rO.oster Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 reefers, I have been running a fuge in my BC29 for the last 5 months (tank specs and setup in OP of my build thread), with a DIY 13w CFL supercompact fuge light powering the fuge. Initially, the growth was phenominal, and the chaeto ball would double weekly, the ball itself would be fluffy, and the chaeto strands long and straight. I would always remove 3/4 of the ball every 2 weeks, to allow room for new growth. Now, 6 months in, the chateo ball hardly grows, and the growth is tight and knotted. No matter if I pull the ball apart to make it looser so light penetrates, it remains this way, often floating at the top of the fuge basket. Now, becuase of this I cleaned out my fuge and scraped the fuge basket/back glass free of coraline so it recieves max lighting. Still no luck. What has happened to my chaeto? Do I need to replace my CFL bulb? Also, I think the 6 month syndrom has occured in my tank, as the cyano just wont leave my sandbed, no matter how little and carefully I feed. Aqualife 115 skimmer is pulling dark green skim, and chaeto refuses to grow right. Please help, thanks! Link to comment
Daleo Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 How are your nutrients? If your nitrates are low, I would say it is growing slower because there is less "fertilizer" for it. Link to comment
rO.oster Posted January 21, 2011 Author Share Posted January 21, 2011 yes but the cyano algae seems to be increasing its reign from a few spots, to now having patches of sandbed covered. and i have some small leaf vine creeping macro i put in there a month ago (was hiding in a piece of LR i used to glue some xenia down to) and its now spreading niclely. also, had both of my new peppermin shrimp go stoned for a few days, then die. so im assuming my nitrates are on the high side. ill get the test kit out tonight, but im fairly sure they have enough food. Link to comment
rO.oster Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 anyone with any advice please? Link to comment
johnmaloney Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 maybe nitrate/phosphate imbalance...not an iron deficiency, cyano needs iron too...cyano prefers a phosphate favored imbalance too I think...so your tank is probably nitrate limited and that is hampering your chaeto growth. Normally it would be a good thing, but it seems you have avail. phosphates you want to take care of, GFO would probably work well in your system at this point...you don't run it already though by any chance do you? Nitrates might help growth and additional phosphate consumption from your chaeto, but feeding extra wont help you any, phosphates are a by product of that process too. Link to comment
rO.oster Posted January 22, 2011 Author Share Posted January 22, 2011 maybe nitrate/phosphate imbalance...not an iron deficiency, cyano needs iron too...cyano prefers a phosphate favored imbalance too I think...so your tank is probably nitrate limited and that is hampering your chaeto growth. Normally it would be a good thing, but it seems you have avail. phosphates you want to take care of, GFO would probably work well in your system at this point...you don't run it already though by any chance do you? Nitrates might help growth and additional phosphate consumption from your chaeto, but feeding extra wont help you any, phosphates are a by product of that process too. I do not run any GFO, just Chemipure Elite and Purigen. I was under the assumption one of these handled phosphates. +1 thanks for your insightful reply, I will run the tests tomorrow and see what the readings say for nitrates and phosphate. I would imagine the skimmer is more readily pulling nitrates out, leaving phosphates behind. I also saw that bulkreefsupply is carrying GFO phosphate remover. just read the specs on purigen, seems like im giving nitrates a double whammy. now, my chemipure elite and purigen is at about month 2 of usage, i replace both with fresh at 3 months use. when i cleaned out the back of my fuge areas, i kinda disturbed the chemipure elite bag and had to rinse it out in old waterchange water and it released a lot of fine carbon. i wonder if i reduced its effectivness. Link to comment
rO.oster Posted January 23, 2011 Author Share Posted January 23, 2011 Parameters Update. my API test kits are all roughly 1 year old now. pH: 8.3 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: 0 Phosphate: 0.0-0.1 Calcium: 440 Carbonate Hardness: 7.5 I am using Instant Ocean reef crystals, 1 - 1.5 weekly water changes, 20%. I try and rotate the chaeto ball every few days so each side gets full light. I'm pretty stumped as to what the issue is. Maybe there really isnt much food for it to grow on, but why the persisting cyano (red slime) problem? Thanks for any help Link to comment
rO.oster Posted January 25, 2011 Author Share Posted January 25, 2011 anyone else have any comments? Link to comment
thevidon Posted January 29, 2011 Share Posted January 29, 2011 anyone else have any comments? Get some Caulerpa instead of Chaeto. That stuff grows like mad and will easily outcompete chaeto for nutrients. Link to comment
rO.oster Posted February 10, 2011 Author Share Posted February 10, 2011 Alternative way to reduce Nitrate and Phosphate levels without buying GFO. I've also went ahead and replaced the compact CFL that is lighting my fuge, since there was cyano growing back there too, hopefully this kickstarts the growth again. Link to comment
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