ttbanks Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Has anyone had trouble growing cheato? I have a DIY fuge light with a 75w day light bulb. I'm been running the timer for 12 hrs and recently bumped the time up to 14. I had decent growth then had a small algae bloom begining....have small amounts of green hair alage and turf forming.....can only assume Cheato is getting out competed for food... Water parameters are spot on 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates. I assume there are some phosphates otherwise I wouldn't be growing alage.... Running Purigen and Chemi Pure ELite both are almost 90 days old. appreciate thoughts and suggestions. TB Link to comment
x3thelast Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 i had the same problem when i ran CPE in my fuge. problem solved when i removed the CPE. im now just running sea gel/purigen and the chaeto. take out the cpe and cut out the mush algae part and see what happens. Link to comment
ttbanks Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 thanks - testing Phospates again last night...tank, ato and RO/ID. FOund my ATO container was leaching phospate...tank and RO/ID tested 0 with API test. this may be the reason I'm seeing an outbreak of algae. read in other post people leaving the fuge light on 24/7...may try that for a few days and see if cheato catches up. Replaced the container with my QT tank as a temp fix and added fresh RO. Also, replaced the CPE last night...my thought was get ahead of the algae outbreak and replace the cheato if needed.... Thoughts on strategy? Link to comment
igotreefermadness Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I'm running purigen, CPE, and a bakpak skimmer on my 20g system and my chaeto is out of control. Make sure it has good flow, And when you say algae began do you mean it began where your chaeto is growing or in your display? GHA is usually resultant of phosphates, and diatoms are normally resultant of a tank still cycling. So it sounds as if you might have a combination of a phosphate issue and a tank still running its course in the cycling process. If you're getting this algae in your chaeto, then back your lights back to 12 hours. If it's in your display, keep the lights where they are and try to get better flow through your chaeto. I had terrible luck with mine until I threw a small power head in. Also it doesn't sound like you're using a CFL, if so replace your light with a 25w CFL in the "daylight" spectrum. They put out much more useful light for the chaeto to photosynthesize, and a true 75w bulb might be giving you temp swings. Link to comment
nhart608 Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I had chaeto in my tank that had been doing quite well for a while in my DT, kept the nitrates at 0 for some time. Suddenly it stopped growing, turned a dark green and stunk. Even after dividing it and rinsing it in in saltwater, it never rebounded. I was running a small amount of Purigen, but don't think that had anything to do with it's demise. I'm guessing the 20k MH light wasn't what it wanted or needed to grow. I just ordered some red mangrove plants. On to try something else for nitrate control. Link to comment
ttbanks Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Algae growth in is display; the main issue is turf algae growth on live rock....I think it's just out competing the cheato for nutrients. Bulb is a 75w CFL daylight specturm Link to comment
dling Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 thanks - testing Phospates again last night...tank, ato and RO/ID. FOund my ATO container was leaching phospate...tank and RO/ID tested 0 with API test. this may be the reason I'm seeing an outbreak of algae. read in other post people leaving the fuge light on 24/7...may try that for a few days and see if cheato catches up. Replaced the container with my QT tank as a temp fix and added fresh RO. Also, replaced the CPE last night...my thought was get ahead of the algae outbreak and replace the cheato if needed.... Thoughts on strategy? What type of container are you using to hold the ato water? I'm using small trash can for ato and lg trash can for ro/di water both plastic. I hope I'm not getting any leaching from them, I don't test for phosphate. Link to comment
ttbanks Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 What type of container are you using to hold the ato water? I'm using small trash can for ato and lg trash can for ro/di water both plastic. I hope I'm not getting any leaching from them, I don't test for phosphate. was an old 3.5 gal cat food container....I scrubbed the h&ll out of it.... I doubt you have to worry... Link to comment
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