Rsm 250 - sumpless chaeto experiment

Joined
14 Jun 2015
Posts
1,068
Reaction score
465
Location
Durban
The ARID perked my interest in trying this.
RSS - Pax Bellum ARID Filter review: the most ?intense? way to grow Chaetomorpha

It seems to be just light & centralised flow with some people also feeding off a Ca reactor. To get the chaeto to also bring down Po4 they recommend dosing to hold the N:p ratio at around 100:1....I'm not going to be doing that right now & will leave the Po4 to be looked after by GFO.
My Po4 has just crept up to where i put in new GFO yesterday.(Still got rocks leaching & for now i'm not going to give back any progress on that front)

3 handfuls of chaeto inside a Cascade 1000 canister filter,internal trays removed,upper grating left in.

My setup is normally Tank -> Cascade 1500 ->UV -> Chiller-> Tank.
Have put the cascade 1000 in the end after the chiller so its now,
Tank -> Cascade 1500 ->UV -> Chiller-> Cascade 1000 -> Tank

Was hoping to just rely on the 1500's pump to run this circuit but flow is much better with the 1000's pump running as well - the chaeto will roll this way also so going with that for now.Guess having lower flow from the 1000 i've gotten away with it acting like a booster pump. Impellor clogging is a concern tho.
Cascade 1500 rated flow = 350 GPH
Cascade 1000 rated flow = 265 GPH

Lighting is from a Santa Monica HoG 3 upflow algae scrubber which is 6 x 3W red Led
Also have a Sunsun HMD-300 LED on it to throw some white at it as well

Tanks got 12 fish fed 2 cubes a day of frozen.
I dose 2ml/night Aquavitro Fuel which will hopefully also provide whats needed to keep the chaeto going.

4/1/16 - Orca cubes removed - No3 = 5ppm - Po4 = 0.12

24143049116_1cb7d004b0_b.jpg


Lighting for 18 on/6 off........ 12H00 on - 06H00 off
Mr Chaeto you have a week to show what you can do! (or not)

10sec vid referance
 
Last edited:
Very interesting.

The light unit, is that just mounted on the backside of the canister body?
 
Last edited:
Tested my Po4 & its now back down at 0.052 which happens to now fit the 100:1 ratio so i'm going to turn my GFO off & just see what happens......Like i said earlier i'm not going to have much patience if it starts to rise,it will be getting turned back on.
No3 looks to still be 5ppm
 
Last edited:
Well this turned out quite interesting (for me anyway)

Short version -
Its close to doing the job but not quite - ever so slight rises on both No3 & PO4

Longer version -
My PO4 once i turned the GFO reactor off more or less bounced back up to the 0.12 ppm area a day later....since then it just been slightly creeping up each day - highest reading today 0.17 ppm.
Could be test kit noise but i don't think so as each day the reading has been consistently a little higher.(Hanna ULR checker)
I'm pretty sure my rocks are leaching & the initial jump back up is no doubt related to the water equalising from whats leeching I THINK.

NO3 - Still believe that is close to the 5ppm area but its moving further up rather than down.Have both Salifert & Redsea test kits & with the RS one loaded to the 4ppm setting the colour is slowly deepening away from 4ppm not toward it.

The Chaeto must be growing as now the ball has gotten to where its not wanting to tumble,With a few pumps on the cascade primer i can get it moving again but this trick only seemed to work for a day & then it fades back to stationary - The container is too small,With a bit more growth i'm pretty sure i would see at least N starting to drop,It may still do that but its going to be doing it without rolling.

As of today i've put my GFO back online as PO4 is not moving in the direction i need & i need to dial in my Alk dosing to the correct amount before i go back to sea later next week.(Running GFO i find i always use more to stay stable)
Have come across some good growth reports of guys using 150W HPS lamps & I'm going to try get a 70W HPS (sodium)lamp & see if that makes any differance i also need to think about how i can rig something a little larger cos i like this plan & its close to working but not quite.

Oh & the other little bonus of this i've noticed is the tank water looks like it does when you put in a new batch of purigen or run the UV - crystal water
 
Last edited:
Well the experiment got kind of side tracked with tank change but here's what a 70W HPS looks like.....
Only got plugged in today so be interesting to see how it goes.
Probably should get organised & go & buy a scale

24301027309_0143d567fd_b.jpg
 
Last edited:
That don't look like a 250 cabinet :tt2: Am keen to see how this light performs as I would like to add one to my sump to grow chaeto. I don't think my current light will be strong enough to do so...
 
That don't look like a 250 cabinet :tt2: Am keen to see how this light performs as I would like to add one to my sump to grow chaeto. I don't think my current light will be strong enough to do so...

Hi Tekk yes will be interesting to see...cos i pulled over 1/2 my 250 water my nitrates are still above 4ppm so it has work it can do...
 
Back
Top Bottom