Starting Over!

[AdamMillerDO]

Hello all, I am going to start over on my reef. I need some opinions from experience reefers. I currently have a 75 gallon traditional rimmed display, Eshopps 1200gph HOB overflow, 20 gallon sump/fuge, 1200gph Magdrive return pump, Vortex 1000gph powerheads x 3, 250 watt metal halide x 2 and blue actinic 54watt x 4. I also use a Reef Octopus 125gal skimmer. I have always had this brown stringy algae that grows on and off. I have never been able to get my tank extremely healthy. I am worried that this algae is dinoflagellates that I introduced from my early inexperienced days. I have recently gotten a Deep Blue Professional 75 gallon rimless reef ready tank. Its beautiful. I want to start over from scratch. I have 6 bags of figi pink sand and I think I am going to bleach and dry my rock (>100lbs). Any suggestions on starting over and how to clean and reintrodue the currley live stock?

 

[Eric45]

Only problem you might have is if you run those 250w mh's for too long. Over six hours a day and you'll get algae problems. I have a 72g and run two 150's which seems fine.

 

[Nanook]

Only problem you might have is if you run those 250w mh's for too long. Over six hours a day and you'll get algae problems. I have a 72g and run two 150's which seems fine.

High light doesn't equate algae problems. I run 400 watt and 250 bulbs and algae is never an issue. Water chemistry and keeping nutrients in check is the fix for algae problems, not limiting light.

 

[Nanook]

Hello all, I am going to start over on my reef. I need some opinions from experience reefers. I currently have a 75 gallon traditional rimmed display, Eshopps 1200gph HOB overflow, 20 gallon sump/fuge, 1200gph Magdrive return pump, Vortex 1000gph powerheads x 3, 250 watt metal halide x 2 and blue actinic 54watt x 4. I also use a Reef Octopus 125gal skimmer. I have always had this brown stringy algae that grows on and off. I have never been able to get my tank extremely healthy. I am worried that this algae is dinoflagellates that I introduced from my early inexperienced days. I have recently gotten a Deep Blue Professional 75 gallon rimless reef ready tank. Its beautiful. I want to start over from scratch. I have 6 bags of figi pink sand and I think I am going to bleach and dry my rock (>100lbs). Any suggestions on starting over and how to clean and reintrodue the currley live stock?

If the rock is "live rock", I wouldn't advise bleaching it. You can "cook" the live rock if you want to help remove a lot of the sediments/nutrients in it, and still keep beneficial bacteria alive. This doesn't mean cooking the rock in a pot over the stove either, it is a process that many have used to get the rock nice and clean. Try searching for cooking liverock and you can find a wealth of information.

The other option is to sell your liverock and buy new, expensive, but nice to have fresh cured rock. Or, you can get some dry rock, cure it for several months to remove phosphate and use a few pieces of the rock you have to seed it. If it was me and the rock wasn't covered in nasties, I would just put it in a tub of warm, circulating saltwater and scrub it with a brush and shake it up a bit to remove detritus. Run some GFO in the tub to help remove phosphate and give it some time in fresh saltwater.

 

[Eric45]

High light doesn't equate algae problems. I run 400 watt and 250 bulbs and algae is never an issue. Water chemistry and keeping nutrients in check is the fix for algae problems, not limiting light.

That's not been my experience. My nutrient levels are extremely low but everytime I run those lights for more than six hours, I get algae. I've always thought algae can use light in the absence of nutrients to sustain itself.

 

[Nanook]

That's not been my experience. My nutrient levels are extremely low but everytime I run those lights for more than six hours, I get algae. I've always thought algae can use light in the absence of nutrients to sustain itself.

Algae needs light and nutrients to grow. If you limit the nutrients, most algae will not survive. Keeping phosphate and nitrate levels low is important to limiting algae growth. I would recommend getting your water tested with a Hach test kit or Hanna meter for phosphate. Lamotte makes a very low range nitrate test kit as well. Low levels of nutrients will help limit algae growth, but it may not eliminate it completely. Organic phosphate is typically not measured by high end kits, so limiting feedings is important as well.

Adequate water flow, cleanup crews and a herbivorous fish or two will also help. As a runner of 250 watt and 400 watt bulbs for 13 years now, I have never had a problem with algae. But, I practice very good husbandry, perform regular water changes, run granular ferric oxide (GFO) and run carbon. Most tank of the month winners over the years run very high wattage lighting as well. It is a combination of factors that lead to algae growth, once you figure those basics out, you can put a 1000 metal halide over your 70 gallon tank and you won't have to deal with algae.

 

[AdamMillerDO]

Update

Update

Thanks for the opinions. 5 days of no metal halides and a 20% water change and the algea is nearly gone. Any ideas?

 

[Eric45]

Keep the lighting period low for a while -- less than 6 hours per day. That and low PO should eliminate the problem.