Two or three months ago, Todd gave me a ziploc of chaeto for my remote 'fuge, which was new at that time. It's lit with 2 spiral power compact lights and a 13w PC light from my hang-on 'fuge that now is unlit with LR rubble and sand. The remote 'fuge gravity feeds to my display tank.
Anyway, I'm getting off track... Last night, I decided to flip the chaeto, which I do once in a while to make sure none of it dies at the bottom from lack of light. Well, I went to flip it, and my 44qt Rubbermaid container was literally a solid block of chaeto!
Needless to say, it got thinned out a bit. I pulled out literally a 5gal bucket full of chaeto, and there's still LOTS in the fuge still. It's amazing how much the chaeto grew in a couple months. Needless to say, I'm quite proud of my ability to export nutrients with the remote 'fuge.
My next project is finding some LR rubble to put in a corner of the 'fuge that's sectioned off so no chaeto can grow near the drain lines. I'm going to use that, along with the chaeto, to make a 'pod factory for a future mandarin. On that note, if anybody would like to order some Tiger 'Pods or similar copepod/amphipod starter cultures, let me know and maybe we can split shipping on multiple bottles and save some money.
Overall, I'm shocked at how quickly my chaeto took off. I don't think I'll ever be able to recommend a hang-on 'fuge to anybody ever again; you simply can't beat a large, low-flow fuge with lots of light over it. Holy cow does the chaeto grow like a weed now in my system!!!!! If anybody out there needs some Chaeto and Chuck or Todd can't help you out right away, then send me a PM. I guess you can add me to the list of people who will provide free chaeto to local ECRC guys.
-Joe Schneider
