Why is my Chaeto dying?

[bubba005]

I got a Chaeto ball for my refugium about two weeks ago and it has been struggling lately. Included is a picture of it and the fuge as well as the light I am using. It is a cheap hygger light from Amazon that is 8w, 778 lm, and 6500k. What can I do to bring the Chaeto back? I was running the light on full power for 12 hours per night but I just decreased it to 10 hours per night and lowered the brightness a bit. Is this too little? I was concerned about burning it at the initial strength. All help is appreciated!

 

[piranhaman00]

Stronger light and iron

 

[floridareeflabs]

You want full spectrum light and a good 10-12 hours a day is good. As for its health it takes a couple weeks for chaeto to adjust to new environments typically and it does require parameters to be stable. Alk 8's, calk,mag, phos, nitrate, ammonia, iron, temp. Once you are good there it should start to rebound within a month and grow. Sometimes the new tank is right on and chaeto takes off growing the first week but less common.