Chaeto vs. caulerpa

[Keith A.]

Which do you think does a better job on getting rid of algae in the tank? Chaeto or caulerpa?

[Maridia]

I was given some Chaeto to put in my sump, but in conjunction with your question... Does Chaeto multply by itself? I was given a small ball of it. Does it need any special treatment other than the sump light?

[Stlrockguy]

All it needs is light. It'll grow fast if you have a lot of nutrients in your water

[Reeffanman]

I vote cheato.

[woody390]

Caulerpa grows fastering more nutrients but chaeto has less risk to it

[melosu58]

The correct question is which gets rid of excessive nutrients better. In my experience calerpa does a much better job. Calerpa does have a few risk and works better in a sump or refuge.

[Spechty37]

What kind of risk does it have sorry to hijack here just never new there where risk thank you

[alco1]

ive used caulerpa a few times, all my nitrates etc seem to stay at 0 with/without the microalgae and the caulerpa dies after about a week or 2 but ive used chaeto and had it for about a month or so and its still alive and well.

strongy recommend chaeto..... from my experiences

[Spechty37]

I've had my caulapra ( sorry about the spelling of that ) for months and it didn't die yet in fact it is growing and spreading I am not arguing here I'm new to macros and still trying to learn here.i just put some cheato in my sump also both have been in there for about 3 months my cheato doesn't look like it grew at all but my caulp has grow and spread

[alco1]

from my experience I only like chaeto because it doesnt die straight away if theres no nitrates etc to eat.

[Mebbid]

I keep both chaeto and grape caulerpa in my refugium. I haven't had a positive reading of nitrates for approx. 5 months now and both are still growing.

I wil point out that if you have elevated levels of phosphates then the caulerpa will be your best friend. If you run a super low phosphate level its better to go with chaeto.

Keeping both of the algaes in my refugium I was at first getting a little over a pound a month of caulerpa growing in my 30g system while at this point my chaeto wasn't growing at all. Since I added phosphate removal media the growth pattern has reversed and the chaeto has started growing out of control.