Lighting a Chaeto Refuge

[swiseman]

I have a small refuge in a section of my 33 gal sump that is full of Chaeto. The Chaeto has to be thinned out about one a month with the removed being placed in dry garbage. My question is regarding the lighting for the refuge. I run a single GE 55 watt PC bulb (5,000K) in a clip on light that is normally used for reptiles. The light is on for about 10 hours a day. The growth is really good so it is getting what it needs, however, there appears to be tiny cyano type film on the surface portion of the Chaeto. Do you think it is due to the light bulb itself or the photo period. I do have some 18 watt 6500k screw in PC bulbs that are made by Aquarium Systems that I could use instead, however, that are not as bright. Any thoughts.

btw, there are no traces of cyano in my main tank and this problem in the fuge has been there since day one.

[waterfaller1]

Chaetomorpha likes higher light than most macro.On my 30 fuge I have 2 X 65 wt 6500K Current PC's...stuff grows like crazy.On my small area fuge {small portion of sump in other tank} I keep a 75 wt 38 par bulb= 5100 K.{uses 19 wts=75 wts....great bulb that you can get at HD for 10$,use with clip on socket...remove reflector.}Stuff is growing good there too.
Pic of bulb

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v223/waterfaller1/new_bulb.jpg

[kmk2307]

I don't think the lighting has any affect on the cyano. What is the water flow like in your 'fuge? What kind of return pump do you use? Cyanobacteria like low flow. Due to its three dimensional structure when it forms a mat, Chaetomorpha tends to accumulate phosphate-rich detritus. Cyanobacteria are one of the best competitors in a phosphate rich microhabitat, so cyanobacteria will often grow attached to the surface of Chaeto.

I use two screw-in PC lamps with an actual wattage of 45 watts each over my 20L 'fuge where I exclusively grow Chaetomorpha.

HTH,
Kevin

[swiseman]

I am running a Quiet One 4000 High Head which is rated for 980GPH. With head loss and the the fact that I have a ball valve on the return pipe to reduce the amount of microbubbles I would say there is around 600-700 GPH going through the sump. Now that I think of it, its probably less than that because I have the the water to the sump split so half goes to the other side where the skimmer is located. I was told on another forum that you don't want the water going through the sump too fast so there is time for denitrification in the refuge side and so that the skimmer has time to do its job as well. Here is a picture from the first day of operation. The fuge is crammed full of chaeto now and I have to thin it out about once a month. There has been one change to the plumbing since this picture was taken. The Drain pipe no longer has two elbows before the tee, it is now a straight pipe coming off a 45 degree elbow at the bulkhead.

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/61704113_1372.JPG

[killagoby]

I run 150GPH w/ a 18w PC bulb on my 12" CPR fuge and my Cheateo does just fine...

[shoddyk]

Would a 96watt 10,000k PC bulb be way too much to grow chaeto?

[kmk2307]

shoddyk, definately not assuming it is at least a couple inches above the water.

Kevin

[shoddyk]

I was just wondering if anyone has used it before. I have 3 x 20gallon tanks with macro and I am running 2 of the melven bulbs in each tank. 2 x 19watt tcp bulbs.