[Ernie_Mountains]

HI all, I have now been in this adictive hobby for 4 months now. So far have had a I think good success rate on the corals and fish. I am having a big problem however with my plastic 220Gal tank. I have 1200W of lighting 5 hours a day and 10 hours of 600W. I have algie growth on the inside walls. No problem I use the magnetic scrubber to clean, very easy to do. Lately I am having a red "dot" about the size of a 1/4-1/2" diameter, very hard to scrub off. Now I am also getting a brown scale that is also very hard to get of. I can spend a hour with the magnetic scrubber, and get about half the viewing surface clean, in two days it is back again. What can I do? is this a chemical problem? or just a problem I have to live with and what I need is a easier way to clean it off?

Sure looking for Ideas.

[WILLIAM1]

You should post some pictures of it. I think it might be some corillan algea.

[Ernie_Mountains]

I will try to get some pictures, and get out today. In reading up I think you are right I am assuming coralline algae is refering too. I measured my sio2 at about 1PPM, 0 no2 and 0 no3, or at least as close to zero as I can read on the color chart.

I am using a magnetic cleaner at the moment. is there anything easier, (less time) to use, I can spend 1 hour a day at the moment to get rid of the red scale and the brown scale which I now think is a diatom. I may have been over feeding but I have two proteen skimmers and have seen no chemical measurement saying I have a problem. I have cut the light down to 8AM to 8M at 600W and 10-3 for a additional 600W. The corals seem really happy. my wrasses and snales and shrimp seem really happy with the green algie. I would go a take pictures now but my wife is having a quilting party and I don't want to be anywhere near it. Ha Ha.

ernie Bertram

[BLKBRDTA]

Hey Ernie, welcome to the reef! First off, William is correct with the Coraline algae. The red spots are perfectly normal, it is growing at a fast rate because you have so much total system watts on your lighting setup that it is speeding up the Nitrogen cycle and the algae is forming as a counter act to feed off the Nitrates and such. And yes you are correct, the brown patches are Diatoms. Be very careful not to let them get out of control or you will have major headaches and procedures to go through. I read that you cut down on your lighting times, this will help slow the growth greatly. Also try cycling your sump/refuge lights with your display lights, this will keep your levels in balance throughout the day (Display lights on/sump lights off, display lights off/sump lights on..) Please update with pictures as soon as you can, we want to see this 220 up and running.

Tony

[Ernie_Mountains]

OK guy's how do I fit a JPG of my tank and stuff into 97KB?

BLKBRDTA you said something that I was never told about, are you saying I need to have lights on my bio sphere's. I have set my tank up so I have all of the noise generators, proteen skimmers, heaters, bio filters, etc. in the basement, I pump up to my tank in the house, about 8i feet up.

all of you have told me my problem and I really thank you, this hobby is a bit overwhelming, guess that is why I am loving it so much. I just again measured what seems to be key ingredients NO2-no3 both at zero per the tools I have to use, Si02 is about 1.25PPM.

Please tell me how to send a acceptable picture in 97KB.

Ernie the beginner

[BLKBRDTA]

To post a picture on a thread do as follows:

(File must be smaller than 1.54MB and can be jpg, jpeg, png, gif, bmp, tif, tiff, or pdf file format.)

1. Save picture file to your HDD.

2. Open your browser and go to: ImageShack® - Image Hosting

3. On the top right click "Choose file" and find the picture on your HDD to be uploaded (hosted.)

4. Go down a little and check the box "resize image?" then select your resolution that you would prefer (640x480 and larger is recommended.)

5. Then click "Host it!"

(In a few seconds a new page will appear with multiple thumbnail code URL's.)

6. Scroll about halfway down (under the advertisements) and uncheck the box "Include details"

7. Then just below that box there is the thumbnail code for "Hotlink for forums (1)" click that line and press Ctrl+C (to copy that code.)

8. Next, just go back to the thread you are posting on and in the message box (wherever you want the picture to go in the text) press Ctrl+V (to paste the code.)

There you have it! Hosted pictures without having to "attach files" on here!

And what did you mean about needing lights on your Biosphere's? Are they freshwater? If they are then no you don't need any special lights unless your keeping live plants in them. I was referring to a wet/dry filter (sump/refugium) and the lights that go over it. You said something about having all your equipment downstairs and running it upstairs. Do you have a sump/refuge down there? If you do then I was saying to cycle those lights on there with the lights on the 220.

[Ernie_Mountains]

Well here's my tank. I think what I have found out is that what I have is normal. Got a internal scraper for acrylic tanks and cleaned the scale right up. Had been trying to clean with the very soft magnetic algie cleaner.

Here is the pix I hope.



You said "cycling your sump/refuge lights" I assumed this is what you ment.

Ernie
Took so long because I was on vacation last week.

[BLKBRDTA]

Good job on the hosting of the pictures Ernie. Glad to hear you got some of the stubborn coraline up. Do you have a sump under your display downstairs? Or do you use a canister? If you have a sump/refuge, I was talking about cycling those lights with your display lights to help cut back on your algae growth.

[Ernie_Mountains]

I am going to have too use my terms as I am still learning. On the first floor of my new house we designed it to hold about 3000 lbs of water. We have the tank on the first floor, with it's lights, power pumps, The drain lines are at the top of the tank and allow water to spill over a grated edge. This water goes to the basement where it is first passed thru filter pads, then thru the bio spheres. Followed is a carbon bag or two. then it inters a second sump where the water is pumped thru two proteem skimmers. the water from the second sump is pumped back at 16 gal/min to the tank above. I hope this answers your question.

I hope this answers your question.

ernie

[BLKBRDTA]

I see, sounds like a nice setup you have. So I take it you are using your Bio-Spheres as sump/refugiums then? Are there lights over these Spheres or no?

[Ernie_Mountains]

HI BLKBRDTA, no I don't have lights over the spheres, I have tried to get answers on if I should. I have a bunch of HOV about 400 watts worth I can use when I switched to the 1200W lights for the tank. If I need to light the spheres how much light would be good? If the problem is to keep NO2,NO3, and ammonia down. I am running zero on no2 and no3 now and less than 0.2PPM on the amonia (It is hard to tell what is is as the color measurement between zero and 0.2 is so close).

Ernie

[BLKBRDTA]

It is a good idea to keep some lights over where your water is filtered. How deep are your spheres? That will determine how much total power you will need for each. Keeping lights on your sump/refuge/spheres will also maintain a steady pH throughout the day and night. Your HOV's might work, how much wattage is each individual bulb?