[73stang]

Ok, quick question. In my never ending fight against hair algae I was wnating to cut back on the photoperiod for a while. I dont want to harm the corals currently in the tank though, so my quesiton is how longshould I be running the lights each day to make sure the corals get adequate lighting, yet minimize the time to help fight the algae?

THX

[WILLIAM1]

What kind of lights info please?

[73stang]

Tank is an 840gal, 8'X4'X3' (LXDXH). Makes it hard to reach in and pull algae off the rocks since tank is larger than my arms will reach.

I currently have 5 X 250MH lights and 4x 72" VHO bulbs. Running them about 12hrs per day at the moment.

The MH are 10K DE bulbs, and are old, about 1yr. i just ordered in some 15K and 20K DE 250 MH to try out and will be replacing the VHO's with new this weekend.

Hve been fighting major hair algae for a while. juist retrofitted my eur-reef skimmer two weeks ago. Turned it into a Recirc skimmer with 5 pumps going. Have seen some improvment with this upgrade already, but continuing hte battle

Not to mention the 300 crabs/snails in the tank, lawnmore blenny, a few tangs, and two sea slugs that I have not seen since they were put in.

[WILLIAM1]

You could probly back off the lights about 2 hours a day if you want without any damage.

[73stang]

K, thx for the feedback

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by 73stang

Tank is an 840gal, 8'X4'X3' (LXDXH). Makes it hard to reach in and pull algae off the rocks since tank is larger than my arms will reach.

I currently have 5 X 250MH lights and 4x 72" VHO bulbs. Running them about 12hrs per day at the moment.

The MH are 10K DE bulbs, and are old, about 1yr. i just ordered in some 15K and 20K DE 250 MH to try out and will be replacing the VHO's with new this weekend.

Hve been fighting major hair algae for a while. juist retrofitted my eur-reef skimmer two weeks ago. Turned it into a Recirc skimmer with 5 pumps going. Have seen some improvment with this upgrade already, but continuing hte battle

Not to mention the 300 crabs/snails in the tank, lawnmore blenny, a few tangs, and two sea slugs that I have not seen since they were put in.

WOW! Would love to see some pics!!!!!!

[73stang]

Will do as soon as I can get rid of the algae

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by 73stang

Will do as soon as I can get rid of the algae

What kind of corals you got in there?

Yeah...cut the light back, start some water changes, get that skimmer with the mods running good and physical removal of the hair Algae is the best and fastest way to get rid of it.

If you aint seen a sea slug in there you might want another one or two depending how bad it is in there.

Then get some PICS ON HERE!

[ianizaguirre]

physical removal of the hair Algae ??? wouldent it just grow back ?

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by ianizaguirre

physical removal of the hair Algae ??? wouldent it just grow back ?

The fastest way to remove anything is to do just that...remove it. It is then up to you to make what is left in your tank not want to grow back. No kidding...you get bad hair algae or Bryopsis in your tank you have a real battle on your hands and many times you dont win. If Stang has it in an 800 gal tank full of corals hes got his work cut out for him. On the other hand if hes got 5 years in the hobby and an 800 gal tank hes seen crap happen before and can probably deal with it. Sometimes it just aint fun having a tank.

[73stang]

yes for the most part. Let me explain actions/thoughts to date. I am aware that I need to reduce the nitrates/phosphates in the tank.

When I test for these I essentially get 0 readings. The thought is that the algae is at a point where it is using up the available nitrates. In otherwords, it is a nice green carpet, but it is not growing more as it has reached the point of using up the available nutrients. Hope this makes sense...

the skimmer I have is an older C-6 that was running fine on my old tank, a 480 gallon (my first saltwater tank, lol). I moved last year and in the process upgraded to a 840 gal tank. Same skimmer. I dont think the skimmer was adequate. After unsecessfully fighting the algae for about 6 months with snails and the like, I finally broke down and spent the money to retrofitt/upgrade the skimmer two weeks ago. Seems to be much improved now.

I have seens some loss of algae since upgrading the skimmer. My thoughts are that I am not fully utilizing the skimmer's capabilites yet as the nutrients I want to get out are tied up in the algae. By physical removal of the algea, I reduce the overall algae in the tank. In theory the balance of nutrients will be shifted to allow more algae to grow, but since I now have the larger skimmer going it should be able to remove the "free" nutrients now to help prevent more algae growth. Slowly tippiing the balance back to a near algae free system.

That is the hope at least. I have tested my make up water and get 0 nitrates/phosphates also, use DI/RO. Also do a 75-100 gal water change weekly right now also.

Heard that the older lights may ahve a shift in spectrum whcih can benefit algae growth, so changing those out now.

All in the battle of the hair algae.

ack, too much typing...

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by 73stang

yes for th emost part. Let me explain actions/thoughts to date. I am aware that I need to reduce the nitrate/phosphates in the tank.

When I test for these I essentially get 0 readings. The thought is that the algae is at a point wher it is using up the available nitrates. inotherwords, it is a nice green carpet, but it is not growing more as it has reached the point of using up the avaialble nutrients. Hope this makes sense...

the skimmer I have is an older C-6 that was running fine on my old tank, a 480 gallon (my first saltwater tank, lol). I moved last eyar and in the process upgraded to a 840 gal tank. Same skimmer. I dont think the skimmer was adequate. After unsecessfully fighting the algae for about 6 months with smails and the like, I finally broke down and spent the money to retrofitted/ipgraded the skimmer two weeks ago. Seems to be much improved now.

I ahve seens some loss of algae since upgrading the skimmer. My thoughts are that I am not fuly utilizing the skimmer's capabilites yet as the nutrients I want to get out are tied up in the algae. By physical removal of the algea, I reduce the overall algae in the tank. In theory the balance of nutrients will be shifted to allow more algae to grow, but since I now ahve the larger skimmer going it should be able to remove the "free" nutrients better now to help prevent more algae growth. Slowly tippiing the balance back to a near algae free system.

That is the hope at least. I have tested my make up water and get 0 nitrates/phosphates also, use DI/RO. Also do a 75-100 gal water change weekly right now also.

Heard that the older lights may ahve a shift in spectrum whcih can benefit algae growth, so chanign those out now.

All in the battle of the hair algae.

ack, too much typing...

Yup. Usually takes some break in time for skimmer to really work well.

[73stang]

Not a lot in the coral department right now as I lost quite a bit of it from algae smothering

Have only 4-5 sps misc sps, 4 tridacna, frogspawn, hammer, kenga trees (sp?), and a few other s I cant think of the names right now. Fish list includes :

purple tang
hippa tang
yellow tang
3 dispar anthias
10 lyretail orange anthias
3 mandarins (do well inlarge tank)
4 (two black) clowns with two red bulb anemones
lawnmore blenny
6-line wrasse
flasher wrasse
lawnmower blenny
flame angel
coral beauty angel
white/black stripe angel I cant rememebr the name of
2 blue/green chromis
and a blue damsel with a bit of attitude
blood red hawkfish
purple pseudochromis
black cap baslett
golden basslet
maybe a couple others I missed


and the tank still looks sparse

[73stang]

how do you select a pic for your avatar? darn computers

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by 73stang

Not a lot in the coral department right now as I lost quite a bit of it from algae smothering

Have only 4-5 sps misc sps, 4 tridacna, frogspawn, hammer, kenga trees (sp?), and a few other s I cant think of the names right now. Fish list includes :

purple tang
hippa tang
yellow tang
3 dispar anthias
10 lyretail orange anthias
3 mandarins (do well inlarge tank)
4 (two black) clowns with two red bulb anemones
lawnmore blenny
6-line wrasse
flasher wrasse
lawnmower blenny
flame angel
coral beauty angel
white/black stripe angel I cant rememebr the name of
2 blue/green chromis
and a blue damsel with a bit of attitude
blood red hawkfish
purple pseudochromis
black cap baslett
golden basslet
maybe a couple others I missed


and the tank still looks sparse

Hahahahahaha...not used to a fish stock list like that!

Please keep us posted. Im sure all of us here would hate to see you loose any more stuff!

[jimw369]

Originally Posted by 73stang

how do you select a pic for your avatar? darn computers

go "forums" at the top of the page and select "control panel".

Look on your left and select "edit Avatar". Should be good from there!