Bleached/Dead Chaetomorpha

[RegalFlush17]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what is up with my chaetomorpha. I have it growing in my sump separated from everything else using egg-crating. I was lighting 24 hours under 18watts of pc, but the algae that was closet to the surface would turn white and then diterate causing tiny little white strands floating in my sump and consequently in my tank. It looked as if the chaetomorpha had been bleached but that is a guess. I have no idea why this is happening, and all of my chaetomorpha has died. I would still like to grow it as a nutrient export. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

RegalFlush

 

[liveforphysics]

Very common, exact same thing happend to me when I switched to some stupid 6500k bulbs.

A typical 18watt powercompact setup is going to be makeing squat for useable light, even if it was in the right light spectrum. This is because of that 18watts, only about 1/3rd or less of the light it generates is actually going to penatrate the water, and thats assumeing its reflected with a good powercompact reflector.

Now, most of the bulbs I tried either just barely kept chaeto alive, or they just flat killed it.

However, there are some really awsome bulbs that are dirt cheap. They are 23watt powercompact spirals with internal ballasts, and the best part is that they have these intigrated exellent spot light reflectors which get a large amount of the light into the water where it can be used by the chaeto.

Go to home depot, look for the clear plastic 4 pack of spotlight bulbs that costs 19.99. Buy it, buy some little lamp sockets, mount them all over the place you grow your chaeto, and enjoy an exellent nutrient export system.