Chaeto. What Is It?

[nanoMama86]

I was doing some research last night, and I read about modding aquaclear hob's into 'fuges and they were talking about putting in chaeto as a nutrient exporter.
Well the who;e whole idea seemed awesome to me and I wondered if anyone had any experience with it?

I would love for my favorite mod, ilijidma to pop on and give me some pointers!



P.s. I am always doing research it seems! LOL!

 

[lljdma06]

Good morning, if you take a look at the hardware section in the Marine section, I have a rather lengthy how to guide on modding an Aquaclear for that purpose. Right now, I've got an Aquclear 70 running in my 8g pico & an Aquaclear 50 in my 4g.

Is this for the 40g?

 

[nanoMama86]

The 40g was tragically cracked by a sugar loaded almost-2-year-old with a way too big toy in his hands that his daddy had given him so I had to rush out and buy a 29g. I ALMOST lost everything. The new 29g is on a diy stand that is almost 4 foot tall, surrounded by baby gate reinforced with concrete blocks.

The upside is that it is totally full of LR, I rehomed the scopas tang, and my lighting goes further in this tank than ever before. I have had an explosion of 'pods and have switched to only using distilled water for mixing salt and topoff. My params have never been more stable. My nitrate problem is slowly coming under control and I am starting to get hopeful that this might actually work out.


Whew, talk about a rough intro to salt!

 

[lljdma06]

Chaetomorpha is a fast-growing macro algae. Because it grows quickly, it consumes nitrates quickly. It is a common feature of refugiums & is used for nutrient export, as we say.

Sorry your intro was so rough. It happens.

L

 

[nanoMama86]

Thanks so much for all your help. My hubs is not interested at all in "those #41#### tanks" as he calls them, so when he keeps my wee ones, disasters tend to happen. I have built Fort Knox around my tank this time, though, so *fingers crossed* nothing is going to happen to it.


Where can I get my hands on some chaeto? I have called all my local lfs and most of them did not even know what I was talking about.

 

[lljdma06]

Thanks so much for all your help. My hubs is not interested at all in "those #41#### tanks" as he calls them, so when he keeps my wee ones, disasters tend to happen. I have built Fort Knox around my tank this time, though, so *fingers crossed* nothing is going to happen to it.


Where can I get my hands on some chaeto? I have called all my local lfs and most of them did not even know what I was talking about.

Are you going to build the refugium? Did you see my article? If you get one built, I'll send you some.

L

 

[nanoMama86]

I am going to mod my ac70 as soon as i can source some chaeto. I read your post and nano-reef whole section on it and watched like ten how-to vids on you-tube. I wanna do it right the first time.



I have also thought about somehow cutting out the back of the filter and attaching a 2.5 gallon tank supported by a wooden scaffold. Then the pump fills the tank, and then the tank overflows back into into the display tank via the ac70 media chamber. I can then implement a remote deep sand bed and chaeto in a much bigger and more useful capacity in the larger area.

Maybe use a cheap powerhead to help with the return to the main tank via some tubing? HMMM....I can already hear my hubs cussing me.....

 

[theoilartist]

I am going to mod my ac70 as soon as i can source some chaeto. I read your post and nano-reef whole section on it and watched like ten how-to vids on you-tube. I wanna do it right the first time.



I have also thought about somehow cutting out the back of the filter and attaching a 2.5 gallon tank supported by a wooden scaffold. Then the pump fills the tank, and then the tank overflows back into into the display tank via the ac70 media chamber. I can then implement a remote deep sand bed and chaeto in a much bigger and more useful capacity in the larger area.

Maybe use a cheap powerhead to help with the return to the main tank via some tubing? HMMM....I can already hear my hubs cussing me.....

Hi, I thought of doing a similar thing but soon realized that the problem would be using 2 pumps. Let me explain... If you are using a pump to pull water out of you tank and another to take water from your sump/Refurgium back to your tank; you have no way to ensure that they are pumping at the same rate, so you run the danger of pumping to quickly from one or the other. I see the way that the reefers get past this problem is to use gavity to get the water out of the main tank into the sump.. or do as L suggests in her tutorial using an overflow system to get the water back into the tank. Hope that helps.

Regards,
Duncan

 

[lljdma06]

Why mod an Aquaclear 70? Mod a 110. Much bigger.

 

[nanoMama86]

I have the ac70 already running on the tank and there is no way I can convince the hubs to buy another filter. hence why I was tossing the 2.5 gallon idea around. But I think I am just going to stick with the plain mod idea.


I'm wondering how taking it off the tank to mod will affect my water parameters. It has been running since the beginning.

 

[lljdma06]

I have the ac70 already running on the tank and there is no way I can convince the hubs to buy another filter. hence why I was tossing the 2.5 gallon idea around. But I think I am just going to stick with the plain mod idea.


I'm wondering how taking it off the tank to mod will affect my water parameters. It has been running since the beginning.

Do you have powerheads? It may not hurt it much if you are up on your water changes and pay attention to flow.

L

 

[nanoMama86]

I have one monster powerhead in the middle bottom of the tank that my LR is built around pointed up, plus one cheap one to the side pointed along the back to provide laminar flow. The mpnster juts more than halfway into the middle of the tank and with no LR in the tank, made a strong ripple-whirlpool effect on the surface. The other ,smaller powerhead and LR plus the ac70 makes a nice semi-turbulent enviroment that has made my tank inhabitants flourish. I have never seen so many 'pods! My palies are spreading like wildfire and everything is growing soo fast. It makes me realize how much things were struggling in the other tanks.


I think I FINALLY have the balance and flow right. NO MORE tap water EVER!

 

[lljdma06]

So are you going to do the conversion then?

You won't regret it if you do. That coupled with adequate flow and a good water source, really helps with marine systems.

I just sold my first bunch of cheato.

 

[nanoMama86]

Yes I am going to convert as soon as I can get some chaeto. I just did two consecutive 5 gallon water changes and bought some mysis shrimk and omega one super veggie flake for my reef. I got the scopas given back, as apparently the person I gave her to failed to mention she had a yellow tang already in residence and my poor girl got the #101## beat out her. I had to go and get her, and I was dismayed at my friends tank. The water was GREEN! No LR in the system, and skeletal fish. No more giving fish without inspecting tanks first. I KNEW I should not have taken her at her word.



So, I am back in the same boat with her, except now she is horribly beat up, and has ammo burns on top of it+ HITH! I called my vet and is going to cal a marine biologist friend he knows and ask what can be done. She is still hungry, and is recovering quickly in her home tank, with my neurotic testing, I am not letting the nitrate get above 5. I am feeding small,frequent,nutritious meals. I have thought about maybe blending some fresh carrots and broccoli into a paste with the flakes to further enrich them.

Any thoughts? And I know, 29 gallons is horribly small for a scopas, but I gotta get her healthy before I find her another home. I wish someone on here could take her.

 

[lljdma06]

Yuck! Why do people keep tanks like that? Don't get a marine system if you're not going to take care of it! Oh! makes me MAD!

Ok, but let's fix that little scopas for you. I'm not sure about blending the fresh vegetables, but I've heard about it being done. They really like macro algae, so if you can find a palatable macro algae for them to eat, besides the dried stuff you are feeding her, that would be awesome. Unfortunately cheato isn't.

For now, just keep doing what you're doing and get her healed. Keep the water clean and she should recover nicely.

L