Rinsing Chaeto?

[Shnabbles]

Iv heard of some people rinsing their chaeto?

What does this do?

Do you rinse it in fresh water or salt water?

[dc_909]

I would think it is to just get rid of detritus that builds up in it.

[spike78]

I would think rinsing it would do more harm than good. You would be getting rid of all the live living in the ball for not much benefit.

[FUA]

instead of rinsing it just shake it in the display tank, the pods will be much appreciated by any fish or inverts and the detritus although not being removed from system directly it will remove it from chaeto and skim or settle so you can siphon it out.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've rinsed it in fresh water when it had flatworms on it and that worked to kill them and not the chaeto.

[Hop]

I shake mine out in some of the old water at waterchange time just to get the crud out of it. Otherwise unless there is a reason such as Mr. Holmes-Farley indicated I can't see a reason to give it a fresh water rinse...

[snorvich]

When I harvest, I try to shake off whatever is living in it. Never tried fresh water though.

[vanmo92]

I would think that this would get rid of many pods and other critters in in, and getting rid of detritus might get rid of a food source for what pods are left (i thought I heard somewhere that pods eat detritus, I don't know for sure if they do or not). I don't see the need to rinse it unless you have a pest or a similar reason.

[xJake]

Originally posted by vanmo92
I would think that this would get rid of many pods and other critters in in, and getting rid of detritus might get rid of a food source for what pods are left (i thought I heard somewhere that pods eat detritus, I don't know for sure if they do or not). I don't see the need to rinse it unless you have a pest or a similar reason.

I'm fairly sure pods eat phytoplankton floating in the water column. They may eat detritus as well but they shouldn't really be all that depleted in population or food source from shaking out the chaeto. Also, detritus can build up in the intricate growth of chaeto and eventually get to the point where the chaeto starts dying off because so much light is being blocked. I shake out the chaeto on the tank at my school once a week before the weekend so that the fish will at least have some food over the weekend. That way I don't have to come in every weekend but I still will on occasion to do water changes and what not.

[o.c.d.]

I was taught the best way to get the pods from the fuge to the display was to shake the chato or calerpa,macro ect into the flow of a powerhead. My fuge is also gravity fed to the display so no mulching of pods happens.Is their a better way to get pods from the fuge/sump to the display?