Chaeto in Fuge will NOT grow... Just dies away

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nanonano

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I use this light...

http://www.shopping.com/xPO-Coralife_18_Co...ht_Retrofit_Kit">http://www.shopping.com/xPO-Coralife_18_Co...ht_Retrofit_Kit</a>

I thought 6500 was good for Chaeto.

The bulb says Actinic 03 50/50 6500.

I thought about ordering one of those 5100k bulbs like this:

[IMG]http://www.lightbulbsdirect.com/page/001/P...ectors/1P381951">http://www.lightbulbsdirect.com/page/001/P...ectors/1P381951</a>

But I wouldn't know what to put it in. I can't hang it.

I have a CPR Aquafuge2 HOB Medium Refugium. Chaeto has been there for almost 2 months and has ZERO growth.

The flow is good enough I believe.

Thanks!

Bill
 
Yeah I read that and that's the bulb I referenced in the 2nd link.

The problem is I don't know what to put the bulb in? How to clip it to the fuge?
 
I used to use a coralife pc 50/50 and mine always died.So i decided to switch to the one melvsreef suggested and now it usually maintains, i wouldnt say its growing out of control (does grow some) but def doesnt die now...
 
gmpolan;488500 wrote: I used to use a coralife pc 50/50 and mine always died.So i decided to switch to the one melvsreef suggested and now it usually maintains, i wouldnt say its growing out of control (does grow some) but def doesnt die now...
Click to expand...

Does the bulb come with a fixture? I'm really at a loss of how to mount it over the fuge.
 
HD has them.... Lowes too i think.
1-14-clamp%20light.jpg
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How much carbon and phosphate remover are you running? With the low volume and light bioload you may not have enough nutrients in the water to allow it to grow. Which isn't a bad thing. If you have other types of algae growing wildly in the tank and couldn't grow chaeto then I'd worry about it, but otherwise not so much.
 
I have it in 2 tanks with one of those shop light things like a couple of posts back. in 1 tank the light is pretty high and growth isnt so great. in the other tank the light is down close to the refuge and that stuff grows like crazy. I just run the little screw in compact flouresent natural daylight bulbs like they sell at HD in em.
 
Yeah, I would say that if it is going to grow, it will grow under just a normal bulb from HD. I actually blew my $20 bulb from HD, and threw in a regular old 60W or whatever from my bathroom. Its grown like crazy with that bulb, go figure.

Tyler
 
Budsreef;488521 wrote: How much carbon and phosphate remover are you running? With the low volume and light bioload you may not have enough nutrients in the water to allow it to grow. Which isn't a bad thing. If you have other types of algae growing wildly in the tank and couldn't grow chaeto then I'd worry about it, but otherwise not so much.
Click to expand...

I run Chemi Pure Elite and Purigen through a BRS Dual Reactor. I have GHA going nuts in my tank. I don't overdo lights or feeding but I think the filter floss I left in the BRS reactor for 2 weeks turned into an insane nitrate factory. It's all gone now.
 
How much flow through your fuge? I always heard slower was better, but I had mine running TOO slow and chaeto would die off. I now run about 250gph (estimated) through a little 10g container with the light on a reverse cycle and it grows great. Just pulled some out today as a matter of fact, and it was loaded with pods. I dunked it in the DT for a few seconds and shook a bunch of pods off, chromis went crazy!
 
Yeah, this sound very familiar. Running a nano is different, and this is one of the reasons. I tried growing caulerpa in my 10g sump and it was pretty much a bust, despite the GHA everywhere on my rock. The "leaves" all died off and left a big mess... and the stray light starting stuff growing on in my sump... more to clean. And my nitrates read 0 from the beginning.

I had pretty much decided to live with the GHA until I could get an algae scrubber going...which is a similar concept to a fuge. In the meantime, I accidentally hit upon a solution. I was dosing vitamin C because my zoanthids wouldn't open up. Well low and behold, my GHA started to recede as well. It's hard to explain, but this one technique caused some sort of seismic shift in my water, now my tank is behaving "like everyone else's". I have a bit of algae left, but it's maybe 1/8th of what I had... and the snails are chowing down on what's left.

I've posted some details about VC dosing it
showpost.php
 
toeside;488720 wrote: Yeah, this sound very familiar. Running a nano is different, and this is one of the reasons. I tried growing caulerpa in my 10g sump and it was pretty much a bust, despite the GHA everywhere on my rock. The "leaves" all died off and left a big mess... and the stray light starting stuff growing on in my sump... more to clean. And my nitrates read 0 from the beginning.

I had pretty much decided to live with the GHA until I could get an algae scrubber going...which is a similar concept to a fuge. In the meantime, I accidentally hit upon a solution. I was dosing vitamin C because my zoanthids wouldn't open up. Well low and behold, my GHA started to recede as well. It's hard to explain, but this one technique caused some sort of seismic shift in my water, now my tank is behaving "like everyone else's". I have a bit of algae left, but it's maybe 1/8th of what I had... and the snails are chowing down on what's left.

I've posted some details about VC dosing it http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showpost.php?p=485463&postcount=14">in another thread</a>. It's pretty low risk to try.[/QUOTE]


It's been speculated on RC that VC dosing is another form of carbon dosing, thus achieving the same results as VSV dosing (mainly, no nitrates and no algae), so it's not THAT surprising :thumbs:
Click to expand...
 
I use a fixture that is meant for under the cabinets in a kitchen, then changed the bulb to a plant grow light.. don't know if this is good or not in other peoples opinions, but my chaeto grows like crazy.. I leave the light on under the tank 24/7. I do not have any other algae in my tank except a light dusting of diatoms from time to time.. grrr..
 
au01st;488710 wrote: How much flow through your fuge? I always heard slower was better, but I had mine running TOO slow and chaeto would die off. I now run about 250gph (estimated) through a little 10g container with the light on a reverse cycle and it grows great. Just pulled some out today as a matter of fact, and it was loaded with pods. I dunked it in the DT for a few seconds and shook a bunch of pods off, chromis went crazy!
Click to expand...

The flow is OK. It's not incredible. The powerhead pulls water from the display into a chamber in the fuge and then pushes its across and over a lip that goes into the last chamber and pushes it back into the tank...

I can't figure out how to increase the flow. A PH won't fit in there anywhere really.
 
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