Why cant I grow chaeto?

[jimrawr]

This is the third seperate time I have tried to grow chaeto to export nutrients, and this is the third time its all died within a couple weeks. My PO4 is .09 so I wanted to get it down via some chaeto, but the stuff just dies. Ive tried two seperate light fixtures down there, my newest one is a Lights of America flood light from Home Depot, which a friend of mine uses and his grows like crazy so I know its not my light.. I have a bit of hair algae growing in my display so I need to get this macro algae going


http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp120/jimrawr/2011-10-09201046.jpg

[2reefnutz]

Just an idea....but from the light up top and the heaters directly below...it may be getting cooked?

[biecacka]

do you have it tumbling down there to with some water current?

[Tim gixxerman]

Are you running GFO?

[jimrawr]

Its not tumbling, just the water that flows through my sump. That light doesnt put off much heat and the heaters are on/off through the day. For the most part its not on the heaters its in the front left corner, it just moved on top of the heaters a few days ago.

I am running GFO right now because the macro wasnt growing, only had that in for a couple days too.

[jimrawr]

I added in a Koralia 3 for some flow, anyone else have any ideas??

[a.browning]

I had trouble keeping Chaeto when my Mg levels were low (around 1200) but since raising it to 1300 it has taken off and fixed my issue.

What are your nitrates reading at? If you have little to no nitrates, I wouldn't expect the chaeto to do too well since they utilize more N than P.

[Hyperion1337]

have u checked the Kelvin rating for your lighting, it looks a bit yellowsh in the pic. I switched mine from 2,700k (cool white) to 6,700k (daylight) and it has grown like crazy.

[a.browning]

have u checked the Kelvin rating for your lighting, it looks a bit yellowsh in the pic. I switched mine from 2,700k (cool white) to 6,700k (daylight) and it has grown like crazy.

+1 I'm also using 6700k compact flourescents.

[reefer10245]

I would definitely agree about the color temps. That's what worked for me.

[Jeremy Blaze]

Mine grows well nder a cheap screw in cf house bulbs. Also have heaters under it, no tumbling, altough I tumble it by hand once a week or so.

I am running gfo 24/7 as well.

No skimmer, heavy feeding.

[jimrawr]

Bulb is a 6,500k that came with the unit, and a friend uses the exact same fixture and his grows like crazy. I think its that I have no nitrates and chaeto cant survive alone off PO4 like a.browning stated

[RotaryGeek]

I could never grow it either. Used a 6500k flood light and had it tumbling in my sump like it should. It would grow for a week or two and then just die off. Eventually I just stopped caring. It disappeared and so did my phosphates and nitrates. Never looked back. The only thing in my sump is my skimmer, heater, carbon reactor, and return pump.

[Jeremy Blaze]

How many fish you got in the tank?

How often do you feed?

[Lynnmw1208]

It's probably low nutrients. Mine has stopped growing because of this. I feed mainly pellets and only have 7 fish in a 125 gallon tank. I also run GFO. So my cheato is dying back just like yours.

[falconut]

Your issue sounds like mine. I used to be able to grow it like crazy. I was using GFO and then switched to bio pellets. Both PO4 & NO3 tested 0, but recently I've gotten 0.03 - 0.05 on the PO4 test. I've tried everything and nothing worked. I think it's the lack of NO3. My mangroves still grow, so they must require less.