How much and how often do you prune your cheato

Exactly as the title says. Mine grows pretty fast (high tank bio load) It fills up the whole fudge in a very dense square, I can pull it out and it will almost hold shape. What I have been doing is just cutting off a layer from the top (3-4 inches,) within a week it grows in to fill the void. I have heard its better to "tumble" but that tells me its going to have to be a lot smaller ball, which also means alot less cheato to grow and "eat" nutrients.

 

DO what you want. There's no real rule to when and how much.. if you want it to tumble trim it.. otherwise if it has room and enough light and flow.. let it grow!

 

With macroalgae it is best to "export" cut off a good amount of the algae fairly regularly. I would take out half or so once it get to the point where it will "hold shape" as you put it. The tumble aspect is so all sides of the chaeto get light not just the top, but if its growing great I wouldn't be overly concerned.

Good luck and happy chaeto donating!

 

One reason I like it to "hold shape" and not tumble is because on the top half it grows some other algae on top of the cheato, when i prune it down I can usually get that top layer of chaeto with the bad algae growing on top of it. Underneath is always really nice fresh green stuff. I am definitely not concerned about anything, I just wanted to know what other people are doing.

 

Try to clip it from the bottom. The bottom stuff is the older cheato. While I may be wrong, I feel that it is better to get rid of that and leave the newer growth.

 

Hum, something I have never heard before. Sounds almost like cutting the roots of bushes... I am not saying you are wrong, just never thought of it like that before.

 

As long as it's growing, you def doing right! I do he same as you! mine doesn't tumble, but I do flip it periodically. Happy Macro-ing!

 

I flip mine a little so I just pull from a side but if you are not flipping it then pulling from the bottom is like the same thing. They don't have a roots so it does not matter.

 

What do you do with the trimmings?

My husband teased that if they are seaweed, perhaps we should plan on eating them; I was wondering more if anything suitable for a nano reef would consider it food. My internet research (so far) tells me that some urchins will eat it, if you don't mind them relocating everything in your tank, and that tangs typically don't (not that I would put a tang in a nano; I wouldn't).

I see that people are giving it away, but I'm sure that by the time I have my aquarium up and running, everybody will have it to excess.

And if I should be considering it a disposable, as I would one of those packs of filter media I use in my little freshwater aquarium, is there another macroalgae that works as well (or nearly as well) at nitrate and phosphate removal, pH stabilization (when illuminated opposite the main tank), etc., but that doesn't go aesexual, and can be also used as a food source for something?