trim down about 2/3 (double cantalope size to large softball size) so it will tumble in a 5 gal bucket.

Q. When I do this, I see alot of amphods (good) come off and brown (guessing detritus). Since I am ripping I am sure Chaeto pieces. Is this an OK practice? Is the micro stuff dirty looking good for the tank? or Should I do this outside of the bucket and only put back the trimmed up piece with a much smaller amout of mess introduced into the water column?

[rc4kinu]

I turn off the pump first, then yank dirty/brown pieces while keeping cheat in bucket. I find that this method minimizes pod losses. Turning pump off keeps debris contained in the refugium to siphon later vs. mixing in your DT

[Jake007]

Thanks... I am always so conscious of tossing good pods... I guess it is likely better to just keep the detritus /mess outside of the tank environment and not worry about the loss of pods during the trimming out process since more will grow from what remained.