having trouble growing chaeto algae

[dviper150]

I have a 29 gallon fuge setup with live rock, deep sand back and chaeto in it. A few months ago, I had a 10 gallon standard hood light sitting on top of my fuge and everytime I added chaeto to the fuge under that light, it would slowly wither away so I figured it might be the lighting. I later switched the light from that to a 24" t5 light with a white and blue bulb. The only flow I have in my fuge right now is the pipe that is bringing the water from my overflow box down to the fuge. I tried adding a koralia fan but that would always end up shredding all the chaeto. I have very little flow in my fuge.

Even after adding the new light, I am noticing now that the chaeto is dying off a little and the big ball I first got is now smaller. What I am doing wrong that I can't grow chaeto. I have plenty of nitrates so I don't think that is the issue. Any suggestions and help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[redfishblewfish]

My guess is that the spectrum coming from the T5’s isn’t good for algae growth.

Pick up an inexpensive clamp light from Home Depot and put in a full spectrum compact florescent bulb…up into the 20+ watts range. Your cheato will grow like mad.

[thereeftank]

What are your nitrates at? could be you don't have enough nutrients to support the growth.

[PRDubois]

+1 to the clip on light, but the BULB is the most important part.
Color Temperature (Kelvins) 6500.0

What you want is sold at Lowes:
SYLVANIA 2-Pack 60-Watt Equivalent Daylight Compact Fluorescent Light BulbItem #: 302424 | Model #: 26965

[PRDubois]

Home Depot does not sell SYLVANIA. Thier version of the same bulb is only 5500k which will work, but not as good

[zhewitt04]

Algae grows much better at a kevlin rating of 2700K to 3000K. 6000 seems a little high. I have read plenty on this since I have started my algae scrubber and the people in that thread suggest the use of a 34 watt cfl at 3300k. Growing algae like mad!

[dviper150]

The fixture I currently have on the tank is like this

http://www.marineandreef.com/Nova_Ex...p/rcu01124.htm

I also have that clamp fixture but the only problem is that I only have about 4" of room above the refugium. I can put the clamp fixture on the side of the tank but not sure if the rays would be enough from the side and angle rather than the top. Does this sound like a lighting issue or do I have to increase the flow in my fuge too? I can't use koralias or other fans so I would need to find another way.

[a.browning]

If you magnesium is low, chaeto will not grow in my experience. Might be worth checking out. I also use the spiral 6500K bulbs from Lowes.

[dviper150]

Didn't feel the need to check magnesium levels in a fowlr tank but will check it at my lfs. Would those clamp fixtures work the same if I set it up next to the tank at an angle so that half of the rays are going through the top and the other half through the glass? or does it have to be sitting on top? I can't set mine on top due to space restrictions.

[danil]

Your light is OK. Actually any light will work for growing chaeto. Even with no lights at all it will still survive. I verified it by myself keeping chaeto in dark for almost two months - no problem. If your chaeto isn't growing there is only one explanation to it - lack of nutrients. Is it bad? Some people spends a fortune to get to this point some just hate low nutrient tanks. Check your phosphate and nitrate if it reads 0 chaeto wont like these readings.

[dviper150]

I am pretty sure my phos are high, not sure because I haven't checked those and don't have the test kit to either. i will need to get that checked by my lfs. My nitrates however are around 100ppm.

Should I add more flow to the fuge or do they do better with little flow? This is I think my 6th big clump that I have added and seems like this one is withering away slowly too.

[stingythingy45]

I have about 30 gph going through my fuge and the chaeto grows like crazy.
It needs time to extract nutrients from the water.
Also,definitely change the light if you can fit one under the tank.I have what all the others have mentioned and it works great.
It has been said that low Iron will cause chaeto not to grow.

[dviper150]

I will add the light that was previously mentioned but I can only keep it at an angle to the tank since it won't fit on top of it. Not sure if it will be the same but I will try.

I will purchase a stronger bulb, maybe the 34w and see if that makes a difference. I think I have about the same amount of flow as you (Bob) in my fuge, around 30gph. I noticed the top part of the chaeto that is facing the light and a little of the sides are starting to turn pale and white. It isn't the green color anymore that it was when I got it.

[heckfire]

supplement iron....

[dviper150]

I will try that too.

[CRC88]

I don't know if anyone's mentioned it, but keep your light on 24/7. I found this to be VERY important. I brought home a soccer ball sized chunk from my LFS, put it in the 'fuge, and it just withered away over the course of a month or two. As soon as I started keeping my light on 24/7, I found it to grow like crazy and it quadrupled in size. It was neat to track the growth everyday when I came home.

My cheato has since died back, but I think that was more related to a change in plumbing that I did, which also killed almost all my snails.

I've always heard cheato grows like crazy and is very hardy for some people, but the more I kept looking, I also found a large number of people out there who just can't seem to keep it in their system for the life of them. Perhaps we're both those kinda people.

[rcmania]

im going to disagree with leaving it on 24/7. i wouldnt. I rotate my fug light with my DT lights. This also helps out with ph issues at night. So when my DT lights go out my fug light comes on about an hour afterwards. I also upgraded to the light fixture as mentioned above, about 4 weeks a qo cause my cheato wasnt growing well. I bought mine at walmart for 8 bucks. I placed a bulb in it and a week later my cheato had doubled in size. Now its about 4 times larger from when i first got it. I just clipped it on the side of the tank and let it do its thing.

[Ron Reefman]

I'll admit to having a similar problem as the OP, the macro algae in my fuge doesn't grow very well either. I thought it was the light, but after several changes in color, wattage and time (24/7 vs 12 on/12 off) I saw virtually no change. BTW, alternating your fuge light with the DT lights makes such a small difference to your pH that it really isn't an issue. So then I played with the flow thru the fuge (I have a bypass pipe so I can control flow thru the fuge) and still no change. Chaeto didn't grow much at all, some othe algaes did grow a little better. But macro algae needs phosphates AND nitrates in order to grow. My phosphates are always zero (so says my crap test kit... I'm getting a Hanna checker for Christmas) and my nitrates are always zero as well (even after not doing a water change for 8 weeks). I do have a lot of LR (both DT's, fuge, around the skimmer and the sump pump), great water flow thru both DT's, a 2' x 2' refugium with a DSB and macro algae that survives, a diy coil de-nitrator (works great), a strong skimmer and some decorative macro algae in the nem tank that does grow pretty well (it gets some real light from a north facing window as well as 250w MH).

[thegrun]

+1 on running your lights opposite your DT to help balance the tank's Ph. I run my refugium lights for 17 hours a day, opposite the most intense lighting photoperiod of the DT. Also it helps a lot to keep the cheato up near the water’s surface. Prop it up on live rock or an egg crate stand if it is sitting under a few inches of water.

[mess7777]

I had the 6000K cool white CF light, and mine grew very slowly. I switched to the 2700K bulb and it nearly doubled in two weeks. Your results may be different, experiment until it works for you. Also....if your nutrients (Phos and Nitrates) are very low....of course it will grow more slowly.