Growing calurpa?

lilcreep13

lilcreep13

New Member
I currently have a 40 gallon tank and want to add more water volume to make my water quality more stable. I was thinking of just buying a 35 gallon trash can and having my overflow flow into that and pump it back in to my tank. Does anyone see any problems with this? Also after reading these forums a little i decided i wanted to add some calurpa(sp?) in there. What would i need to do in order to make sure that the calurpa grows?
 
crimzy

crimzy

Active Member
You need your lights to be on for 24 hours a day or it can go sexual and poison the tank. This can lower your ph so you should add some buffer. But unfortunately the buffer can mess with the alk. IMO, chaeto is a better choice because it needs less light.
 
crimzy

crimzy

Active Member
Originally Posted by Lilcreep13
what kind of light does it need? can i get away with cheap florescent lights or do i need more than that?
Cheaper lights should be ok as long as they run 24/7.
 
bret61081

bret61081

Member
on my fuge I have one of the lights that came with the tank on 24/7 and so far everything has been growing like crazy...I have some cheato, calurpa and some red graciliaria. The cheato started off doing the best...double in size in a few days...but slowed down after the first week...now the graciliaria and the calurpa are doing better...time will only tell...good luck! let us know how you make out...
 
azocean709

azocean709

Member
Originally Posted by nanocuber7
can cheato go sexual? what other macros can go sexual?
cheato doesn't go sexual, that is all i have in my fuge and it works great. I have a 110 watt VHO over my fuge, but before i had a standard grow lamp from walmart, the only reason i put the VHO in there was because i use the top part of my fuge as a frag tank also. the macro did just as good with the standard grow lamp though. As it has ate up my trates and all, i hardly have to pick it anymore, at first i had to cultivate it on a regular basis...IMO i would go with the cheatomorpha...it wont do ya wrong.
 
zman1

zman1

Active Member
I have attached something similar to what you are talking about. I have used a 120 Watt grow light and a 300W unfiltered incandescent. the attached pics have the 300W. bulb is about $3.00 and last about 1 1/2 months. It is on only at night, reverse cycle of tank lights. Cheato and Caulerpa

 
zman1

zman1

Active Member
No, I don't believe so. Not like caulerpa, they may die back and turn white. They are a calcareous algae. Mine goes in cycles from growth spurts to die back. I have found they require high intensity lighting for best results....
 
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