Slow growing chaeto?

helitaiwan963

helitaiwan963

New member
Hey guys,

From what i've seen and read, everyone's chaeto grows like weeds and needs pruning every so often... My little ball of chaeto i've gotten from trackfast over the summer has barely grown! It's in my 75gal now and it's still barely growing... i'd say it went from baseball to softball sized in over 3 months! It's under 2x18watt T5ho nova extreme fixture.

Is this something to worry about or should i be happy i don't have phosphates and nitrates and stuff for the chaeto to soak up?


Thanks
Eric
 
have you actually tested your nitrates and phosphates to see how much you have? I'm assuming the fixture is 6500K color temp? I'm not familiar with the fixture. Chaeto grows best under 6500K, assuming you have nitrates and phosphates and adequate iron in your water.
 
ColaAddict said:
have you actually tested your nitrates and phosphates to see how much you have? I'm assuming the fixture is 6500K color temp? I'm not familiar with the fixture. Chaeto grows best under 6500K, assuming you have nitrates and phosphates and adequate iron in your water.
Click to expand...

Yup, i use api kits which i know aren't the best but i do test. nitrates and phosphates all show up as zero.

the fixture uses one 10k bulb and a 460nm actinic. it was taken off my old 29gal and used in the sump.


-Eric
 
I think your lighting is a little overkill for the chaeto, unless you plan on making your refugium into a refugium/frag tank. I guess if your nitrates/phos is low to non, then you are doing good. why don't you get a lower wattage light, since your chaeto's not growing that fast anyway. I use a PAR 38 from Lowes that uses only a few watts, 5000K temp and grows my chaeto like crazy.
 
ColaAddict said:
I think your lighting is a little overkill for the chaeto, unless you plan on making your refugium into a refugium/frag tank. I guess if your nitrates/phos is low to non, then you are doing good. I don't think chaeto utilizes actinic, so you are just wasting energy with that fixture in your refugium. You might as well turn it into a frag tank/refugium.
Click to expand...

Yea... i figured the actinic was useless for the chaeto but like i said, i just reused it. and yea, i have my frag rack in the sump as well. I stock any frags i have down there as i already don't want any more xenia in the DT besides the one rock i want a xenia forest on.

so hopefully this is good news for my tank. I've been wondering why my skimmer has been pulling less skimmate as well. i mean, it pulls out some really nasty stuff, but it usually takes 2-3 weeks to get to about half full on the cup.
 
There you go. If you have a strong enough light, might aswell do a refugium/frag tank combo. It makes your display tank look nicer without a frag rack.
 
My guess is you just don't have the nutrients to grow it, which is never a bad thing in a reef tank :) . My cheato grows slowly as well I dose MB7 have a huge skimmer and zeros on "n" and "p" when I test. I run the same cheapo light from lowes there as above so it's not a light issue for me. Basically the main purpose of the cheato is to soak up extra nutrients and if you don't have any it's doing it's job even if it's only the size of a soft ball.
Heidi
 
My cheato in my 125 has never been trimmed. Don't know why dont grow enough to have to trim either. I have hundreds of critters living in it and it's always looked fluffy but not enough for a haircut!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top