chaeto lighting

ok my chaeto has been in my fuge for about 2 months, i have fish in tank 9 of them all less than 2 inchs. with a moderate flow over the chaeto. im concerned because it seems to not be growing.

i bought a strip about 12in long of led lights that are 6500k, has a blue color to them and it seems to light them up but i dont know if its bright enoghe.

in the pic you can see the airstone (dont know if its needed or not) the lighting is a DIY attachment to a old hood about 3 inches from top of water the wattage is unknown to me the leds are about 5.5 lumens each and there are 19 of them over it[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
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no pic. If ya want a light that is def enough, just go to Lowes and get a cheap CFL 5-6500K and a cheap hood and timer, under $20

http://www.3reef.com/forums/show-of...g-do-new-addition-i-didnt-want-130847-21.html

post #203 has what i did

 

I found a plant bulb at Walmart for 4 bucks I use a clip on metal lamp from depot like 4.99 I think. W the new bulb it's been growing like crazy. Cheap thing to try.

 

Bought this one GE 60W Plant Light: Decor : Walmart.com

But u can try this too GE Lighting 21000 Gro and Sho Reflector Plant Light Bulb: Decor : Walmart.com

 

I've had luck with the cheap CFL floodlights from lowe's and homedepot. All the other bulbs others have suggested are great too.

Since it's not growing, I guess the question to ask is what is your nitrate levels? If it's low already, then that may very well be the reason why your chaeto isn't growing fast.

If your nitrates are elevated, how does the chaeto look? Is it light green and thin? If so, you may want to look into dosing lugol's solution (Kent Marine » Lugol's Solution | Products). However, please be careful not to overdose iron. Here's a good read on iron supplements: Chemistry And The Aquarium: Iron In A Reef Tank — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog It even mentions in the article the effects on macroalgae. At one point for me personally when I was running a refugium, with moderate nitrates my chaeto stopped growing. I started dosing lugol's and it became dark green and grew faster.

Not saying to dose iron. Just sharing what worked for me. If you do decide to dose iron please do so carefully and follow the directions as you can overdose iron.

 

chaeto likes a little more lite than you are providing. When my sps tank was up, I was using 2-400w 10k lites and I harvested every week. Alot also depends on the bioload that you have.

 

i would say your bioloads not lg enough for it to grow fast. plus a larger lighting system will help out as well, although we keep ours under 13w leds.