help growing chaeto

[scottayy]

so i've stuck with just 1 of the 26w 6500k bulbs (never added a second like i mentioned above)

the cheato has grown a lot!
but a portion of it is turning white

what does this mean? dying? too much light?

 

[mr_X]

the white portion is dying. not too much light though. is it on the top or bottom?

 

[scottayy]

I rotate it, but the white part tends to always turn towards the top.

It's weird that part of it would be dying while the rest of it has seen extensive growth.

 

[scottayy]

10w 6500k bulb:

after 13 days with 26w 6500k bulb:

nutrient level is still sufficient.. above 20ppm nitrates

I think algae may be stealing the nitrates though.. I'm trying to keep it at bay, just got an extensive clean up crew today

Should I cut out the white part?

 

[scottayy]

The white part is turning back green. It settled in a corner and seems to be good there.

Dunno why it went white on me.

 

[scottayy]

It's all green and growing now! Maybe it just needed time to adjust to the light change.

On some other notes I changed the heater in there to two 100w heaters. This gives me heaters that won't blow up and a backup in case one fails.

Also, should I clean the algae in the fuge?

 

[scottayy]

I'm posting this picture here for my own growth tracking purposes. It's been 19 days since the last picture (really feels like longer!).

I don't know what to think at this point.

It is really tightly wound so perhaps it is growing IN instead of out.

 

[mr_X]

it looks like it picked up some volume to me.

 

[David S]

Yeah,it looks like its doubled in thickness,again there may not be too much in your system to consume!!

 

[scottayy]

Yeah and it only recently started to float, which I read it's supposed to, so that's good.

There's plenty of nutrients available to consume lol. 20ppm nitrates, been battling with them

 

[scottayy]

Growing like crazy! Even though you can't tell with this picture. It's as wide as the fuge and almost as long and a couple inches in thickness.

How far should I let it go before trimming.. do I want like a big solid brick of it in there?

Also is it ok if my sump has algae and a little bit of cyano or should I try to keep it clean down there too

 

[mr_X]

you can leave it for a lot longer. i would not remove anything that is absorbing nutrients from the sump, even cyano.

 

[scottayy]

great to know, thanks!
the cyano is only on this filter floss i threw in there in case i need an emergency hospital tank

 

[scottayy]

mr_x do you think it would help the chaeto grow faster and absorb more nutrients if I put an additional 26w 6500k CF in there (that's what's in there now)

Again, the fuge is 10 x 9 x 14, approxmiately 5.5 gallons