Chaeto dying?

R

reeferwanabe

I currently have some chaeto that is turning gray. I run the light for 12 hours at night, while my days are off. The sump light is a Skye Light 6 x 1w led 10,000k fixture. I also read in older/other forums that tumbling is required so I just placed a spare Eheim compact 300 pump in there, which is forcing more flow to the chaeto.

What is causing it to turn gray, no tumbling, too much light, or what? I only had this in there for about 2-3 weeks.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Matt


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I haven't heard the issue of tumbling. I would take out the extra pump for tumbling. As far as the LED's go, I dont know how well they grow under 10K, but i would think it would be enough to keep it alive. Stop the tumbling first and see what happens.
 
I am having issues using 3-1watt led actinic and 3-1 watt led 10ks. Mine is not turning gray but just slowly disappearing. I run mine on a 14 hour schedule.
 
I know it grows better under 6500K. You may want to get you a nice shop light down there after you stop the tumbling. Sounds like 10K is not what it needs to stay alive.
 
I don't tumble my macros. Never have. I will rotate the stuff I care about by hand around once a week.
As Matt said, your best bet is to get the cheapest shop light you can and a 6500K or lower bulb on it.
Lastly you might test your nitrate if you can. If it is close to zero you are not going to see any real growth.
 
Huh, okay on the 6500k bulb. I will change it out soon. I will also remove the small pump. I wasn't sure on that one so I installed it last night. I do tumble it as well about once per week too.
Thanks all for advice.


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@shse666 wrote:
.... Lastly you might test your nitrate if you can. If it is close to zero you are not going to see any real growth. said:
My nitrate has been at zero lately, thought that is what I needed for the tank?.?.?.


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I'm slowly dosing cal and alk right now to bring them up to correct level. By this weekend I will be ready to dose mag.

I just returned from home depot and they didn't have any 6500k bulbs so I bought a 75w plant light. Will this work to run 12 hours? I just turned it on for a few seconds and it got hot. I'm worried that it will heat up the water too quickly, all to screw something else up.

Thoughts?


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I wouldn't use the plant light, especially if its real hot. Homedepot or Lowes should have a light between 5500 6500K bulb. You will have to search for them. They will be a floursent bulb.
 
Okay, thanks. I will remove the plant light, return it and look for another bulb. Thanks for the advice.


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@Burbarry wrote:
[I]@Red wrote:[/I][quote="High magnesium level can affect it. said:
That and 0 nitrate is probably my issues."]

Me too. I have only 3 fish so they are not creating too much waste; therefore, all parameters are 0 for me. I think I may have added the chaeto too early. I should've allowed the tank to mature more first.


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I've been hearing a lot of people talk about putting LED lights over their cheato and it dying off after a while. Not discounting the lack of nitrates or other possible causes, but the LEDs are likely contributing too.

Take a look at the color spectrum of your standard white LED against what photosynthesis requires (image from http://www.tetra-fish.com/LEDp2.aspx):
absorptionChart.jpg
alt="">

Chlorophyll b is being supplied just fine, but chlorophyll a is woefully inadequate. Unless your LED fixture has some red in there, it's not fully giving the spectrum required for green plants.
 
Well, either way, the led is removed and so is the plant light that was getting too hot. Right now, I have a low watt cfl in there until I can get the time to return to home depot to find the proper light.


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I have a sump light that is warm white leds with a couple of reds mixed in. My macro grows quite well. I also have a couple of shop lights with warm white florescents in them and macro does very well there also. Grows even not tumbling and 6-8 inches below the surface, so tightly packed does not seem that any light could get through. I feed well and prune often. My led fixture is also growing dragons breath well. For sure more nutrients =more macro.
 
I run 50 watt 10k led over my Chaeto and I have zero nitrates! And it grow like crazy! How old is your tank?! If its new maybe you need to wait a while before you add more.
By the way if you need more just let me know I can give a full zip bag for free!
 
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