Chaeto still not growing!!!

phastroh

phastroh

Do Not Listen To Me!!!
Ok so I put in a 65-75W Flood bulb that is in one of those reflector housings and it is pointing right at the chaeto and I turn it about one time every 3-4 days.

It sits in a HOB Refugium in m return chamber(after the skimmer) and it has a tiny water pump blowing water through it.

It has been like that for about 4-6 weeks. Not sure on the time but it looks like it hasn't grown a millimeter.

The light is about 8 inches away maybe.

My Nitrates are about 15ish.
 
I've found they grow best under 90+ watt (most even say 100w+). I also read if your light source generates too much heat, it won't grow, either. Are you using some kind of CFL?

Plus what's the kelvin rating of your lights? 6500k is what worked for me.

I use those spiral bulbs -- equivalent to I think it was 100w, with a kelvin rating of 6500K -- it's very white. It puts out enough wattage, but not a lot of heat.

Check out this article:

Melevsreef.com - Refugium Bulb

Here's what I use:

0004316885397_300X300.jpg
 
Last edited:
Yeah it is 6500 and I think 90watts now that you mentioned it.

I think you recommended that bulb to me but i found the same ratings on one at Lowes.

It is a CFL.
 
Well, with nitrates at around 15ppm, you might just not have a lot of nutrients to feed it. With my 45g, once I got the right bulbs, my nitrates when from around 50ppm to a constant 0ppm and my chaeto tripled in size in a month...then, after a while, the growth plateau'd and my chaeto stopped growing...I realized it might have been due to a very low bioload to begin with. It grew cuz I started out w/ high nitrates. But once it ate up all the nitrates, it slowed down. I only had 4 small fish, so not much bioload.
 
I'm guessing its lack of light. Turning the bulb on once every 3-4 days doenst sound sufficient to me. I have mine running 24x7

Try upping the time you have the light running. Chaeto is photosynthetic, so no matter how many nitrates / phosphates you have, if it isnt getting light, its not going to grow
 
No I turn the Chaeto not the bulb.

The bulb is on from 12Midnight to 4PM. So 16 hours a day.

The tank is on from 4PM to 12Midnight.
 
I had the same problem with some cheato I had awhile back.. I increased the flow going by it and started noticing growth soon after.. might help..
 
Is it possible that is may have gotten denser. It is stuffed into the fuge. To me it seems the same.

I was waiting for it to grow up and out and it isn't. It can get out of the water during evaporation but only like 1inch until I fill er up.

Is having the light 8 inches away ok.

Maybe my Nitrates are just never high enough.
 
Well that's your problem! Your chaeto is not magical! :lol:

But seriously I don't know why it's not growing. It sounds like you've got a good set up for it. I would try a 23 watt CFL bulb like Wonton said.
 
Yeah I took a try at cheato in my HOB also and it failed miserably. I tried 3 different bulbs different flow etc nothing worked it slowly just disintegrated
 
phastroh said:
No not from you.

It has great flow. It is in the return chamber with a tiny pump plugged into the side of the fuge.

It has great light, great flo just no grow.
Click to expand...

Forget the tiny pump. How much water is going through it from the main display per hour??
 
Oh I don't know. I have the typical bulkhead and a mag 9.5 pumping at about 80% I guess with how much the valve is closed.

Not sure how to know besides that and the 3 powerheads I have.
 

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