chaeto not growing....

So my tank has been running after the cycle for roughly 5 weeks and the chaeto is still the same size i bought it and my nitrates are 20ppm. chaeto has been in the tank for 5 weeks and still no growth. Does it usually take longer or am i doing something wrong?


tank is a 125G with a few fish,sump is a 55g with baffles. the refugium light is a 65watt CF Floodlight with a reflector. The only thing i have in my refugium is some LR and the small ball of chaeto.

 

when I first added cheato, I didn't notice growth for the first few weeks, then it took off...

do you have a good amount of flow through the fuge?

 

is flow really important to the growth of the chaeto? the reason I ask is because i have a filter sock over the drain so it smoothes out all the ripples,wave,turbulence in the refugium.

 

I just have laminar flow in my fugue and it grows fine. Some folks report better results if the cheato is tumbling.

maybe you could put a small powerhead on the cheato to get it tumbling.

 

Um, filter socks in the fuge are a no-no IMO. You re trapping all the nutrient that the chaeto uses to feed. That could be your problem.

 

Ditto

 

i'll remove the filter sock and keep you updated. thanks

 

wait so if i have a filter sock i cant have a fuge

 

The filter sock grabs out a decent amount of the stuff that chaeto would feed on. No food, no algae growth.

 

I run a filter sock on my sump not directly in the compartment where my fuge is but where my skimmer is. I feed my cheato and pods cyclopeze once a week.