Sump/refugium/chaeto question

[foxface88]

I was reading some of the old post's on here and it got me thinking i might not have enough chaeto in my refugium to reduce the the nitrates. My DT is only 40 gal. and the sump/refug is 10 gal because that is the biggest size that would fit under my tank in the stand. I have about a baseball size clump of chaeto in there now with a 100w equivalant CFL blub the actual wattage is 23w. My LFS said that the bulb would do and showed me how they were growing theres, they were using like a clamp on light you can get from home depot that can handle up to 150w. I bought a halogen bulb for it but it got to hot down there i thought, so i swithced it to the CFL, is that light going to be enough to grow the chaeto? Its been in there about a week and it looks pretty much the same to me. so i guess that was two different questions.
1. Is a 10 gal sump with the baseball size Chaeto enough to remove nitrates?
2. Is the light strong enough to grow the Chaeto?

 

[deejeff442]

i f i remember right the light should be plenty.the chaeto will grow.problem is if it does grow too fast and has no nitrates to feed on it will be malnourished.i would let it be.do you have a powerhead or some kind of water movement for it?some like theirs to tumble around a bit.
i used to keep the stuff and had to trim it all the time once it started growing .but i moved and dont have the room for the 120 sump it was in anymore.i think i had a 25 watt bulb on it.and it was just a clip on light from the depot.

 

[foxface88]

Quote:
Originally Posted by deejeff442 http:///forum/thread/381965/sump-refugium-chaeto-question#post_3330648
i f i remember right the light should be plenty.the chaeto will grow.problem is if it does grow too fast and has no nitrates to feed on it will be malnourished.i would let it be.do you have a powerhead or some kind of water movement for it?some like theirs to tumble around a bit.
i used to keep the stuff and had to trim it all the time once it started growing .but i moved and dont have the room for the 120 sump it was in anymore.i think i had a 25 watt bulb on it.and it was just a clip on light from the depot.
Alright thanks, I'll keep an eye on it and if starts to grow to much to keep it trimmed back so it has plenty of nutrients. As for flow i have the overflow coming into a compartment to the left of the refugium with two a baffel and it has my skimmer in it the water flows over the refugium and down the baffel on the other side into a foam block i put in two stop the micro bubbles then into my return pump back into the DT. So when water goes over the top of the refug section it swirls down into it then back up so it kinda has a tumbling effect.

 

[deejeff442]

sounds good to me.