Chaeto Growth

[djtuzik]

Hi
I got this light,https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B4GQ6MO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and it's on for about 8 hours at night
I have phosphates
Why doesn't my chaeto grow?

 

[snowlynx]

I am curious as well. I switched from white leds to red and blue leds.

Mine is small hob fuge. I can't measure detectable phosphates but have green and cyano,
ongoing for months

 

[mcgyvr]

Hi
I got this light,https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01B4GQ6MO/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and it's on for about 8 hours at night
I have phosphates
Why doesn't my chaeto grow?

Leave the light on more..
12 hours or more..

More information is needed if you want a better answer..
tank information/age, phosphate/nitrate levels, iron level, height of light from the algae.. light setting/power..,etc...

 

[rockslide123]

Possibly you may need to supplement iron

 

[nereefpat]

No reason to run the fuge light for less than 16hrs.

And yes, I'd be curious to see PO4 levels. Could be NO3 limited, which you can test for. Could be Fe limited, which you can just add supplement. Could be not enough flow.

 

[mcgyvr]

No reason to run the fuge light for less than 16hrs.

And yes, I'd be curious to see PO4 levels. Could be NO3 limited, which you can test for. Could be Fe limited, which you can just add supplement. Could be not enough flow.

could just be that they are expecting the chaeto to double overnight and they have only been growing it for 3 days..
Not enough information was included in the original post..

 

[nereefpat]

Hah. Quite possibly a mismanagement of expectations.

 

[snowlynx]

mines been running for about one month, 10 hours a day.

Not expecting it to double in days, getting lots of cyano in the fuge,
mine is HOB.

I am getting green algae every few days and scrape that off the
front of the tank.

 

[MurphyLong]

I just wanted to chime in here with a piggybacked question... With Chaeto, is the flow supposed to be low to maximize contact time, or higher to cause the chaeto to 'tumble' in the fuge section of the sump?

Technically mine gets both, low flow for 23.5 hours a day, and once a day I open the bypass valve that flushes the return through the chaeto for about 30 minutes while I'm feeding...

 

[mcgyvr]

I just wanted to chime in here with a piggybacked question... With Chaeto, is the flow supposed to be low to maximize contact time, or higher to cause the chaeto to 'tumble' in the fuge section of the sump?

Technically mine gets both, low flow for 23.5 hours a day, and once a day I open the bypass valve that flushes the return through the chaeto for about 30 minutes while I'm feeding...

Chaeto isn't a skimmer.. "contact time" is not relevant here..

In general the thought behind the tumble is so that the "mound" is getting light on all sides so a large chunk of it isn't always shaded... So tumble it..

 

[MurphyLong]

Chaeto isn't a skimmer.. "contact time" is not relevant here..

In general the thought behind the tumble is so that the "mound" is getting light on all sides so a large chunk of it isn't always shaded... So tumble it..

The wad of chaeto I've got in there is getting "some" light almost all the way around, thanks to reflective tint on the glass, I just have to keep it clean. I remember reading many times, in several places on RC that you want lower flow to allow it time to absorb nutrients, which is why people were swapping impellers with smaller ones with HOB refugiums made from HOB filters. I'm not arguing the point, just looking for clarification either way.

 

[mcgyvr]

. I remember reading many times, in several places on RC that you want lower flow to allow it time to absorb nutrients,

Its really that's just a waste of energy to have high flow through a sump/fuge,etc... because chaeto/skimmers,etc... aren't "fast" processors so why use energy to move the water past it quickly..

In a perfect world the rate through the sump would match the rate at which whatever equipment is fully processing the water.. Because why use energy pumping water down there if most of that energy is just being wasted just moving the water..
Besides a GFO reactor/ and possibly some sulfur reactor there isn't anything that I can think of where you can measure zero nitrates or zero phosphates at the outlet of that device that I know of.. They can process stuff pretty fast.. All other methods don't AFAIK...