minimum required lighting period
 

Hey guys,
I had another rough bout with the algae tonight. It almost finished me off. http://jabot2000.homestead.com/files/emoticons/sigh.gif I was just wondering what the minimum time for my metal halides to be on to keep the corals happy in the hopes of slowing it down. I'm going to leave the actinics on 10-12 hrs/day or should they be reduced as well??

TIA

Christy [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 10 April 2002, 21:18: Message edited by: christyf5 ]

minimum required lighting period
 

Hi Christy, that sucks about the algae.. I am going through an algae cycle right now and it is not fun.

How long are your halides on for right now? I don't really know what the minimum photoperiod is for all corals, but if they aren't sps then you could definatley cut it back lots. Maybe run them for 4 or 5 hours a day and actinics for 8 or 10.

Are you dosing kalk at all? I have started dosing it again along with my reactor to try and beat the algae. Also I am feeding way less.

Anyways, this algae can be a real pain. :mad:

minimum required lighting period
 

Hi,

Minimum, I think is around 4 hours at full intensity. Actinics are fine at 10 to 12 hours since green shrubbery do not absorb blue light as well as red light.

So...what have you tried so far and could you give us an update of your alk and pH are.

- Victor.

minimum required lighting period
 

I remember reading somewhere that if your alkninity?? is off, you can get a huge algea bloom. You should test all your water parameters to see if anything is off.

Simon

minimum required lighting period
 

Hey guys thanks for the response.
Well I've tried basically a whole list of stuff you suggested last time Victor. My alk is at 12 dkh and my pH is 8.3. I use Kent Superpro dkh buffer. I've tried everything except for getting more live rock (I only have 22lbs in a 48G) and adding a refugium (I'm moving at the end of the month anyway so I'll do it after the move). I'm getting a better skimmer soon so that will help as well.

I dunno what else to do. I guess I'll just have to live with getting extremely frustrated/****ed/sad every 2 weeks when I harvest the damn stuff.

Christy [img]smile.gif[/img]

minimum required lighting period
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Christy,

To beat the bryopsis I have I've been attacking mine every two to three days to keep it in check.

Just aheads up.

minimum required lighting period
 

But doesn't that stress your fish out?? I tried doing that and lost my anthias to some sort of stress/panic attack while I was harvesting algae. Now I'm totally paranoid about losing another fish. There has been enough death in my tank lately without that.

Christy [img]smile.gif[/img]

minimum required lighting period
 

Christy,

Your fish should get used to it. Mine have.

My Cardinals aren't out in the daytime and the other two are fine with it. he sixline still swims are per norm and the gramma pops out of the rocks as I move from one end to the other.

As it stands anyways the cardinals come up and nibble my fingers looking for food.

minimum required lighting period
 

Hi,

Do you have an airstone in your skimmer yet ?

Sorry to hear about your algae problem. In time, you'll win. Say, where are you getting your water from ? Are you doing water changes still ?

As for your fish, you'll need some shelter. I am not sure what your tank looks like at this time, but I recall that you don't have a lot of rock. You can place some big PVC (4") Ts and elbows in the tank (clean them first). Thus, they can hide.

- Victor.

minimum required lighting period
 

Hey Victor,
Yeh I had the airstone in my skimmer. Didn't do a damn thing but put gunky water in the cup. So I yanked it out.
I'm on RO/DI water now with Instant Ocean salt. I stopped using NSW as it had the phosphates in it that was fueling the whole thing.

I dunno. I'm moving in a couple of weeks so I think I'll really go gung ho on it then. For now I'll just pick at it when it really gets to me. I find going at it every few days just creates more floaty bits than anything else.

Christy [img]smile.gif[/img]

minimum required lighting period
 

I too am tired of pulling out my dark green hair algae every week or 2. Also, whenever I pull some out, little pieces float off and start growing on a new rock. Whenever I take a rock out and scrub, the algae grows back in 2 weeks covering an even bigger area of rock.

I am considering to buy a lawnmower blenny. I heard some people have great results. Anyone here agree from experience? I also plan to buy a dozen Mexican Red Legged hermits and some left handed hermits to add to my current population of 10 blue legged hermits, 6 scarlets hermits, and 2 emerald crabs.

[ 14 April 2002, 14:25: Message edited by: Sam W ]

minimum required lighting period
 

Sam, Salarias fasciatus aka the lawnmower blenny is hit and miss with hair algae. I suspect they eat certain species and not others. I had one that excepted prepared foods including nori. He never touched hair algae that I could see though he did eat diatoms consistently.

minimum required lighting period
 

Interesting to read about all the algae problems in BC. I wonder what the difference is here in Calgary? I, for instance never have an algae problem except for a bit of Bubble algae, but my sally Lightfoot takes care of that. I use only tap water, and have no idea about Alk, and Kalk, and whatever. I do nor worry about them, and do not test for stuff. I do have a refugium with Caulerpa. I also manage to suply my friends with Caulerpa, as it likes to grow. :D

[ 14 April 2002, 20:29: Message edited by: Bob Ipema ]

minimum required lighting period
 

My Yellow Tang does an excellent job at eating hair algae. I bought a piece of coral from J&L and the rock it was on was covered in hair algae. The Yellow Tang went at it right away and by the next day, the rock was perfectly clean.

minimum required lighting period
 

Hi,

I seem to recall that Christy's green algae is poisonous to most inverts and fish (I think...). I mentioned that we could add more crabs/snails to her tank; however, they seem to die once they touch the algae. The natural consumer of this type of poisonous is probably a special nudibranch or invert.

- Victor.

minimum required lighting period
 

Hi,

Floaty bits....easy solution for this one. Get one of those sponges from a fluval (or something like that) and stick in to one of the power heads (or the main circulation pump) -- do this just before you do your cleanup. Any floating bits will be caught by your little invention. After your clean up is done, let it run for a day or so (with the filter). Only let it run for a day (or else its a nice nitrate factory). To remove, take a fish net and net the sponge. When you remove the sponge and some floaty particles may detach from the sponge. The floaty particles will be contained by the net (that you put around the sponge). Remove both the sponge and net and wash. Done...no more floaties.

Hope that helps.

- Victor.

minimum required lighting period
 

I have a lawnmower blenny and he really goes on a rampage eating algae and is fat as a cow. Unfortunately he can't keep up with the stuff and has only certain areas where he spends his time eating, which made me wonder about the types of algae I have. I have come to the conclusion after seeing Darrens tank that I have bryopsis as well as the hair algae and the lawnmower only seems to go after the hair algae, but only the new stuff, the old stuff probly tastes like crap [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Also I've noticed that alot of my snails have been biting the bullet lately. I think its because I have quite a nice lawn growing on the sand bed and the snails either can't handle it or don't like it.

I'll figure out the answer eventually. Its just frustrating to me right now. As my friend (a non reefer) tells me "you just need to find a left handed widget for your fish tank and everything will be fine".

Christy [img]smile.gif[/img]