freddie40
New member
The Background:
Over the last 4 years I have killed alot of cheato (can we call my fuge the "Death Fuge". About every 6-8 months I would have to totally replace the dead cheato, in between I did not have to harvest very much. Yes I know that my parameters are very low but... Anyway I have been doing some research and I may have been doing 2 things wrong:
1) Iodine. My iodine values were low last month when I sent my water to be tested by AWT. So, I have been adding 12 drops of Kent's Concentrated Iodine every day.
2) My choice of lighting. For the last few years I have been using these 2 lights (not at the same time). The first is a 38 watt work light with a 3000k bulb. The par of the light at the water surface is 400. The second is a 55 watt work light with a 6500k bulb. The par at the water surface is 550. I figure that if my cheato was dying I didn't have enough light. Recently I changed to a 100 watt Halogen worklight (par 175) and had more success, but heat would have become an issue over the summer.
Mike (PotHuntR) told me there was an article that suggested the exact bulb to use. After a bit of a search I found the article here on Melvevsreef.com. So, I ordered the bulb to see what would happen. Alright, I ordered the 16 and 19 watt versions, I will start with the 16 watt. My fuge is 14x10x10.
The experiment. I bought a clip-on lamp and have placed the 16 watt 5100k bulb about 4 inches above my fuge (par at the water line is 210). I have cropped the cheato (the fuge is 1/4 full although it looks fuller in the picture). Here is a picture from today (2/26/08) and I will see what happens over the next 2 weeks. I will post a follow-up and another picture.
I realize that this is not a truly scientific test since I changed the bulb and have started adding iodine. If I get good growth I will say that I have succeeded, regardless of what was the true winner.
Dave
Over the last 4 years I have killed alot of cheato (can we call my fuge the "Death Fuge". About every 6-8 months I would have to totally replace the dead cheato, in between I did not have to harvest very much. Yes I know that my parameters are very low but... Anyway I have been doing some research and I may have been doing 2 things wrong:
1) Iodine. My iodine values were low last month when I sent my water to be tested by AWT. So, I have been adding 12 drops of Kent's Concentrated Iodine every day.
2) My choice of lighting. For the last few years I have been using these 2 lights (not at the same time). The first is a 38 watt work light with a 3000k bulb. The par of the light at the water surface is 400. The second is a 55 watt work light with a 6500k bulb. The par at the water surface is 550. I figure that if my cheato was dying I didn't have enough light. Recently I changed to a 100 watt Halogen worklight (par 175) and had more success, but heat would have become an issue over the summer.
Mike (PotHuntR) told me there was an article that suggested the exact bulb to use. After a bit of a search I found the article here on Melvevsreef.com. So, I ordered the bulb to see what would happen. Alright, I ordered the 16 and 19 watt versions, I will start with the 16 watt. My fuge is 14x10x10.
The experiment. I bought a clip-on lamp and have placed the 16 watt 5100k bulb about 4 inches above my fuge (par at the water line is 210). I have cropped the cheato (the fuge is 1/4 full although it looks fuller in the picture). Here is a picture from today (2/26/08) and I will see what happens over the next 2 weeks. I will post a follow-up and another picture.
I realize that this is not a truly scientific test since I changed the bulb and have started adding iodine. If I get good growth I will say that I have succeeded, regardless of what was the true winner.
Dave
