cheato and lighting

[mitchellmoto]

Is it possible to have to much lighting? I have a 55 gal refugium with cheato in it and it doesn't seem to be growing very well. I have around 200 w Compacts over it. I pulled off a small handful that fell to the bottom and it is doing better than the large batch. Could it be it is too close to the light source and needs to be lower or should I try a different color light? Right now it is 12K would 65K be better? I have two Home Depot 65k 65w compacts that could be used. Any advice or experience would be great. Thanks.

[Salty Sam]

mitchellmoto...I dont think you have too much light but if its an easy swap try some different wattage and/or color lamps. I have seen some people light a 50 or so gallon fuge with halides.

[killingseed]

Is it possible to have to much lighting?
no i dont think so. if you have low lighing then i would run them 24/7.

a good link that talks about lights and chaeto

http://www.melevsreef.com/fuge_bulb.html


i personal was running a 18W fish light over my fuge with that grape algea and it took a couple months to grow and need to be cut back. but in my new refug i am running a HD 65W day light ( much bighter then the 18W i was running). i just got me some chaeto from jay "once again thanks jay" and it's already showing some signs of growth.

when using a HD light the one big things is make sure the light says "DAYLIGHT" on it. they make them in 65W, 75W and i notice a 100W day light at , of all places, Walgreens

also most algea's take in Co2 and putting out O2 while the lights are on and when light are off they take in O2 and put out Co2. so ist best to run the refug lights on at night, not that you have to but makes sense. i am not doing that. but in time i plan on it

[bpatrol]

you are probably better off going with bulbs in the 65k range. buy the ones at home depot or go with 65k bulbs and swap them out....I have the same algae and used to light it 24/7 it grew but does much better when you have a on/off cycle. at least it did for me..good luck..bpatrol

[mitchellmoto]

I had a Halide on the refugium for a while but at the time only had grape algea and small frags in there. I haven't tried the cheato with a MH. Well I'm going to try the 65k and I'll let you know. Guess I mistakenly posted this question twice? OOPPS

[supertech3]

I have chaeto in my fuge and it grows very well, I feel that when you said that the small batch that was removed and grew very well the reason is because the smaller piece can move better than the larger batch. My larger batch does not seem to grow any larger but if I pull a piece from it it will grow fast.