Reef Discussion

[aussieant32]

Hi Guys

Just a quick one. I have some brown algae growing on my glass constantly, started about a month ago. I scrape it clean at night and by morning I can see it forming again. They are like tiny strands of hair I guess.

Let me know what parameters are needed but the tests I think are important are
Nitrate - 0 (according to dropper kit, not got a titration for it but it measures in increments of 5ppm and it doesnt change colour at all)
Phosphate 0.02 - 0.10 - Hanna (these are the lowest and highest readings I have had over the month)

I have read this can be normal, the tank is only 5 months old but wanted your guys input.

 

[MTG]

welcome to the world of reefing. i have to clean my glass every day if i want it to be clean :)
if you have alot of stray light hitting the glass this hugely increases the algae growth

 

[aussieant32]

thanks mate, I get worried cleaning it cause with the scraper big stands go into the water column and some get on my corals. Any tips on this?

Also, do my levels sound ok? 0.10 is a bit high isn't it? Granted that is the max I have seen it at.

 

[MTG]

spot on , i try keep mine between 0.01-0.10 and less i loose coloration in the LPS , any more and i get algae problems :P
how fast do these strands appear? how old is the tank?

 

[aussieant32]

tank is 5 months old. They dont disappear, I need to siphon them off the corals. Makes cleaning the glass take almost an hour and I am trying to cut the time down if there is a better way. If I use a course pad etc they kind of turn into dust and goes away but it seems to grow back quicker that when I use the scraper

 

[MTG]

how long is your photo period and what lights?

 

[aussieant32]

Maxspect Mazarra 100W. They start ramping up at 7:30am from 0% to 80% at noon and start ramping down and hit 0% again at 10:30pm

 

[MTG]

cut back photolight period is the fist thing to do if your phos is low.

 

[MTG]

just do from 12 mid day untill 9pm
after cutting mine down to his i also saw a huge improvement as i was getting alot of algae growth. :D

 

[daveH]

I have exactly the same algae growth on the glass appearing daily. I'm just in the process of lowering the times and percentages of my new LEDs.

 

[Joshwaaaa]

just do from 12 mid day untill 9pm
after cutting mine down to his i also saw a huge improvement as i was getting alot of algae growth. :D

This is pretty much the same I have my lights on, tank loved it an never really had an algae problems

 

[aussieant32]

Can I reduce it straight away or slowly back it off?

Cheers guys

 

[MagicJ]

Algae needs two primary elements to grow - light and nutrients. Your nitrate and phosphate levels appear pretty low, which is good.

I run my lights from 1.00pm to 10.00pm with a 1 hour ramp up/ramp down period - if you are looking to reduce your photoperiod I would do it over a week - maybe move the start time by 1/2 hour per day.

Your tank will evolve over time and you will find that different algae's come and go as the tank conditions change - that is all part of life on a reef :)

 

[MTG]

i dropped my photo period 5 hours in one day no issues. less light doesn't really cause a drama. if its turned around the other way and you increase your lights 5 hours you can cause problems.

 

[TJReid]

^ i'm with matt on this one less in a hurry seemed to be fine for me.. more on the other hand is a bit more worrying

 

[aussieant32]

thanks guys. How does this sound
B (blue) W (white)

07:30 - 11:30 B 1 - W 0
11:30 - 14:00 B 60 - W 50
14:00 - 16:00 B 90 - W 80
22:30 - 07:30 B 1 - W 0

They ramp to these numbers so it doesn't just flick from 50 - 80 for example.

 

[MTG]

still dont need 12 hours id cut it down further

 

[aussieant32]

what would you have it set to?

 

[Puffy#79]

You don't need 12 hrs of light. I run my lights from 230 till 1030 each night. Clean glass once a week if the trochus are having a bad week

 

[aussieant32]

Where I am having issues though is they cant just 'run' at 2:30. For example, if I want them at 70% brightness I can't just say at 2pm be 70%, they will ramp up so that at 2pm they are 70% but this means they will start rising from 0% at around 12:30. This also happens when turning off so if I have it to 0% at 22:30 they will start lowering their intensity until they are at 0% at 22:30. My concern is cutting it back too much, if I did it later so it started ramping up at 14:30 I would only get about 4 hours of decent light a day which I assumed would not be enough for the corals etc?

Here is what I have now.
07:30 B10 - W 0
12:30 B 1 - W 0
14:30 - B 80 - W 70
22:30 - B 15 - W 0

Going to see how that goes, anyone see issues with it?