Hi all, It's been several years since I had my tank setup, and longer since I've cured rock, etc. and I'm now setting up my 120g again.
I kept all my live rock in a dry bin while on hiatus. I seeded it with about 40 pounds of live rock from my lfs, and it's been curing in the DT for a couple weeks. All is going well, accept that I can't get rid of a green cloudy Algae that appears if I run my lights.
I had initially set them on a 12hr cycle, and after a week or so, the water was a green cloud. I shut the lights off and a few days later, it was fairly clear. I changed some water (about 20 gallons) when prepping for a larger sump, and all looked great. However, I started the lights again Saturday thinking the algae had run its course, and today it was back. I know I don't need the lights on while my rock cures, but I'd rather them on than off and I don't think it should make a difference (I don't care about the expense.)
Anyone know what I'm dealing with?
My lights are an old Coralife halide/actinic hood with very old bulbs (I'm curious if the bulbs could be a problem, I had thought I wouldn't need to replace them until I started loading the tank.) My old skimmer is slightly undersized and I plan to replace it after the cycle is up and running and the rock is cured, but it's the same I used for years with this setup. I had a pretty huge ammonia spike (lots of dead stuff in my "dead rock") but ammonia is now almost gone, nitrites have already spiked and are falling to very low levels, nitrates have shown up and are multiplying...
Oh, and I have about 2400gph flowing in DT...
I kept all my live rock in a dry bin while on hiatus. I seeded it with about 40 pounds of live rock from my lfs, and it's been curing in the DT for a couple weeks. All is going well, accept that I can't get rid of a green cloudy Algae that appears if I run my lights.
I had initially set them on a 12hr cycle, and after a week or so, the water was a green cloud. I shut the lights off and a few days later, it was fairly clear. I changed some water (about 20 gallons) when prepping for a larger sump, and all looked great. However, I started the lights again Saturday thinking the algae had run its course, and today it was back. I know I don't need the lights on while my rock cures, but I'd rather them on than off and I don't think it should make a difference (I don't care about the expense.)
Anyone know what I'm dealing with?
My lights are an old Coralife halide/actinic hood with very old bulbs (I'm curious if the bulbs could be a problem, I had thought I wouldn't need to replace them until I started loading the tank.) My old skimmer is slightly undersized and I plan to replace it after the cycle is up and running and the rock is cured, but it's the same I used for years with this setup. I had a pretty huge ammonia spike (lots of dead stuff in my "dead rock") but ammonia is now almost gone, nitrites have already spiked and are falling to very low levels, nitrates have shown up and are multiplying...
Oh, and I have about 2400gph flowing in DT...
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