Shrunk Chaeto

it's been a month since i got my chaeto. it has shrunk about an inch or so in circumference. i use a 13 watt power compact which says it's equivalent to an 80 watt incandescent bulb. i run it in reverse roughly 12 hrs/day. how can i save my chaeto?

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hmmm i would say more light aslo how much flow is moving thru ur refugium i also run mine 24/7

 

Dirty your water a little bit. The chaeto needs some food! Your water is sparkling. What's the bioload on it?

 

What is your bulb rated at in K? Mine is a 5500k (I think) and I think it is about 15W. I think the average is 5000k-6500k or something like that. Also psiclone is right, you water is crystal clear. I guess my tank is just dirty because I get little pieces of cheato all over the place and most of them are growing their own little tangles in corners and stuff.

 

Also worth mentioning, you might be losing a lot of light since it seems to be going in all directions. maybe add a reflector? Or HD sells these 65W florescents already encased in a bulb (name on the bulb says N:vision)). about 7 or 8 bucks. will protect your bulb from getting wet and possible cracking and directs the light straight down on w.e you choose

 

I agree with psiclone. Dirty up that water. That sump is sooooooo clean, I don't think I even see a penny size scrap of algae in that sump, so there has gotta be nothing for that cheato to "eat". Which is good I guess?

 

Be very carefull though, if you dirty it up too much or too fast you will probably get a cyano outbreak. I did.

 

that is a sparkling sump.. like posted above, get it dirty in there. I threw a damsel in my refug for 2 days to let it poop with no flow going through mine to seed the nastyness.. now I have to trim mine every week.. also how many fish do you have up top.. if you dont have any that could be it..

 

also... thats not garden hose that youre using for the return lines right? because if so they are baaaadddd for our tanks as they leach a lot of chems and some even have algal growth inhibitors in them.. just food for thought

 

id say its much slower flow than what i would want to have in there. water flows form baffle to baffle just along each one's corner. then along the bubble trap is a small mass of smuck (brown icky substance floating on the surface). my return pump has 600 L/hour power and is lifting water about 3 feet up the main tank. i dont have the typical siphon overflow but my tank water literally overflows into a DIY cut open fresh milk container and down the hose.
im afraid of running it 24/7 cause the climate here and my lighting are already giving my water quite a big raise in temperature. not to mention i keep my tank in the bedroom which is 3 floors above the ground, without any ventilation(i have to cause my son would always play on the bed and its right next to the sliding glass window). i have one cooling fan though which barely keeps my tank below 30 degrees Celsius.