Apparently, lack of green thumb applies in aquariums

[wontonflip]

Ok....I always knew I never had a green thumb. But I figured, a chaeto in the fuge, no problem! Just give it lots of light!

It was looking great since I put it in a couple of months ago, but it appears my ball of chaeto died!!! I noticed it was looking a li'l paler, so i went to rotate it and POOF! The whole thing collapsed in on itself!! WTF??

I've got chaeto pieces all over my fuge! There were 2 things that changed recently that may have caused it -- I shaped acrylic around the piping to lower the evaporation rate in the fuge. Then my husband for some reason put a plastic screen thing floating on top of the fuge water (he was hoping to get more algae?? Don't ask). So maybe that combination blocked out enough light.

Should I worry about ammonia spikes from dead chaeto? I'm going to fish it all out and buy a new one tomorrow.

 

[JAG107]

I dont think dead algae would cause any ammonia spike. Your chaeto should be ok under any regular lightbulb, I'd leave it on 24/7.

 

[simpleman]

When algae dies it releases all the nutrients it absorbed back into the water. I would pull all the dead stuff out. Here's what I know about Chaeto: it should be tumbled in the fuge, or turned on occasion to make sure the bottom layer doesn't die. It should also be trimmed often. As you remove Chaeto from the system you remove nutrients. It's amazing to see just how fast it will grow when it is trimmed often. I pull a soccer ball sized chunk out of the fuge every two weeks.

 

[reeffreak]

It might not cause a ammonia spike but it might a nutrient spike.You are doing the right thing by removing all the dead matter.I thought chaeto was indistructible.

 

[wontonflip]

I thought chaeto was indistructible.

Leave it to me to prove you wrong :) I've killed all sorts of plants outside of my tank LOL.

I did everything above...so I know things went wrong when the screen was floating on top of the chaeto and filtered the light. It was thriving before that.

 

[sen5241b]

Same thing happened to me recently. You need to get the rotting chaeto out and ensure the reaminder gets good light. My 7 watt 6500K wasn't enough. Some people use a simple plant light from Home Depot.

 

[wontonflip]

I've just been using a regular lamp with regular bulb, 60 watt, I think? The chaeto was thriving, too. It was so thick and full. I would rotate it, as well. I had to toss the whole thing out. It was a total goner. I'll get a new one and just remove the cover from that section so it gets unimpeded direct light like before.

 

[RAYRAY]

try this .....
http://melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html

 

[Bifferwine]

I use indoor plant bulbs from Lowe's (the greenish/blue colored ones). They are cheap, like $5 apiece.

 

[wontonflip]

Sweet. Thanks guys. I'll go check those 2 lights out.

 

[daugherty]

i use 2 96w 10k pc's on my sump