Chaetomorpha in Tank

I went away last March for 2 weeks and came back and my Large Monti Cap has not been doing good ever since. I had no nitrates until adding more powerheads now I have 20. I also just added 1 month ago Maxspect Razor. I have a 46 mixed reef. I have no sump so I put the chaeto in the in-tank refugium 7x7x4. Will this help with the nitrates. There is no room in there for the chaeto to move. Does the algae need more room? I also started dosing last week Instant Ocean Natural Nitrate Reducer.

 

Chaeto does like to tumble. However, you can just flip it twice a week so all of it gets some light.

 

I kinda doubt adding the power heads increased nitrates. Although the bacteria that consumes nitrates likes low oxygen areas, maybe you eliminated a bunch of dead spots in the tank and wiped out your colony (however small). It doesnt seem like you bio load is all that much. I am currently sumpless right now too. I went from a 30 to 90 and what a diffwrence in stability. The reason i bring this up is because i think your wasting your money on that nitrate reducer. I used it in my 30 ( bio load was a bit heavier, nitrates always at 20). I used that stuff for a good 4-5 months. I even did a week long wc regime which did reduce nitrate to 0ish. Within a couple of days nitrate hit 20 and stayed there. If anything it kept it steady but at that price steady just didnt cut it. You may have better results (having a smaller biolaod) but i think you may be defeating the purpose of having the cheato. If the nitrate reducer works the cheato wont have it for growth and vice versa i guess.
I use cheato ( just a hand full ) for a mini fuge for pods. I stuff it in a small media bag with a rock or two. I just change it out every 3 4 months. I shake it out before i remove it. Im not really worried about it growing, although little sprouts pop thriugh the mesh and the tang and rabbitfish eat it up.
Just wanted to give you my experience. I know for me its hard to relate sometimes when im not running a sump. I must say also i had this tank going for about a year and ive been dosing vodka for most of that time. Ive got a pretty big skimmer on the back and my nitrates and phosphates have remained (for the most part) around 0.