Help!! Chaetomorha algae won't grow!!

turk86

Hi all. For some reason chaeto will not grow in my refugium. Culpera does grow fine. I have added numerous bunches of chaeto and recently ( 2 months ago) added 2 one gallon bags stuffed full to the refuge. Lighting stays on 24 hrs a day. 24' daylight flourecent. Chaeto just seems to disolve and disapear!! There is a small goby and a pistol shrimp in the refuge, about 6 small hermits, 2 fighting conchs and 7 or 8 snails. All of my water parameters seem to be excellant. I just dont understand why it wont grow!!!

onefish2fish

try a reverse light cycle. meaning when your tank lights are on your sump light is out and when your tank lights are off, your sump light is on. it may be possible its not getting enough nitrates and to feed it to live, which wouldnt be a bad thing, there also is a good chance the hermits and snails and picking at it too.

is it a 6500K full spectrum bulb? how many watts?

Kellsindell

Don't do the reverse cycle. Keep them at 24hrs. Caulerpa will go sexual if it's not 24hrs and will eventually bleach into the tank and dissolve and it has some ill effects.

Your cheato may not be growing because your Caulerpa is growing too well and may be taking the nutrients before the cheato can. What spectrum is your bulb and how old is it? You may want something yellow like what onefish said, "6500k full" or go with something lower then that such as a 5500k.

turk86

Onefish and Kellsindell, I actually have 2 x 24 inch flourecents. One is a plain daylight 24' bulb and the other is a 50/50 coralife 20 watt bulb. Both bulbs are about a month old.

onefish2fish

my mistake, i misunderstood and didnt realize you had caulerpa with your chaeto. i personally dont use it because of the risk of it going sexual, which ive heard doesnt happen granted you keep it in check and dont let it grow wild. a bigger concern i personally have is what kels said, is that if it dies it can release what it absorbed back into the water causing a large spike. prob. wont happen BUT theres always a chance. i would also agree that it prob. is whats absorbing all the nutrients away from the chaeto.

again IMO if it isnt growing it doesnt mean its really a bad thing, it could just mean that the nutrients it needs arnt present for it to grow.

ox dynamics xo

help my catfish has white fungas on it and wont move, it can still move its mouth but it wont swim more than 2cm.

ox dynamics xo

also it is staying near the top of the bowl for some strange reason, it is not dead yet though as its mouth is still sucking on the side. i have had the same probelome with my neon tetras which died of it but since then i have cleaned out my tank. i have even added stress zyme.

Kellsindell

You can add iron to your tank to get the algaq to grow... you need a kit to measure it and read before you dose anything and learn about it more.