Macrfo algae not growing well in my sump?

[tim000]

I've got a 29g sump w/ one of those 60w grow bulbs (incandesent)from home depot 10" over the sump. I bought 5 different kinds of macro algae about 2 months ago and its all turned pale green and alot of the grapes have disapeared. I run the light for 10-11hrs a night...any suggestions?

 

[dmentnich]

I can't really answer with a definite reason, but mine grows like a weed.

I would imagine that being as it's main requirements are light and nutrients that you may have a great skimmer pulling out something it needs or that your light may be a bit dim. The incandescent lights waste a lot of energy by converting it into heat. I switched to the compact fluorescents from the home depot awhile back (from a couple of 150W grow over a total of 55Gal sump) and they are growing great. I personally do not dose chelated iron, but it is recommended in another thread.

The other thing I would try is leaving the light over the refugium on 24 hours/day if possible. Good luck on growing the weed.

-Danny

 

[danmhippo]

Anyone knows how well the "grow light" penetrates the water?

I myself use 4 x 96Wpc's on my 75Gal sump and the macro is growing wildly as well.

 

[fishfarmer]

I had a very hard time getting Caulerpa prolifera to grow in my sump. I was using a 27 watt quad pc(LOA fixture and bulb). Green cyano grew great though and would cover caulerpa and sargassum in a week. I switched to a higher kelvin bulb(6700 K), reseeded with a small amount of C. prolifera and finally after a year of trying this it is growing very well. It has been growing well all winter. I still have cyano growing around the roots of the caulerpa though.

My PC bulb is very close to the water. Mine is run opposite the main tank lights.

 

[tim000]

ok so I think I will get rid of the 60w incandesent grow buld and switch to something like a florecent. im in college so I dont have $$$ to burn, what would be my cheapest option?
thanks for all the help to far!

 

[esmithiii]

The lights of america 65W fixture is probably your best bet. It is just under $30 I believe. You will have to wire it to an electrical cord yourself, though. All you need is a cord, wirestrippers and two wire nuts.

Ernie

 

[jjjj]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by tim000:
<strong>I've got a 29g sump w/ one of those 60w grow bulbs (incandesent)from home depot 10" over the sump. I bought 5 different kinds of macro algae about 2 months ago and its all turned pale green and alot of the grapes have disapeared. I run the light for 10-11hrs a night...any suggestions?</strong><hr></blockquote>

I have a 20 gal refugium under a 90 gal reef tank. It, the refugium) is lighted by 24hrs/day by two twisty looking 23watt PCs from the hardware store. This is supposedly equivalent to 2*100 watts.

I started with caulerpa prolifera and racemosa. The former got outcompeted by the latter which has continued to grow in a dense mat floating on the surface of the refugium.

So, if you're looking for a cheap lighting solution for a sump/refugium hardware grade PCs should do it.

I happened to start with two bulbs running 24hrs. One bulb running 12hrs could be adequate. You'll just have to experiment.

But there's certainly no need to go for expensive aquarium grade PCs.

This has been adequate to maintain caluerpa reacemosa in a thick mat floating on the surface of the refugium.

 

[Anonymous]

24 hour refuges seem to stop the algae from going sexual. that pale green color is a good sign of algae going sexual.