Refugium Grows Everything But Chaeto

[lousybreed]

You quote me, but your commentary seems to deal with other posters. I am arguing for the sake of growing chaeto- clearly. Only that I do not think always going to lighting, as the issue, really works on the right side of the equation for the case of the OP and mine, i.e. in an already established near zero nitrates and phosphates enviroment at least. It could simply be the nutrients are too low or some other element. We need to be clear on that..

Now I could see in what you have said about the reduction of need for GFO, as possibly suggesting that by letting the chaeto take more of the phosphate load more success with it will be had. In short (my take away) let phosphate rise till chaeto starts growing. But it would confirm what we needed to know from the get-go. If you want to benefit from chaeto you need slightly more phosphates to get it going. Which is where I was with this issue, and looking to see if this has been confirmed by others experience.

You are right, miss read your post. I now understand where you are coming from. I hear you that you have an ultra low nutrient tank. If I were you I would get the biggest ball of chaeto I could find, pull half of the gfo out, and let the algae settle in handling the load. Once you see success then keep backing off the gfo and let the algae continue to take over handling the phosphates. I went with a HPS lamp because I can almost guarantee you success. The tech has been around forever and it's a constant. All the bulbs put out the same basic spectrum. No guessing or experimenting. I like the 150w spotlights. I have a partially tumbling system but the fact that I am flowing water through the mass is what's important. It's getting the cleaned water away and bringing in new nutrients for the algae to consume. There are theories hat if you start with too small of a ball of chaeto it won't take off. Hope this helps!!

 

[jandrew]

You are right, miss read your post. I now understand where you are coming from. I hear you that you have an ultra low nutrient tank. If I were you I would get the biggest ball of chaeto I could find, pull half of the gfo out, and let the algae settle in handling the load. Once you see success then keep backing off the gfo and let the algae continue to take over handling the phosphates. I went with a HPS lamp because I can almost guarantee you success. The tech has been around forever and it's a constant. All the bulbs put out the same basic spectrum. No guessing or experimenting. I like the 150w spotlights. I have a partially tumbling system but the fact that I am flowing water through the mass is what's important. It's getting the cleaned water away and bringing in new nutrients for the algae to consume. There are theories hat if you start with too small of a ball of chaeto it won't take off. Hope this helps!!

Good insights, thank you! Trying the HPS light is interesting idea as I see you can get all the way down to 35Watts. Need the right spectrum/lumen level at the lowest possible heat point though. Now why is that important? Because I have a 36g tank with a 20+g Trigger System sump/fuge- it's a tight space underneath. Cannot fit a large light in there, and the heat produced by anything big would create serious problems. Just the led lights I did have were starting to push the temps up faster than I care for, but I managed it ok without having to put vent fans in just yet. Current Led in play is 100w equivalent,5000k,15watt actual,1700 lumen, CREE brand. Tested others too.

The thought of doing away with GFO is intriguing. I tested the vodka/vinegar dosing and decided I did not like it. Well if the chaeto ever takes off and have enough fuge space for the volume needed to get those phosphates down I will be in chaeto heaven.:celeb3:

 

[lousybreed]

Good luck. It's tough when space is at a premium. HPS lights do throw off heat, it might not be best for you. If you don't mind it look shitty, you could mount a 70w HPS over a 5 gallon bucket that is tied into your system and grow chaeto in there. It just depends on your space and what you are after. After one week my nitrates went from 16 to 12ppm and my phosphates went from 0.10 to 0.04. My chaeto growth is exploding and I am thinking in another week I will be at my end goal of 5ppm nitrates and almost undetectable phosphates. This tank has only been up for 5 weeks by the way!!