minimum required lighting period

[christyf5]

Hey guys,
I had another rough bout with the algae tonight. It almost finished me off. 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 ]

[Silverfish]

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:

[reefburnaby]

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.

[FishGeek]

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

[christyf5]

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]

[DJ88]

every 2 weeks when I harvest the damn stuff

<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.

[christyf5]

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]

[DJ88]

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.

[reefburnaby]

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.

[christyf5]

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]