chaeto algae wont grow?

[barndtman84]

So ive had many diff aquariums with multiple refugiums and I actually build refugiums on the side so im very versed in how to build a proper refugium set up.on my second to last reef tank I had a 90 gal drilled tank with a DIY built refugium made out of an old 30 gal glass tank with 2 baffles. now I had a 2 1/2 inch thick sand bedwith liverock then the top layer made of all chaeto. now I was using a 100watt flood light I bought at home depot in a ceramic clamp on light fixture I used from when I owned reptiles. now that set up had insane growth with my chaeto, it wasso thick if you picked it up it was lika brick. now I dd have an extremely high bioload for that tank so that could have played a role in its insane growth.

Now my current tank is a 125 gal mixed reef that's drilled on bot ends. my refugium I made from an acrylic dual intake wet dry. so I removed the bioballs on each end & slowed the flow so its almost like 2 refugiums that pour into the center where I ave my return pump @ my protein skimmer. for the lighting I have on each side I have a nano glo magnetic mount refugium LED light. for whatever reason the chaeto is barely growing. one side has amost none & the other has very little and this has been the case for almost a year. I know I have a decent bioload as I have plenty of fish & corals. So my only thought ismaybe its the lighting isn't enouh of it needs a lower kelvin. also the nano glo ligts have very little spread but my father insists its enough. plus ther is so much salt built up I think its blocking the light somewhat. I checked my water parameters and they are all good except my phosphates are through the roof which I believe is b/c our skimmer was broken for a cuple months which in turn caused a huge green algae bloom and ciano bloom. but is there any suggestions on what I can do to fix this cuz I don't want to buy more chaeto for it to die. should I go back to using a cheap flood light from home depot? any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

[Reefing Madness]

May be the light, and also from my experience if your phosphates are through the roof, this in some way hinders the growth of it, not sure how or why, but I had it do the same thing in my sump, and I was running a 40w compact flourescent 8" off the cheato.

 

[barndtman84]

Yeah I'm sure that has a lot to do with it but I know my phosphates have only recently been high due to my skimmer being broken for a while, cuz I'm very particular about my water quality I use an ro/di and monthly water changes but now that I'm thinking about it since this phosphate spike my chaeto had decreased even more so. I may just go back to my flood lights since that's what worked the best for me in the past. I know this isn't the right section but could anyone recommend what I could use to eliminate my high po4 quickly? I have a dual reactor from bulk reef supply which I have carbon in one but I know I had GFO in the other chamber a while back but I'm not sure if my father switched it out or not. I've used phos guard before but I know u must be careful as the dust can irritate the fish plus it's only useful for 4 Days as far as I know. Anyway thanks for ur input.

 

[Keithcorals]

Chaeto needs bright light to do well so that would be a good start but it also will not grow if you don't have nitrate in a measurable amount no matter how much phosphate. You have to have both and it seems some systems get out of balance. I think you might even be able to find a thread where people have added nitrate to lower phosphates. But I would start with the light.