[icu-travis]

Ok, here we go. First I will tell what I have, how it is set up, recent changes made and then tell you my problem and maybe someone can help me before I go crazy.
130 GL display with 55 GL sump.
Deep sand bed 6-8 inches in both tanks.
I don’t remember how many pounds of live rock but a bunch (over 150).
c-urchin PRO skimmer (w/ magdrive 3)
trickle filter w/ bio media and filter pads (no charcoal)
4 maxi jet 1200 on a 30 sec. cycling reef timer (no dead spots)
65 watt PC 10k 50/50. This was only light on main tank until 3weeks ago. Now it is on the sump.
520 watt PC 10K 50/50. New 3 weeks ago on main tank.
Had maybe 20 assort. Snails and a few small blue and red leg hermits few damsels ,2 Fire goby, 3 pj card, 1 Clown, 1 sand sifter star, 1 serpent star, 1 brittle star, and recently added 20 turbo 20 zebra 20 cerith 5 porc crabs 3 lettuce nudibranch 3 horseshoe crabs 6 sea cucumbers 3 peppermint shrimp. And a few other things
Mag drive 18 return pump
All lights on timers 11 hours of daylight for display. Then other 13 hours sump lights are on.
Recently started using ro/di water was using prime before that, however I am on a rural water system and it is fairly pure.
Tank cycled with LR and sand only no fish over 8 months ago then I added 3 damsels. And still have all 3
My water has always been excellent but the last 4 months it has been perfect with the NO2 and NO3 being zero.

Ok 4-6 weeks ago I started having some slight growth of green hair like algae. That is why I recently added the other cleaning crew stuff. I added the new lights just a couple days after the new cleaning crew. When I put the new lights in the canopy I decided to take a small new paintbrush a gently brushing away as much of the hair like algae as I could. It was mainly on the top layer of rocks so I turned them over as I cleaned them so that the algae would no longer get any light. I have some purple coralline but not as much as I would like. I have also used “purple up” as directed on label with only minimal results. Now the green algae is pretty much gone. It is well in check with the critters eating it daily.

Now I have a dark brown or dark red algae that is like dust that shows up on the sand and on the rocks daily. It comes off easily as just me swishing the water around with my hand next to the rocks. If I don’t do it daily it slowly accumulates and gets darker. some of the rocks have small little thing sticking out that look like roots or something, maybe ¼ inch long or so. The sump has never grown any algae even though I have tried to get it to. Before the power compact was on the sump it had two standard Fluorescent and was always pristine. Now that I have the power compact on the sump it now is growing some caulerpa. The brown dust looks like the fine diatom I had when the tank first cycled several, several months ago and it now is also in the sump. It has to have something to do with the lighting because one end of the sump is shaded from light by the trickle box filter and the sand on this end does not have any of the brown dust on it.
I am not sure what the brown dust is but I want it gone. I have rearranged the display rock and this slowed it down for a couple of days but it is getting worse again. I think the purple and reds that I do have coming on is getting choked out somewhat by this brown dust. Please someone help me!!
LINK TO PHOTOBUCKET FOR PICTURES
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/i...k/DSC02180.jpg

[Packer Lakerfan4]

I had the same problem get a sand sifting starfish if you dont already have one it pretty much cleared mine up in a few nights

[icu-travis]

have had one for a while and he does a fair job coupled with the horshoe crabs of cleaning the sand but it is on all my rock as well

[NATIVEVAMAN]

I didnt see that you mentioned any ro/di unit,are you useing plain tap water to mix saltwater?You didnt mention a protien skimmer,do you have one?It sounds an awful lot like you have a silicate problem,there primary food source is silicates.And nitrate/phosphate problem which could be cured by a protien skimmer/calurpa combination.

[stephaniesquires]

I noticed that after using Purple Up (yes I used it - before finding this fountain of knowledge I did lots of dumb stuff to the tank!!) and it produced a diatom bloom for a while....
Try a substantial water change and give the new cuc a chance to work... you may have put your tank into a new cycle by changing lights etc....

[icu-travis]

recently added ro/di system started using it before new bloom. yah my skimmer is amazing C-Urchin PRO. i have it set to concentrate the skimmate but it still pulls about 2-4 gal a day from circulation. i mix 6 gal of water every other day to keep up. also will post new pics of before and after i clean off the bloom. the more aggressive i get with cleaning the rock the more purple i find under it.

[icu-travis]

link to my pics on photobucket

Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket
Image hosting, free photo sharing & video sharing at Photobucket

[icu-travis]

ok in an effort to help reduce the bloom i quit using purple up. i decreased the timer on light to 9 hours a day. my water chem is still perfect at least from what i have read this is desirable range.
no2=0, no3=0, no4=0, ca=430, ph=8.2, sg1.024 only test i could find for alkalinity was dip stick and it read 240ppm. my fish all seam very happy and healthy. i had a feather duster blow his crown a few days ago is this a normal thing that happens every so often. LFS said once a month or so it would happen but first time it has happened and i have had him over 4 months. i recently added a couple soft corals 3 days ago and when he bagged them he took them out of the water for a few seconds and they shrunk up and have not fully re expanded yet. it is green mushroom and brown polyps. and how long does it take to get the good purple coraline all over everything? do i need to do something different? do i need a MH? i have 520 watts of power compact 10k 50/50. i moved coral closer to the top yesterday and it did not help any. i am getting frustrated and none of my family or friends have ever done saltwater and the LFS guy looks like he is to busy smokin pot in the back room to help me. please i need some knowledge from you old PRO's tell me what i am doing wrong.

[icu-travis]

i also did a 30% water change. and vacuumed out the dust that was on top of the rock yesterday, and its back again today.

[stephaniesquires]

It's going to take time... Nothing Good Happens in a Tank Quickly!!! (I stole that from a regular ) Dont add anything new and stay off the Purple up! The diatom bloom will take several weeks to go away. If your water parameters are fine and your livestock is OK just leave the tank alone for awhile. Do a 10% water change in 2 weeks. Keep checking your water parameters. The corraline algae will take time - purple up causes more problems than it's worth...

[icu-travis]

thank you for the heads up on the purple up. i threw it away, my tank has been up for about 7 months and i have spent about 5K so far and it still looks like hell. my wife is good to point out that the display tank in the LFS looks very nice & why have i spent all this money and ours is not pretty yet. i keep telling her wait till i have had it up a year and then you can give me hell if it dosnt look good, not beautifull but good. i will not try any more chemical cures for the coraline but does it sound like i am doing everything properly. lighting timers and such? how long did it take for you to get good purple growing?

[stephaniesquires]

Originally Posted by icu-travis

thank you for the heads up on the purple up. i threw it away, my tank has been up for about 7 months and i have spent about 5K so far and it still looks like hell. my wife is good to point out that the display tank in the LFS looks very nice & why have i spent all this money and ours is not pretty yet. i keep telling her wait till i have had it up a year and then you can give me hell if it dosnt look good, not beautifull but good. i will not try any more chemical cures for the coraline but does it sound like i am doing everything properly. lighting timers and such? how long did it take for you to get good purple growing?

It takes awhile to get a tank looking good - some things people do to hurry them up causes more problems than anything! To get the corraline going you need good lights and good calcium levels. (I think) Might be worth checking your calcium levels. Some people will 'scrape' the existing corraline algae to help it along. I dont know if this works or not but probably cant hurt - just dont scrape it all off!!!
The only things I would do differently would be the filter pads make sure they are kept clean- I use a filter sock from time to time - but dont leave it in all the time.
With the new lights you will probably see corraline growth soon...

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Travis,per your pm request I am going to rebuild your tank right before your eyes lol.
According to my calculations you have 9x the tank volume in flow.(not counting your return).Then you have your pumps on a timer that reduces the flow even more.You need to get that flow up to at least 20x.I would change the pumps to 2-koralia #3's and 2-koralia #2's.All 4 with the hydor karalia flow deflectors.This would raise your flow rate to 22.3 x.Since the flow deflectors would provide irratic flow you wont need that timer.Maybe you could sell the maxi jets and timer right here on RB.
The next issue is the lights.There is no way pc's of any intensity is going to reach a depth of 26 inch's.In fact t-5 ho wont do it either.You have two choices,t-5 vho which would require a canopy because you can only get them as a retro fit,or metal halide.My choice would be to build a canopy and use t-5 vho which is effective to depths of 29 inch's or more when single lamp reflectors are used.I looked over the thread and didnt see your actual tank measuements so I will assume it is 48 inch's long.By useing 2 Ice cap 430 ballasts you could use from 4 to 6 bulbs,4 would be the minimum for your tank and 5 would a lot at 425 watts.Including the price of the canopy and all the parts this would be the least expensive way to go as well as the best.If you go the metal halide route 2 250 watt bulbs of 12000k with flourescent actinic supplimentation would do the job.Remember there are heat issues with metal halides.You could sell the pc,s right here on RB but to someone who has a tank of 18 inch max depth.
I think if you corrected these two issues you will be on your way to a happy healthy tank.I am sure there are a few details I left out but this is a lot of typing for an old man,and before coffee.

[NATIVEVAMAN]

Oh,you might want to look at this site for the retro lites I was talking about.
T5HO Retro Kits - DIYReef

[icu-travis]

thank everyone for help i moved some of my rock around again yesterday and cleaned it all off again. the brown bloom is slowing some and i have new purple on some of my rocks. and some bright orange as well. i dont think i have ever seen orange before is that ok?

[stephaniesquires]

Corraline algae can be many different colors. As long as it is 'hard' not slimy it's good stuff....