Cheato growth?

Coralgurl · #1 09-02-2012, 11:07 PM

Just looking through a few threads and see everyone's cheato grows like crazy and they harvest every few weeks. I've had mine in my sump for months and it is growing, but is basically a big square clump thats never been harvested. I've just got a desk lamp for lighting as I was told this was enough....does it need more light? What's the secret??

FWC · #2 09-02-2012, 11:16 PM

I personally keep my chaeto under t5's.

I find it does better under the stronger light ,IME.

Snaz · #3 09-02-2012, 11:26 PM

Square as in it is pressing up to all sides and corners of the tank? If yes then it is time to harvest.

Coralgurl · #4 09-03-2012, 12:03 AM

Nope, not square from being up against the glass, just seems to grow flat on all sides.

What is a good sump light fixture that's not going to break the bank?

Snaz · #5 09-03-2012, 12:40 AM

I use one of these 6500K CFL bulbs for my refugium, cheato grows very well. I got mine at Canadian tire I think for about $4.00... cant beat that value.

http://www.lampsplus.com/products/15...lb__35221.html

gregzz4 · #6 09-03-2012, 12:54 AM

I originally bought the same bulbs Snaz linked, but then I went with this 2-pack as they don't need a reflector type fixture
I had to open the packaging in-store to find out they are 6500K as there was no on-line info

Bit more money, but you can use a simple socket

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/16w-...-2-pack/964412

Coralgurl · #7 09-03-2012, 01:46 AM

Awesome, thanks guys! Will probably pick up one of each! Hmmmm and here I was thinking I needed some fancy fixture....

SeaHorse_Fanatic · #8 09-03-2012, 03:05 AM

Nope, no fancy sump light necessary. Been using Phillips Daylight (6500k) CFL bulbs for years with good success.

1eyedjyde · #9 09-03-2012, 05:36 AM

By all means try a different bulb, it's a cheap experiment, however if you have a low nutrient system, are running heavy amounts of GFO and or cabon dosing, or have a low bio load you may just not have enough nutients in your system to support heavy growth of cheto (not a bad thing). I have only havested mine once in maybe 10 months since starting to run GFO.

dc4 · #10 09-03-2012, 05:50 AM

I found the stronger the light, the faster it grows. I put a tiny clump in my overflow chamber that gets hit with my ai sols and it grows 100x faster than the clump in my refugium under just a normal ikea bulb. I'm getting a led fuge light made out of red and a blue led to grow my chaeto.

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