Killgore
New member
Ok... maybe that was little dramatic, but a title has got to be attention getting right? Ok... so I have a 29g tank, 10g fuge, skimmer and use nitrate and phosphate removal media. Tank has been up and running for like 8 months. pH has been 8.2 for I don't know how long... zero ammonia and nitrites. Upon using my filter media the phosphate and nitrates are low... consistently now for weeks. Calcium is 400-420 and carbonate is 11-12 normally...
I've got 5 fish... small fish... and soft corals such as xenia's, star polyps and a leather. Have a couple hard corals - birdsnest frag, monitpora, and a chalice. Oh and I have some zoas... a few... my decorator crabs seem to like accenting their shells.
Anyhow, my problem is Chaeto algae... or lack of it. I started with one small bunch months ago to try and use it as a method of nitrate and phosphate removal... nitrates were 20ppm and phosphates were about .5 at the time. Well, I used a 5k bulb fluorescent bulb with an aluminum reflector. I'd say the chaeto started out soft ball sized. Over time it started turning white(dying back) and continued to die back.
Now prior to getting chaeto I read through countless forums and threads. From what I've read I should have high flow so that the ball tumbles... I've also read that I should be using a 6.5k bulb at minimum. Now I used to study horticulture in college so I know about plants on land. At first I thought about the lighting. 5k lighting although not optimal should not have killed the chaeto... at most it would have grown more slowly... like a plant that's not getting enough light will usually elongate and stretch towards the light. And flow... even though it's suggested to have high flow, I know of one person whom I've seen there set up that literally has zero flow. He swears up and down to have next to no flow. He's got a 90 gallon fuge where the water comes in slowly in one corn and goes out the closest corner. On the opposite side of the tank literally feet away from the flow the chaeto grows full and thick... and there is practically zero flow through his tank.
So the old ball withered away. Just got a new ball... I've set up a 45 degree partition in the fuge that protects the chaeto from direct flow of the water... was still using the 5k light. And so the chaeto appears to be dying back still. So today I bought a 6.5k fluorescent bulb and moved the light a bit further away... it's a 100 watt fl. coiled bulb... and I'm using it with the same reflector. I'm hoping the die back stops and I start seeing some growth.
Anyone have any ideas of what I could be doing wrong or missing that would cause it to die back slowly like this? It's bugging the crap out of me because supposedly the stuff grows like weeds? Thanks for any help.
I've got 5 fish... small fish... and soft corals such as xenia's, star polyps and a leather. Have a couple hard corals - birdsnest frag, monitpora, and a chalice. Oh and I have some zoas... a few... my decorator crabs seem to like accenting their shells.
Anyhow, my problem is Chaeto algae... or lack of it. I started with one small bunch months ago to try and use it as a method of nitrate and phosphate removal... nitrates were 20ppm and phosphates were about .5 at the time. Well, I used a 5k bulb fluorescent bulb with an aluminum reflector. I'd say the chaeto started out soft ball sized. Over time it started turning white(dying back) and continued to die back.
Now prior to getting chaeto I read through countless forums and threads. From what I've read I should have high flow so that the ball tumbles... I've also read that I should be using a 6.5k bulb at minimum. Now I used to study horticulture in college so I know about plants on land. At first I thought about the lighting. 5k lighting although not optimal should not have killed the chaeto... at most it would have grown more slowly... like a plant that's not getting enough light will usually elongate and stretch towards the light. And flow... even though it's suggested to have high flow, I know of one person whom I've seen there set up that literally has zero flow. He swears up and down to have next to no flow. He's got a 90 gallon fuge where the water comes in slowly in one corn and goes out the closest corner. On the opposite side of the tank literally feet away from the flow the chaeto grows full and thick... and there is practically zero flow through his tank.
So the old ball withered away. Just got a new ball... I've set up a 45 degree partition in the fuge that protects the chaeto from direct flow of the water... was still using the 5k light. And so the chaeto appears to be dying back still. So today I bought a 6.5k fluorescent bulb and moved the light a bit further away... it's a 100 watt fl. coiled bulb... and I'm using it with the same reflector. I'm hoping the die back stops and I start seeing some growth.
Anyone have any ideas of what I could be doing wrong or missing that would cause it to die back slowly like this? It's bugging the crap out of me because supposedly the stuff grows like weeds? Thanks for any help.
