Cheato dying??

aj41568

aj41568

New member
Anyone have any idea why my cheato always dies off. Other people are harvesting like crazy and I can't keep it alive, and yes I have light on it ..lol
 
What kind of light are you using? Also how high is the light

I had a friend that was using the incorrect bulb and now he is cheato happy :D
 
Yes, bulb makes a huge difference, you want to make sure your bulb is between 4500k and 6500k "daylight" color. I swapped a 6500k cfl flood light for a 5000k led recently and chaeto growth has doubled. The led cannon throws almost all it's light directly on the macro instead of just spreading and lighting the whole fuge area. I picked my led up at home depot for $36, 15w, equal to 90w halogen, nice white coated finish, and 3 year warranty! Never need to replace the bulb for years!
 
FishBeard said:
Yes, bulb makes a huge difference, you want to make sure your bulb is between 4500k and 6500k "daylight" color. I swapped a 6500k cfl flood light for a 5000k led recently and chaeto growth has doubled. The led cannon throws almost all it's light directly on the macro instead of just spreading and lighting the whole fuge area. I picked my led up at home depot for $36, 15w, equal to 90w halogen, nice white coated finish, and 3 year warranty! Never need to replace the bulb for years!
Click to expand...

you definitely would recommend 5000k LED over 6500 CFL in a shop reflector? I just want to be sure because I'm going to go buy one if you do. I have a 5000 CFL and 6500 CFL and have definitely seen a better response in the 6500, but it is not a spot light and it definitely lights my whole sump (hence a light coating of algae growing on my sump. Good thread OP!
 
I just know the results I am seeing. More focused light in the fuge on the chaeto, less light spill growing algae in the rest of the sump or in my skimmer cone, reactors, etc... Chaeto has an amazing bright green glow in the new growth i never saw on the 6500k CFL. I think as long as you are in a daylight spectrum you are ok. Look at planted tanks, some guys run 3000k bulbs in their mix and get crazy growth.
 
do you think you could put too much light on it? I was thinking of just adding the LED to my 6500CFL (which I will point in from the back)
 
You can definitely over light your macro. I absolutely destroyed this huge beautiful Halimeada bush I wanted to grow in my display tank, 8x80w of T5 just cooked it, browned out and is dying off now. Very sad because it was such a beautiful piece.
 
Will see if any of it recovers in the fuge, but not getting my hopes up. It died off very quickly once it went downhill.
 
FishBeard said:
Yes, bulb makes a huge difference, you want to make sure your bulb is between 4500k and 6500k "daylight" color. I swapped a 6500k cfl flood light for a 5000k led recently and chaeto growth has doubled. The led cannon throws almost all it's light directly on the macro instead of just spreading and lighting the whole fuge area. I picked my led up at home depot for $36, 15w, equal to 90w halogen, nice white coated finish, and 3 year warranty! Never need to replace the bulb for years!
Click to expand...

I wonder how the 17w 3k version would perform?
 
Tbonekilla said:
I wonder how the 17w 3k version would perform?
Click to expand...

I dunno I would risk it on its own. Maybe using both a 2700-3000k LED side by side with a 4500-6500k LED would provide good results, I am happy with just the one 15w bulb right now so will stick with it!
 
I use a 6500k bulb and it grows my chaeto like crazy.

This is the LED i Use.

George, the chaeto you sent is already growing above my water level. It's awesome!!
 
KeishaKornbread said:
I use a 6500k bulb and it grows my chaeto like crazy.

This is the LED i Use.

George, the chaeto you sent is already growing above my water level. It's awesome!!
Click to expand...

I'll let the bro-in-law know you liked his home grown weed... I'm sure next trip down there I'll bring back another huge batch. He has a particularly happy to grow variety apparently... :-)
 
besides lighting and flow, Iron supplement will help macro-algae growth

I've done this in 2 different ways...
1 use a good Iron & Manganese supplement
2 use GFO upstream from your macro
 
I bought a cheap LED light bulb(6500) on ebay/amazon don't remember. Added some Kent Iron & Manganese. It grows out of the water, Nutrients undetectable with Salifert. At one point I was at 50 on Nitrates before this.
 
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