help growing chaeto

[scottayy]

I have a ball of chaeto in my refugium and it's about the size size as when I got it about 2 months ago. At the best I am sustaining its life but it is not growing any. A few strands have turned brownish/white at the ends but not very many.

My refugium chamber is 14" long x 9" deep x 10" high.. so that's 5.45 US gallons (though I do have rock and sand in there, so that will probably bring that down to 5 gallons or so).

I have a single coralife colormax 10W 6700k mini compact fluorescent in one of these clamp on light fixture from lowes (spring clamp holds light on edge of refugium, casing is metallic/refractory).

The light is about 4 inches above the surface of the water. The chaeto sits on the sand bed, with the top being about 6 inches under water.

How can I get it to grow better?

 

[mysticeel]

i think it is dieing/or already dead...try picking it up and if it easily pulls apart I would suggest throwing it out and getting a fresh batch...

 

[ccCapt]

Get a stronger light bulb. I use a 1 of these.
Amazon.com: GE 89095 Energy Smart 26-Watt Daylight Spiral Compact Fluorescent Bulb: Home Improvement

The chaeto shouldn't be on the bottom either. It floats.

 

[scottayy]

I don't think it is dead. When I pick it up it is still tightly wound and feels like im holding really thick fishing line.. just as i did when i first bought it.

Thanks ccCapt. The reflector I have should be fine then? Here is a picture of it...

http://i55.tinypic.com/33x7loo.jpg (old sump)

So since it's more watts that makes the bulb stronger? It's 6500k so I assume that's about the same as my 6700k.

Edit| It's not floating because I think the sump flow is pushing it to the bottom.
Edit2| There's about 250gph flow through the refugium.. too much?

 

[ccCapt]

Reflector is fine. I have about 900 gph thru my sump and it floats.

 

[scottayy]

looks very cool
what else do you have in there with the chaeto

 

[scottayy]

here's a picture of the fuge
im concerned about the light angle/distance from the water.. it's about the only place i can stick it though.

also what do you think i should add to my fuge to make it more fuge like (it looks nothing like yours )

more rock? a bottle of pods to get it seeded?

I don't feel like it has much benefit right now.

 

[scottayy]

I just received in the mail the exact same bulb as you ccCapt
hoping this makes my chaeto go nuts

 

[ccCapt]

Good luck. I buy mine from my local Ace Hardware.

 

[mr_X]

be careful of those visitherm stealth heaters. i have seen multiple threads where they have split open and failed. i would suggest a glass or titanium heater. up until recently, i was an advocate for them, but failing is fairly common.

 

[ksl1972]

Stealth heater is bad. Lucky it did not kill my fish. It gave me a good shock when I stuck my hand in the water.

 

[carey]

Yep theres a recall on the stealth, jsut bring it back to any petsmart and they will replace it with another heater. I had no luck with petco taking them back, told me I needed the receipt. But petsmart was no questions asked. I ended up replacing all my stealths with aqueon pros.

 

[scottayy]

I don't have a petsmart within 50 miles lol. I could go to the store I bought it from but I don't have a receipt.

I'm going to check the model # and see if it's one of the ones that were recalled.

 

[David S]

how long has the tank and fuge being going,it looks very clean for a fuge.

 

[scottayy]

well, this particular one, probably a month and a half to two months

 

[David S]

you may find the system too clean yet.

 

[deepseadan]

I don't think it is dead. When I pick it up it is still tightly wound and feels like im holding really thick fishing line.. just as i did when i first bought it.

Thanks ccCapt. The reflector I have should be fine then? Here is a picture of it...

http://i55.tinypic.com/33x7loo.jpg (old sump)

So since it's more watts that makes the bulb stronger? It's 6500k so I assume that's about the same as my 6700k.

Edit| It's not floating because I think the sump flow is pushing it to the bottom.
Edit2| There's about 250gph flow through the refugium.. too much?

I had a one inch piece of chaeto grow to the size of a baseball in three months, completely in the dark (hang on back fuge). No direct or indirect light ever. My main sump which has a mix of caulerpa and chaeto has about 2200 gallons an hour. I recommend trimming your chaeto way back. Start with three strands which are maybe 3 inches each. Also, if your tank is somewhat low on phosphates and nitrates, chaeto will struggle (ive found). That's why I use only keep a tiny amount of chaeto and a mix of caulerpa. Caulerpa seems to never stop growing.

 

[scottayy]

I have some good nitrate levels. About 20ppm. Worked it down from like +100.

I think it's growing now.

Do you guys think it would grow better if i placed 2 of the bulbs i have now up? That would be 2 x 26 watt 6500k compact fluorescents.

 

[carey]

Supposedly cheato grows with minimal lighting and too much might be "too much" lol. I had an led bulb over mine and it was browning mine out. I use a macroalgae light ficture now with 25watts and its growing. Had to trim just the other day too. More so the caulpera than the chaeto but it is all growing at least.

 

[scottayy]

oh nice.
a lot of the chaeto articles i read mention like 50+ watts (so two of my bulbs would be 52 watts)
i guess since it's growing, that's good
i'll try two bulbs and see what happens