Is this light sufficient for chaeto?

[BamaCoastPyrat]

Is this light capable of growing chaeto? It is the one I'm using in my sump and I'm starting to grow suspicious that it is the reason my chaeto seems to be shrinking by the day. My display tank is growing green hair algae, cyano, along with pink, purple and green coralline algae. My sump is growing green hair algae and bubble algae, but the chaeto is not growing at all.

 

[dstockwell]

I hope so have not had it long enough to know yet. How long are you running I am on 12 hours opposite of tank time.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

I hope so have not had it long enough to know yet. How long are you running I am on 12 hours opposite of tank time.

Do you have the same light?

For a while I've been running it a full 24 hours. I was originally running 12 hours opposite the DT but since it wasn't growing I thought maybe extra time would help.

 

[dstockwell]

Yes, same light, I run from 10 pm to 10 am.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

When it becomes obvious whether it is or is not working, please check back in.

 

[neonreef3d]

its fine,,, you will find out quickly that it does not take too much to grow that stuff,,, I grow mine with a 9W smart bulb, and it sucking all the nutrients out of my water, and I feed heavy too... my Po4 is pretty much zero, so I had to turn my skimmer off during the day, and cut the hours of the light down to 7 hours, and start dosing phosphate.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

This will grow all the algae you could ever want.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

its fine,,, you will find out quickly that it does not take too much to grow that stuff,,, I grow mine with a 9W smart bulb, and it sucking all the nutrients out of my water, and I feed heavy too... my Po4 is pretty much zero, so I had to turn my skimmer off during the day, and cut the hours of the light down to 7 hours, and start dosing phosphate.

Alright, well then I have another issue. If I leave the chaeto in the refugium without a powerhead on it, it gets covered by green hair algae and bubble algae. The powerhead that I have to put in there to tumble it is too powerful and just breaks everything apart. I tried another of other configurations that didn't work and currently have the chaeto floating in an open hang on the back filter with the fuge light pointing at it. The light is on 24 hours a day which even without the chaeto growing, enough other stuff is growing in the fuge combined with coralline up top, the bad stuff is growing slow enough that my CUC is able to keep up.

I'm dosing with chaetogrow and the nutrient levels I test seem to remain pretty steady. The last test was:

Temp 79.2
Specific gravity 1.023
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 13.0
pH 7.8
dKH ~ 8°
Ca ~ 450

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Alright, well then I have another issue. If I leave the chaeto in the refugium without a powerhead on it, it gets covered by green hair algae and bubble algae. The powerhead that I have to put in there to tumble it is too powerful and just breaks everything apart. I tried another of other configurations that didn't work and currently have the chaeto floating in an open hang on the back filter with the fuge light pointing at it. The light is on 24 hours a day which even without the chaeto growing, enough other stuff is growing in the fuge combined with coralline up top, the bad stuff is growing slow enough that my CUC is able to keep up.

I'm dosing with chaetogrow and the nutrient levels I test seem to remain pretty steady. The last test was:

Temp 79.2
Specific gravity 1.023
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 13.0
pH 7.8
dKH ~ 8°
Ca ~ 450

The whole point of having macro growing in your refugium is to prevent algae in the display (unless you're @Eagle_Steve, lol) It really doesn't matter WHAT type of macro... Hair and bubble algae are going to do the same thing for you as chaeto will. Just remember to prune whatever type of algae you grow periodically.
(I once had cyano coating my entire refugium... No cyano in the display and no noticable problem algae in the display either. Whatever works best, use it )

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

As for improving flow in the fuge, you can tee off from a drain or your return and have some water flow into the fuge chamber...

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

The whole point of having macro growing in your refugium is to prevent algae in the display (unless you're @Eagle_Steve, lol) It really doesn't matter WHAT type of macro... Hair and bubble algae are going to do the same thing for you as chaeto will. Just remember to prune whatever type of algae you grow periodically.
(I once had cyano coating my entire refugium... No cyano in the display and no noticable problem algae in the display either. Whatever works best, use it )

Yeah, I agree. You're right. That's why I'm not too worried about this. But I would be lying if I said it wasn't driving me crazy that I can't figure the chaeto out!

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

As for improving flow in the fuge, you can tee off from a drain or your return and have some water flow into the fuge chamber...

That's a good idea. I have a small powerhead that I'm going to try next. If that doesn't work I may give that a shot.

 

[Lavey29]

I tried the cheap Amazon LED with no luck and hanging a bulb home depot light in the cabinet worried me due to heat and fire hazard. I bought a Neptune gro light and now I prune off large size chaeto clumps every 2 weeks. Grows like crazy.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

That's a good idea. I have a small powerhead that I'm going to try next. If that doesn't work I may give that a shot.

Anytime I tried a powerhead, it quickly got clogged up with caulerpa (grows better for me than chaeto).

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

That's a good idea. I have a small powerhead that I'm going to try next. If that doesn't work I may give that a shot.

I just re-read your post... If chaeto is not growing well, I suggest you try caulerpa. I prefer the feather types over the grape, but both grow very well for me and I can't seem to keep chaeto alive.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

I just re-read your post... If chaeto is not growing well, I suggest you try caulerpa. I prefer the feather types over the grape, but both grow very well for me and I can't seem to keep chaeto alive.

I will give caulerpa a shot. I had a small piece of it that looked like it was going to take off and then I had a snail jail break and they devoured the caulerpa.

But do you anchor your caulerpa or just let it free float in the refugium? I have heard caulerpa does better if it is somehow anchored.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

I tried the cheap Amazon LED with no luck and hanging a bulb home depot light in the cabinet worried me due to heat and fire hazard. I bought a Neptune gro light and now I prune off large size chaeto clumps every 2 weeks. Grows like crazy.

Hmmmmm.... I may have to look into this Neptune light. Thank you

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I will give caulerpa a shot. I had a small piece of it that looked like it was going to take off and then I had a snail jail break and they devoured the caulerpa.

But do you anchor your caulerpa or just let it free float in the refugium? I have heard caulerpa does better if it is somehow anchored.

I let it float. If your fuge is set up so that the algae can float over to the next chamber, then I guess you could place the ends of the pieces under a rock, but I've never done that.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hmmmmm.... I may have to look into this Neptune light. Thank you

An LED bulb in the clamp light does not put off any significant amount of heat and is not a fire hazard.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

I let it float. If your fuge is set up so that the algae can float over to the next chamber, then I guess you could place the ends of the pieces under a rock, but I've never done that.

The fuge just has little slits to allow water to flow through. It would likely be fine without being anchored.