Cheato lighting?

[paulbeau]

Hi all,


I have recently had no luck growing caulerpa in my fuge, started off ok but keeps crashing after a few weeks. I have now cleared it from fuge and replaced it with cheato. I am now dosing iodine and iron. Do i leave lights on 24/7 or should i put lights on at night only???

Any help? thanks

 

[slowECUdiver]

if you can, light the fuge opposite the main tank. caulerpa needs light 24/7 or it can go sexual, which is what sounds like has happened to you. Chaeto won't go sexual and does a good job sucking up excess nutrients.

FWIW, unless you're testing for iodine and iron, i wouldn't dose them. i don't dose anything, and my chaeto grows well.

 

[Billybeau1]

Also if you light the fuge opposite of the main tank, it will help you with your ph swings from day to night

 

[AIMFish]

I have various caulerpa's and chaeto growing well with 2 lighting strategies, 24/7 and in the display. Lack of nutrients makes caulerpas' go sexual. You may not have enough nutrients, other than iodine and iron, to grow the specific type of caulerpa that you had, some are harder to grow than others. For me Chaeto is less demanding than my caulerpas'. Every system is different, keep your algaes' growth under control regardless of what type you have. Letting it over grow will only deplete nutrients for all of it instead of leaving enough to have a healthy mass.