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Old 11/01/2004, 08:48 AM
Anthony Calfo Anthony Calfo is offline
Parapterois heterura
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Pennsylvania
Posts: 5,141
Well... its not realistic for us to pin survivability on one factor like lighting. Water flow and nutrient levels (or not) play an even greater role. And in brightly lit systems with poor water flow when Chaeto is not permitted to tumble - is it a problem... yes. I do believe. But that's not caused by the lighting. Or at least not alone. The poor flow and poorly lit overgrown under-region of the colony is the Achilles heel here.

All a case by case basis with this highly adaptable macro

But for others like Gracilaria... its cut and dry. They will indeed fail in lower light. Aquarists often mistake the yellowing or orange turning fringes as a sign of poor health in red varieties. On the contrary! That's when some of them are getting enough light. These types are grown (on line or tumbling in baskets) coastally at the surface of the water. In the tropics Strong water flow... strong lighting here.

For Red algae (Rhodophytyes)... the darker red it is... the lower the light is/has been (maybe good... maybe bad - depends on the specimens natural needs and adaptability).

Anth -
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