Cheato!!!

[my2rotties]

I have a ton of cheato in my 55g and it is doing well. Much too well. It must be eating well since I have zeros for all my params and have had these since it came home. I removed my frag rack from the fuge since it is now being over taken by the cheato and is growing on everything in there.

How much do I need to have and how much can I take out at one time without causing a spike in params. Will I always need it in my tank or when it does mature can I take it out? I read that it is a very good thing to hacve but man, is it ever nasty.

I know people are always in search of it and after today I may have some available after I clean out the fuge.

Is there a way I can keep it in the fuge and have it under control some what? I have a ton of live rock in there as well but moved it all to one side of the fuge and will be putting the cheato on the other side.

The only thing I have super good luck in growing are cheato and aiptasia although my corals seem really happy so long as I do not have them in the fuge. The lights are on in the fuge at night and in the mornings the cheato is all over the frags so I have put them in my display for now.

Any help on taming the beast?

[Delphinus]

For nutrient removal, it's not so much about how much you have (per se), it's about how much it grows. Ie., it's the growth that causes your NO3 and PO4 to reduce. So pruning is necessary because infinite growth is eventually going to cause an issue with real-estate.

How much of it do you need, well that depends, you can prune it right down to a small amount and it will still come back, but a too small amount will certainly take a while to re-establish itself to a critical mass (ie where the nutrient uptake matches the rate of production).

Short answer is to tame the beast, you have to prune it and dispose (ie., give away, or put in the compost pile or whatever).

[Carmen]

You can separate the chaeto from the rest of the fuge area you are using for frags with a piece of eggcrate.

[my2rotties]

Thanks Tony and Carmen...

I did eggcrate and it just grew through it... I'm still scrubbing eggcrate in RO water. I moved everything around and its taking half of the fuge for now... I think it will need pruning pretty shortly though. I would give it away since it has so many pods in there, it would be a shame to throw it out. Too bad aboutn the bristle worms though they gross me out.

I feel all creepy crawly now. Time to shower.

[Jay180reef]

Is there a way to get all those pods out before pruning? I'm sure the fish would enjoy the snack!

[Delphinus]

Just shake it out in the tank, I give mine a good shake and a bit of a squeeze to encourage the pods to find more comfortable surroundings (ie., water as opposed to air, LOL).

[Jay180reef]

okay I'll give it a try