Chaeto vs red gracilaria opinions please

[xxkenny90xx]

Hey guys I got a chunk of chaeto And red gracilaria from reef cleaners a while back and after about a month or 2 the chaeto has almost completely disintegrated while the red gracilaria has tripled in size, what is your opinions of these two algaes for nutrient exporting? Is red gracilaria good enough to be used exclusively? Or should I look for some more chaeto? Note: in an attempt to save the chaeto I switched my fuge lighting schedule from 7 hrs to 15 hrs to 24hrs. I'm using a 65w equivalent 6500k cfl bulb from the hardware store. Thanks

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[Pip Tazo]

Hello,

I have chaeto and flame algae in mine. They both grow pretty fast, but the chaeto usually grows out way faster.

I have a 180 gallon system and 30g of it as my refugium. I harvest the chaeto every 2 weeks to 4 weeks. However, even with that much chaeto and flame alage growth, it didn't seem like enough nutrient export for me. This could be different for you depending on your feeding.

I added GFO about 4 months ago to my system because I felt like the refugium was not pulling out enough nutrients.

 

[xxkenny90xx]

Wow your fuge is way bigger than mine and not exporting enough. I have a 20 gallon sump with the fuge in the center for my 90 gallon tank. Maybe I'll have to look into some separate types of filtration as well.

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[mfinn]

A refugium is just one form of nutrient export.
Every little bit helps.
I've never seen any guide or "rule of thumb" that says what size refugium for a certain size tank.
I just have always made my sumps up with the largest part going to the refugium, with plenty of room for the skimmer. Then the rest a settling area, heater, probes, float valve and other equipment area.

 

[Pip Tazo]

+1 to mfinn's post.

Even with my refugium, I still run GFO, a skimmer, and do small daily water changes. (and the routine big water changes too)

I thought about a DSB and miracle mud but I haven't had the time to research their effectiveness just yet.

I am still getting in the habit of rinsing the frozen mysis before feeding to reduce nutrients. it is so tedious..

 

[N1Husker]

I have chaeto in my 29 gallon sump with a small fuge. I only light mine for 8 hours at night, opposite of my aquarium lights. I use a shop clamp light from Home Depot and the bulb I got from the garden department. It is a full spectrum bulb for plants and it grows like crazy. I also have flame algae in there too, it grows okay, but not as fast as the chaeto. I have a shallow sand bed in the refugium. I think the whole light set up was less than $25.00 and I have been using it for over two years and still haven't replaced the bulb.

 

[BEAU_RN]

Can't really speak to the flame algae, but I have both chaeto and 2 kinds of caulerpa that all grow fast. They all require trimming back and I have my fuge light on 24/7 though cuz of the caulerpa... As for nutrient export, the cheato initially took time to survive then grow, but the caulerpa's were like weeds and went nuts from the get go. My nitrates are always undeteactable even with overfeeding, but I believe the caulerpa does the better job between the two macro's.

 

[Pip Tazo]

Anyone know a little more about flame algae?

I have had some flame algae lose its color. At first I thought they were dying, but they still continued to grow.

My suspicion is that the red algae loses its color in the presence of strong lighting. So I put some in a dimly let area in my sump and it turn back to red.

Can anyone confirm that this is normal plant activity?

 

[kpiotrowski]

Anyone know a little more about flame algae?

I have had some flame algae lose its color. At first I thought they were dying, but they still continued to grow.

My suspicion is that the red algae loses its color in the presence of strong lighting. So I put some in a dimly let area in my sump and it turn back to red.

Can anyone confirm that this is normal plant activity?

Yes I would confirm exactly that.....until the last few months where my flame is now under 2x36w t-5 at about 10,000k. before with 50/50 actinics and whites I found it would get deeper red under lower light and even pinkish with high light. I am tumbling ( more free floating)mine now and am finding the darkest red and fastes growth yet. note that these were in two different sytems, but both have zero measurable nitrates or phosphates and have pretty much identical other pararameters.

 

[mfinn]

I have some of the flame algae in my display tank and it is doing great under my Radion led.
Pretty high lighting.

 

[SaltyDog2]

I have tried both and the chaeto definitely won. I use a daylight bulb from the hardware store that runs 24/7.