Chaeto in reactor was growing great first two weeks, has been slowly dying since then

[chousecat]

I've been running chaeto in a Tunze macroreactor for about a month now, the first two weeks the chaeto was growing like crazy and I was running it for 18 hours. Switch to just a 12 hour light cycle opposite of my tank lights and noticed the growth has stalled to what looks like this brown/red slime covering/choking it. Kinda looks like cyano?

It also has stopped reducing my phosphates. My nitrates remain well at 10ppm but my phosphate has gotten upwards towards 0.7 (I should preface that I have been struggling with phosphates prior which is why I installed this reactor, the chaeto used to bring it down to 0.2)

Any ideas on what is happening to my chaeto? I recently bought some Brightwell Chaetogrow to promote maybe some strength into it?

 

[Pistondog]

I've been running chaeto in a Tunze macroreactor for about a month now, the first two weeks the chaeto was growing like crazy and I was running it for 18 hours. Switch to just a 12 hour light cycle opposite of my tank lights and noticed the growth has stalled to what looks like this brown/red slime covering/choking it. Kinda looks like cyano?

It also has stopped reducing my phosphates. My nitrates remain well at 10ppm but my phosphate has gotten upwards towards 0.7 (I should preface that I have been struggling with phosphates prior which is why I installed this reactor, the chaeto used to bring it down to 0.2)

Any ideas on what is happening to my chaeto? I recently bought some Brightwell Chaetogrow to promote maybe some strength into it?

Can you rinse it off ?
Maybe try to put it in a colander and spray in the sink?

 

[chousecat]

Can you rinse it off ?
Maybe try to put it in a colander and spray in the sink?

I did once with old water change water but it seemed to have grown back, maybe I didn't put enough force into it. Can chaeto tolerate rinses with tap water at the sink? If so, I'll give it a try asap

 

[Pistondog]

I did once with old water change water but it seemed to have grown back, maybe I didn't put enough force into it. Can chaeto tolerate rinses with tap water at the sink? If so, I'll give it a try asap

Not 100% sure, but iwould think so.

 

[chousecat]

Not 100% sure, but iwould think so.

How to clean chaeto of pests?

I know places like Algae Barn offer "clean" chaeto -- which I love (I just bought some, and the product is great and as an art director I love their branding) but I was wondering if anyone has a process for cleaning chaeto. By cleaning I don't mean physically washing it, but more of a QT cycle...

www.reef2reef.com

Mind blown, I'll give this a try. Ty