400 gallon project

[Jason McK]

Just your actinics are on right now LOL I can't see any hair algae.

I've always found the only way to get a handle on hair algae is to pull it out by hand. Once you get it shorter, the clean up crew makes light work of it.

Could it be possible that you are getting Nitrates when lights are off.

J

[untamed]

Originally Posted by Jason McK

Just your actinics are on right now LOL I can't see any hair algae.

I've always found the only way to get a handle on hair algae is to pull it out by hand. Once you get it shorter, the clean up crew makes light work of it.

Could it be possible that you are getting Nitrates when lights are off.

J

Whomever was watching for the last few hours got a good view of me weeding hair algae. That is tiring work!

I'll keep measuring nitrates. Maybe after reducing the amount of hair algae as I've just done today might cause there to be a measurable amount. At least, until the algae catches up.

The nitrate is being consumed by something...

[TRIX]

Just Checked out the camera... Very Cool... Add to favorites.

[untamed]

When I started this, I had no idea that it would get viewed 50,000 times. That's pretty cool. This thread needs more pictures so...

[mark]

50,000 views, wow

[Delphinus]

Dude, you have no idea how jealous I am of those gorgonians.

I hope one day I have something of value I could offer you in trade for some frags of those

[untamed]

For no reason...here's some photos.



This is Bubbles...the smaller of the two Maroon Clownfish. He rarely ventures out of the anemone, so it is hard to get a photo like this one. The larger Maroon is Chuck (he used to be a boy!), she's much bolder and gets 8x as much food as little Bubbles gets.



And finally, un updated shot of Moe..who has grown quite a bit. His peduncal spines are starting to show now.

[Canuckgod420]

I read back a few pages and was wondering how the hair algae problem was coming along?
You have zero nitrates and still have algae?
Maybe some one can help me understand why I have nitrates..10-15ppm...and I cant grow algae if my life depended on it.
I see sweet reef tanks all over the internet and they almost all have some algae growing somewhere....not me....not 1 speck. I dont get it.

[justinl]

tank's looking good Brad!

Rob, algae growth depends on a lot of things. nitrate is only one part of a very complex equation (light, DOC, tank age, etc etc etc).

[untamed]

Originally Posted by Canuckgod420

I read back a few pages and was wondering how the hair algae problem was coming along?
You have zero nitrates and still have algae?
Maybe some one can help me understand why I have nitrates..10-15ppm...and I cant grow algae if my life depended on it.
I see sweet reef tanks all over the internet and they almost all have some algae growing somewhere....not me....not 1 speck. I dont get it.

Yes, I still have hair algae. You can see some of it in the clownfish photo.....but it's controllable. I still have one sea hare who manages to find enough to eat. My refugium grows chaeto, but not as quickly as it first did....and yes, I never have any measureable level of nitrate. I've confirmed that many times now, with Salifert tests and the Nitrate monitor.

My guess is that the nitrate is getting used/converted up by algae or bacteria before I can measure it.

I also continue to measure Phosphate using the colorimeter and have a reading of .02 +/- .02....basically nearly zero as well.

Every tank is different, I suppose. I don't aggressively pursue a "low nutrient" environment. I feed heavily because I'm attempting to feed not only the fish, but the billions of other critters that are trying to survive in there.