[chriss]

After the move around, my cheato doesn't look very vibrant or particularly happy....



it's begun to wilt and break up. When I've seen this before it's been a light issue.

Previously it was lit with a 55watt CFL it grew very very well, now it's being lit by a pair of 25W energy saving daylight lamps over each tank. They should be good quality lamps, so not sure if its a lighting problem or something else. The flow is thru the cheato is about the same, so I don't think it's a flow issue either. Maybe it's just pi$$ed off cos it was stuck in a bucket of water for a couple of days during the reshuffle.

So, tonight I dug out an old 150W halide and stuck over one of the tanks and will see how it goes....



Chris

[ANDYG]

chriss, on May 19 2010, 09:01 PM, said:

After the move around, my cheato doesn't look very vibrant or particularly happy....



it's begun to wilt and break up. When I've seen this before it's been a light issue.

Previously it was lit with a 55watt CFL it grew very very well, now it's being lit by a pair of 25W energy saving daylight lamps over each tank. They should be good quality lamps, so not sure if its a lighting problem or something else. The flow is thru the cheato is about the same, so I don't think it's a flow issue either. Maybe it's just pi$$ed off cos it was stuck in a bucket of water for a couple of days during the reshuffle.

So, tonight I dug out an old 150W halide and stuck over one of the tanks and will see how it goes....



Chris

chris i think iv'e solved the problem with your cheato youv'e electrocuted it judging by the photo

[john h]

chris mine did exactly the same thing when i re did my sump it was at the time and still is lit by a single philips daylight energy saver. it took a while but i left alone and now it grows as well as before.
while were on the subject of bulbs do these cause cyano to grow as i have it over the top of my fuge/cheato area but not in the tank?there is plenty of flow through the cheato but not a lot at the surface.
cheers john.

[TrevC]

Are your energy savers SAD lights?

The SAD bulbs give 6400k and look a much crisper white than the ones in your picture.

[karnivor]

put a radio near it and play some music, that might cheer it up.

Nothing worse than unhappy chaeto.

[chriss]

John, yes there is cyano growing over the top of the cheato, but I don't think it's caused directly by the light, I think its more likely that the cyano is living off the breakdown of the cheato due to lack of light/nutrients whatever.

Trev, they are not specifically labelled as 'sad' lamps, they are daylight photographic lamps and only 5500K. I'd tried several 'supposed' 6400K lamps previously and they clearly designed for daylight on a different planet. I thought lastnight that I would go back to your recent post to see what lamp you were using and try them instead.

The cheato is definitely on the way out, you just need to look at it to see it's loosing color/rigidity and beginning to break up. The only time I've seen this before is when I've tried to revert from the 55W 6400K CFL back to a low-energy lamp.

Having been to Jasons and got a new nitrate and phosphate test kit, both are showing zero so that will also be having an effect with there being very little nutrient for the cheato to take up, but I reckon the lack of light is the bigger cause. That will please the fish, since they can have even more food now, no longer can I tell them that too much food is bad for their water

Chris