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Originally posted by oct2274
there is no doubt that you may be able to grow chaeto under more intense lights..........but what is the point? I grow it under a 20 watt bulb.
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Good for you, but wasn't the point of this thread about "tips for good chaeto growth". If you read my post in another thread, you would have seen that I agree with you on the energy aspect. If fact, i think you don't need a refugium or any macro at all. All salt water tanks are different from each other.
You are completely missing the point about chaeto! IMO, having a ball of chaeto that DOESNT grow is a very good sign (in most cases). Your goal should NOT be to get rapid chaeto growth. Your goal will vary (depending on what type of SW tank you have), but focus on water quality and your corals/fish (NOT the algae).
If you want to talk about optimizing chaeto growth, by all means lets do that. In my greenhouse system, I have had a volleyball size ball of chaeto completely fill a 20 gallon aquarium in one week using ZERO watts of light!!! In fact, at that time, the whole tank (400+ gallons) was run on under 200watts (and that was for water movement. No electricity for lighting or heating.
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1/20th the wattage and I highly doubt it is even possible to grow it faster unless you were to dose fertilizers of some sort which.....you would not want to do in a reef aquarium.
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If you take your thinking to the next level, you will see where you got confused. I have a "Planted Tank"!!! Guess what that means? Im not going to treat it like an SPS tank. Im not going to treat it like a FOWLR tank. I'm not going to treat it like a softie tank. Im not going to treat it like a FO tank. Im going to treat it like a..... Planted tank!!!
So guess what the requirements for a planted tank are. Lots of light (for the algae im growing) and, yup, you guessed it.... Fertilizer. I add fertilizer to my tank. New concept for you, i know. BTW, i could argue fertilizing an SPS tank as well. I've done it and my SPS growth doubled. I know you are wondering how that could be, but this requires a bit more understanding of what algae is
really removing and what coral needs for rapid growth.
I know a lot about algae. I studied them in college. I've grown chaeto in lots of different lighting setups (probably at least 20). Guess what my observation regarding chaeto and light is? More light, more growth. More nutrients, more growth.
My suggestion.... Forget the fuge and do more water changes.
In fact, if you are worried about wasting electricity, get rid of your tank all together.