Cheato Mess

[earman88]

Was it a bad idea to replace my HOB filter cartridges with cheato? That stuff has gotten all into my sand bed and little pieces have floated around. I noticed another thread mentioning to keep it in your separate sump tank.

I can't have this stuff dirtying up my tank!

 

[cvcdrk]

Well, first of all, it needs to be maintained like anything else. So trimming it back as it grows would help.

Second, how come little pieces are "floating around". That doesn't sound right. Chaeto is a great macroalgae for aquaria because it doesn't reproduce by sending spores into the water column getting your DT infected. It just grows and branches. If you weren't trimming it branches could have fallen off. If I'm not mistaken each one of these can begin to form a new clump of chaeto.

I would try to remove as much as you can by hand. If you only have a 10 gallon tank it shouldn't take that long. In the future, you CAN keep it in a media basket or in a hob filter but it needs to be maintained and not allowed to clog pipes and holes.

 

[Bifferwine]

It sounds like it might be getting broken apart or chopped up. Normally chaeto grows in a solid clump and doesn't fall apart into little pieces very easily. Is it looking healthy? Getting enough light?

 

[earman88]

Maybe with all the crap going on lately with my tank it just got into a mess. And I don't have any direct light on it, I am thinking the LED's from my tank will shine on it enough.

 

[cvcdrk]

Was it growing for awhile before this happened? If not it's probably not enough light. It doesn't take much to grow, though.

 

[FishyReef]

This is the light that I have over my little 10g HOB turned 'fuge

Taam Rio Mini Sun Daylight and Deep Sea Blue Lighting Fixture

Seems to work great and gives direct light to the chaeto. I turn it on at night and off in the morning. I do occasionally get little pieces that break off and float into the water column, but a simple overflow comb would fix that. Just make sure you clean any sort of overflow comb regularly as they can harbor a ton of detritus!

EDIT: LOL I just read that link and apparently its been discontinued. Brittney and I both have this fixture. Got mine from an LFS and am quite happy with it. Maybe you can find one locally? They also list them on amazon if you google rio mini sun led

 

[earman88]

nah it wasn't growing I just got it. But with all the crap going on in my tank I just removed it for now and put some stock media that came with my HOB filter back in.