Cheato not growing?

rotarygeek

rotarygeek

Member
Ok so about 2 months ago, i put a ziplock bag stuffed full of cheato in my sump. I have my stand light on 24/7. My nitrates are high off the charts, but thas another thread. My question is, why is it my cheato doesnt want to grow or help out with nitrate exportation? I have a quiet one 2200 moving water through my sump, and while it is probably 500 gph, its over a very wide area and you cant hardly see any cheato moving. My cheato was bright green when i got it, now its more like a brown.
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
it looks as if your water is flowing the wrong way but it should be growing a little. its best if the water moves up through so the cheato so it can roll and remain loose enough that the inside of the ball is getting feed as well. I wouldn' worry about the light too much cheato can grow under an incedsent bulb as long as the color is close to 6k. try to spred the cheato apart every cupple of days and see if you can keep the inside of the ball to stop dying off.
hth
 
rotarygeek

rotarygeek

Member
Ok well i broke the cheato up and now it covers most the top of the water. I had to add a filter sock to the intake line cuz the cheato had a lot of stuff in it and when i broke it up it all went into the dt. But its thinned out pretty good and looks like light is getting all the way through it now. Maybe it will start helping out.
 
mumbulog

mumbulog

Member
I am going to say the chaeto is not getting enough light. I would go to lowes, walmart, or home depot and by one of the tin round light reflectors and purchase one of the spiral 65-100 watt bulbs that only use 35 watts of power or so.. I would clamp the light over the edge of the sump tank directly over your chaeto chamber and watch out because that chaeto is going to overwhelm the chamber with growth. You have a relatively slow flow rate through there, all I can think is it's the lighting.
 
rotarygeek

rotarygeek

Member
Well i have had lots of retiles too, so i have a couple of those handy. What kinda spectrum bulb should i look for? I have a bunch of those spiral lights all around the house. Maybe ill add one to the tank.
 
sign guy

sign guy

Active Member
6700k RotaryGeek made a good point you could add a ph in the sump your looking to be around 25 times the volume of your DT per hour. this will help keep the detris falling on the sand bed and the cheato loose enough that all of the cheato is eating
 
blazehok68

blazehok68

Active Member
Originally Posted by mumbulog
http:///forum/post/2748132
I am going to say the chaeto is not getting enough light. I would go to lowes, walmart, or home depot and by one of the tin round light reflectors and purchase one of the spiral 65-100 watt bulbs that only use 35 watts of power or so.. I would clamp the light over the edge of the sump tank directly over your chaeto chamber and watch out because that chaeto is going to overwhelm the chamber with growth. You have a relatively slow flow rate through there, all I can think is it's the lighting.
i did this same thing a couple of weeks ago and my cheato has really taken off. i went with a daylight spectrum bulb. i think it says "daylight" right on the package.
 
rotarygeek

rotarygeek

Member
Ok been a little hectic lately, but ill get working on it right away. I have an extra powerhead that i use for my water changes and i can hook up another light to it. Do you think trimming it would help at all?
 
rotarygeek

rotarygeek

Member
Well i did a 15 gallon water change, but didn't even think to take out the cheato and shake it in the old water. But in the past week i have done a 30 gallon water change, about 50% give or take a few gallons. My nitrates are down to between 20 and 40, but i don't know if this is from the water changes or the cheato.
 
maxalmon

maxalmon

Active Member
Cheato is an algae and responds best to lights in the 5-7k range. Coralife makes a freshwater lamp thats a 2x9w thats 6700k. this is one of the best lamps for growing chaeto. 10k thru 20k are way to bright and cause the chaeto to clump and turn dark green
 
rkesling

rkesling

Member
Originally Posted by vince-1961
http:///forum/post/2758231
I'm glad I found this thread. My cheato is not growing either. It's exactly the same size it was 6 or 7 weeks ago. Photos below. The light is a Coralife T5 at 10k, approved for this particular use by LFS. Stays on 24/7. Are ya'll saying just an ordinary house lamp will work better?

I use a regular spiral CF bulb and the stuff will not stop growing!!! HD has different spektrums of the round CF bulbs...I use the daylight version 5500K I believe. I have tried 50/50 bulbs and T5's and the regular old CF bulbs seem to work best for me.
 
V

vince-1961

Guest
I swapped the 10,000 kelvin Coralife fixture for an ordinary household flurescent bulb in a $6 clamp-on reflector. The packaging on the bulb said "daylight" and the fine print actually gave it's output as 6,500 kelvin. That is the only time I've seen household flourescent bulbs (

[hr]
in variety appropriate for lamps) actually give a kelvin rating.
So far, I have not noticed a difference.
 
mrdonkeyazz

mrdonkeyazz

Member
I also got the clamp light at HD with the CF daylight bulb and i am waiting to see how the cheato does. I leave mine on about 16 hours.
 
rkesling

rkesling

Member
I run mine 24/7 on my Nano and about 12-14 a day on my other tank and I find that the Chaeto in the Nano grows a ton faster with the 24/7 schedule.
just my trial findings...water parameters also play a HUGE role in growth and my NANO has far better water quality LOL
 
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