Cheato Dieing???

Ok i have 2 balls of cheato in my fuge. They were in my sump/fuge but i turned another tank into just a fuge. When i transfered it i noticed that the center of the 2 were hollow and i know when i put them in there they were both packed tight. Some of the strainds are whiteish in color and falling apart. Is this a sign of it dieing and would or could that be the sorce of my nusience algea problem?? The bulb is a 24 watt 10k in a clamp lamp found at lowes. could that be the problem???

 

if it was packed too tight, then i suppose the stuff in the middle may now get the light it needs and dies. you do have to trim back the white stuff to keep it healthy i hear. the bulb sounds ok, but is it getting old?

 

no maybe 3 or 4 months on the bulb age but i have noticed that the outside is turning white also. I spread it out so theres more surface area to get light so maybe i will wait a week or so and see if its better. I just didnt know if it would leach out any of the nitrates that it soaked up for food if thats even possible.

 

i dont think it can leach, but do be sure to trim off any of the white stuff.

 

Go to Home Depot or Lowes and get a 6500K plant flood light for the fuge. Mine is doing well with it. The eggcrate on the back wall is there to keep the heater from touching the cheato. The eggcrate on the overflow wall keeps the cheato from falling into the filtration sponge.

 

I have the same kind of CFL plant spotlight that marlinman has and my chaeto is growing really really fast. To the point that in three weeks it goes from half full to complately packed into the fuge. Its funny because when I rip it out the chaeto that is left retains its square shape.

 

Yeah try a lower K bulb. I have used the 5100 and the 6500. Both have shown excellent results. Plants respond more to the lower or redder spectrum I believe.

 

once chaeto feels confined it wont grow as fast and will buold up with detritus and cause a nitrate spike which defeats the purpose of having the chaeto.

little is better with chaeto that way it has the room to grow

 

let me ask you guys this, if your tank is newer like 14 weeks old and your nitrates are 0 would the cheato still grow or will it feed off other things as well, also my phosphates are near 0 ?

 

The chaeto will loosen and break apart after adding it into a tank, it iwll make a mess of a fuge. After it acclimates, it will begin to become tightly packed again and feel dense. I had 4 small golf ball sized clumps (funny how they are always advertised as softball sized though) and now is a huge chunk that is the size of a football. One of the 4 chunks got destroyed by a Koalia nano that I kept in the fuge (which I have since removed). I cleaned up the mess as best I could and jsut let the rest sit at the bottom on the sandbed. When my system stabilized, the breakage and bleaching slowed down. In fact, the broken clumps that were on the sand have now started to grow into their own little chunks.
To Jeff:
With a tank, you will always have nitrates, regardless of new or old. To answer your question specifically, the reason why nitrates will read as zero is because the diatoms will absorb the NO3. If you add chaeto into your system, the chaeto will outcompete the diatoms and nuisance algaes. As odd as this may sound, if you are worried about running out of NO3 for the chaeto, feed your fish and corals a little more. I have increased my feedings from 3 times per week to every other day and my tank has shown no ill effects. My GHA is slowing decreasing as my chaeto is growning.