refugium light? chaeto not growing

pallan

pallan

Member
a little background
started a refugium this spring with a small ball of chaeto
bought a used coralife pc light 36 watt came with a very used 50/50 bulb
Chaeto barely grew
bulb burned out a month ago and i ordered a new bulb
while waiting for bulb i added a used 10,000 k bulb to refuge and chaeto took off grew like there was no tomorrow then began to slowly die off
replaced bulb with the new one i ordered. a 36 watt 7500 k bulb and die off continued and cyno growth in fuge has started until now im left with the same size peice of chaeto i started with.
die off seems to have stopped for the most part, chaeto still not growing
should i switch bulbs/fixtures again new bulb has been on refuge for about 3 weeks
i can get clams and SPS to thrive in my tank but for the life of me i can not get chaeto to grow.
 
murph145

murph145

Active Member
cheato is kinda wierd to grow at times....
i know different people that its died in there succesfull sps tanks....
anyways cheato likes a nice steady amount of flow and lots of light.....
i used to only run a 36W T-5 over it in my sump but now i have a 36W that puts out the same light as a 150W home depot flourecent screw bulb in one of there cheapo round reflectors...
anyways i barely had any cheato left then i added this light which i run for 14hours a day... anyways i have to now trim this stuff back every 2 weeks its huge now and grows so fast
 
pallan

pallan

Member
i just wonder if this fixture i got just is not throwing off the right spectrum might have to make a run to home depot and get a fixture and a bulb. anyone got some advice as to what fixture and bulb i need. and ill ditch this PC light
 
chipmaker

chipmaker

Active Member
I have had cheato do just fine with a 100 watt household incandescent bulb. I never found it to be too very choosey about nayhtng but having some good water flow around it. I only use 8 to 10 hours of light on any of my chaeto in the fuges and its its all thriving and multiplying just fine. I have no more than 13 watt PC 10K light over any of the fuges now.
 
sebae09

sebae09

Member
another reason it might not be growing is there are not enough phosphates and nitrates in your tank. alot of people see their cheto not growing as a good thing.
 
pallan

pallan

Member
Originally Posted by sebae09
another reason it might not be growing is there are not enough phosphates and nitrates in your tank. alot of people see their cheto not growing as a good thing.
true but in its place i got cyno growing in the fuge. not in the display. I added a powerhead to the fuge yesterday to increase flow. so i'll see what that does.
I know my nitates are not zero. reads 10 on hagen test kit i assume it is a little higher and im switching test kits when this one is used up. phosphates reads a trace just enough so it has some color where 0 would be clear. again on hagen
 
pallan

pallan

Member
yeah mostly just growing on the rocks and walls. if i see it on the chaeto i pick it and any dead peices off hoping the added 100 gph flow i put in there will keep it at bay
 
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