When do you harvest cheato?

[Rhodes19]

Hi All,

When do you know its time to harvest cheato from your fuge? I have a tightly packed ball that has doubled in size and is tumbling slower and slower. I'm thinking of pulling it in half and take some of it to a lfs but I don't want to harvest too much and have it detrimental to my tank. Also, does the cheato ball need to be tight/compact or should it be kind of loose but not falling apart? Thanks.

Chris

 

[GrendelPrime]

i would think as long as its tumbling it should be fine wether its a tight mass or loose and u might want to harvest when the tumbling starts to slow down. and as far as how much imo i would harvest about half of the ball

 

[BigAl07]

I've harvested 1/4, 1/2, and even 3/4 at a time. Remember it's not "Really" a part of your biological filtration system so you could "in theory" remove it with no appreciable concerns other than possible NO3 or PO4 build-up over time.

I harvest mine whenever I notice it's slowing down or it gets "stuck" and is too big. As for tight or "loose" I've got both and it doesn't matter as far as I can tell. I tend to prefer "loose" Chaeto because tightly wound the center tends to brown due to light deprivation.

 

[Woodstock]

My chaeto doesn't tumble it actually filles an entire space. Most are at least 10" deep.
I know when to harvest some if there isn't much room left.... I just do the 'push' test. If I push the chaeto down and there is not much room, I remove enough chaeto to allow for at least 3-4" of water space when 'pushed' down.

 

[Woodstock]

Here is a photo of my smallest sump/refugium when it was just set up new. The chaeto fills in the empty space and grows very wide/deep and dense. Just this week I harvested a LOT from it... probably enough to fill a 1 gallon ziplock full.

 

[Rhodes19]

Cool beans.

Thanks guys, I appreciate it. Well, it still tumbles so I think I might leave it alone for now. I might tease it out a little bit some more water can go through it and the center can get some light so it doesn't turn brown. My nitrates are below 10 but I still get some color so I'll see if a bigger ball, or 2 smaller balls will help reduce the trates. Doni Marie, I think that's interesting that you let it fill the fuge. Everything I've read says that cheato likes to tumble. What have your observations been on tumbling vs no tumbling? Do you have a low flow or a high flow of water going through it? Thanks.

Chris