Cheato or Bio-pellets

[chriskessha]

This has been bugging me for quite awhile. Can i keep Cheato and use bio-pellets at the same time or do i have 2 get rid of 1?

Keep the cheatos in refugium also helps with the algae and such (Algae grows there mostly, correct me if im wrong)

Bio-pellets help 2 bring nitrates down..

Soo can use both or need 2 get rid of 1? If soo which 1?

[clownfish_forever]

IMO there is no right or wrong answer but rather depends on what works best for your aquarium.

Biopellet serves as the home for denitrifying bacteria to grow and these bacteria consume nitrate in their growth. It can be effective but it needs to be used with a powerful protein skimmer because you need a way to get rid of the excessive bacteria produced. If not, the bacteria circulating in the main tank may also cause algae bloom. Thats was what happened to me.

On the other end, I feel cheato is more natural way to remove nitrate but it has a dependency on your refugium size. If your refugium is small and there is not much room for the chaeto anyway to grow then it will not be effective too. But cheato is a good home for pods which can serves as live food for your main tank.

Hence I feel may need to experiment and monitor which works for you. It can be a combination of both or either one.

[Nickel]

How to seed pods in chaeto?

Where to buy or if I get from reefer's harvest, there should have pods or at least eggs in the branch of chaeto?

[clownfish_forever]

I never seed. When you get it from LFS or other reefers, bound to have pods within already.

[chriskessha]

Seems clear enough

[chriskessha]

How to seed pods in chaeto?

Where to buy or if I get from reefer's harvest, there should have pods or at least eggs in the branch of chaeto?

yeah bro, how do u do that?

[chriskessha]

I never seed. When you get it from LFS or other reefers, bound to have pods within already.

pods can be bought??

[Cruzer]

pods can be bought??

available from ah beng in pasir ris and some reefers.

[chriskessha]

Ok bro.. thanks for advice

[kraken]

i do run chaeto and bio pellets at the same time, I have quite a number of fishes, thus bio-load is pretty high (thanks to the 4 tangs I have).

So far No3 is zero (though heavy feeding) and chaeto is growing like mad (need to harvest at least once every fortnight).

I have a lot of pods in my ref which will overflow to return pump and pods will end up in DT, plenty of food for my mandarin.

Well, at least I do see my mandarin is fatter than before and very happy.

[yourdi3]

Yup me too runnung bio pellets and cheato n rowa phos at the same time