Could micro bubbles be killing my cheato?

[fishmaster]

My cheato in my sump doesn't seem to be doing well. In fact it's slowly dying. I'm running a 55 with a 25 sump. I've got aprox 100 lbs of live rock between the two. For livestock, I have 3 percs, 2 blue damsels, 1 yellow tang, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 neon goby. As well I have tonnes of hermits & snails, 1 large sebae anmone, and some asst corals. My nitrates and phosphates are very low, but you would think there's enough for the cheato. I run an 18w light over my sump 24/7. The only thing I can think of is microbubbles from my skimmer. Other than that, maybe the excessive amount of live rock is taking care of the wastes good enough that there's not enough left over for the cheato??? Any thoughts?
Shaun.

[fishface]

how's the water flow through your sump? i had a similar issue a while back and increased the flow...seemed to work for me.

[fishmaster]

My flow is about 650gph.
Shaun.

[fishmaster]

Bump
Anybody?????

[christyf5]

I remember when I was growing (or attempting to grow) chaeto it required a fair bit of light, after upgrading my refugium I couldn't get enough light over it and it just sort of whithered away from a large ball to nothing. Perhaps increasing the light? How long have you had the chaeto and how far away from it is the light?

[fishmaster]

I've had it since I started my tank-January. My light is about 4" above the water and the cheato is near the surface because the sump is filled with live rock. I moved it to the side of the sump where the majority of the micro bubbles are and the problems seem to have started then. I did notice that air was being trapped in the cheato.

[christyf5]

Can you put a baffle in the sump before the chaeto to calm the waters a bit?

[fishmaster]

It's too tight down there. I can barely fit my skimmer as it is. It's a 25gal tall and just fits in my stand. I'm going to a 120 down the road anyways. It'll have a seperate refuge. I'll have to keep playing around with what I've got for now. The best solution I can see for this system is to build a stand with some room for a bigger sump.
Shaun.