Lighting questions..

[RangerDan]

I'm thinking back awhile when I last used my lights..
I have a tank top light system with 2 metal halide bulbs and 2 40w actinic's..

I'm wondering if 2 halide bulbs are too much light.
If I remember from before when I used after another setup, i got a nasty growth of rusty brown looking algea.

is this normal, or should I cut back on use of the bulbs..
Or- when I introduce more coral will it level out as the corals need more light.???

anyway.. I really don't want a algea tank.. ;-)

Dan

[Chuck S]

How old is this tank? What wattage are these bulbs? Diatoms are a naturally occurring thing in a new tank evolution. There are specific algae stages. Water changes do wonders. I would run the lights slowly over a period of couple weeks ramping up to a full photo period if this is a newly unstocked tank.

[RangerDan]

The tank is about 3 weeks old now.
I've been doing water changes. 1/week. approx: 25%
I don't remember what wattage on the mh bulbs are.. Nothing is written on the bulbs themselves either... It's been so long since I purchased them, i'm surprised they even work. All my aquarium stuff has been in storage for over 2 years. (military has me move allot)

I have been slowly increasing the time i use the lights.

The tank is unstocked except for my almost dead fiji rock and some damsels i tossed in there from a friend that was moving.

Yet i still have this rust brown algea forming on my rocks, glass, sand, and even on my filter intake.. ok.. everywhere.

Dan

[Chuck S]

That is a natural progression and I have had in several tanks I setup in the begginning this diatoms. If there are no corals in their you can say run the halides for only a few hours maybe 2-3 and run the actinics for 12 hours a day thats it. That should help alleviate some algal blooms. Of course keep doing the water changes weekly for a few more weeks. How is your cycle going? What are the readings?

[RangerDan]

I know what you want to hear..
but my ph test kit was a casualty of my last move...
and me being the rock for brains ground pounder that I am.. I haven't gotten another one yet.. thought I would wait a few weeks, or a payday or 2, before I buy another kit.
The water is crystal clear, and doesn't stink anymore (good sign) so I figure about 2-3 more weeks...

I usually let my live rock cycle about 6 weeks with 25% water changes every week, before adding my clean up crew and a coral or 2.

I plan on getting some leathers.. they are easy to keep and a hardy coral to start off the tank with.

I hope I'm not upsetting people with the way I do things..
The pet store owner i worked for in GA, FT Stewart area, was always mad at me because I did things different and always had good luck.. He would do things by the book, and spend LOTS of $$$ on the best equipment and all his reef creatures would die.. I ended up taking care of his salt water tanks until I had to leave... He sends me emails sometimes still, he has quit doing salt water.. (he is VERY successful in breeding African Ciclids though.... Something I never tried to do.. ;-)

Dan

[Chuck S]

I wasn't interested in PH at all really. That shifts throughout the day and is just a relative target in my opinion.

I was asking about Ammonia,Nitrite and Nitrates. http://www.reeftalk.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Each to their own I do not follow the books exactly either as some are antiquated.

[Katspaw]

Chuck and Ranger, How true you are. In todays reefkeeping, there are so many ways of keeping a successful tank, eberyone has their own way and you just have to pick out which ways work best for you. I have learned more information from reef boards than from the books I started out with. The diabloms will subside soon, with steady water changes, and a good filteration system. I have used several different ways of filteration, and have determined that a combination of protein skimming and refugium is the best for me. I would suggest you get a test kit for nitrates, nitrites and ammonia as Chuck suggested. They are always changing and they can kill if they get out of hand.

Tracey

[YodaHart]

Can you remember how long you used the lights in the past? If they were never used then there shouldn't be a problem. But, if they were used a lot before, you might want to think about replacing them. (before the dreaded hair algae sets in)
Those diatoms should disappear in a few weeks. You could probably put some snails and crabs in there to help clean them out.

[David Grigor]

If you don't know what type MH or wattage, your probably going to have to open up the enclosure and look for a brand/model # of the raw ballast and research it that way or hopefuly there will be some ansi codes on the ballast to denote what bulbs it will fire (standard MH will have ansi codes like m57, m58, m59 could also have codes starting with an H ).

[Atos]

I would buy some high qualyti Silicate test kit and check for silica presence. I think this could be your problem. I'm a little woried about your MH bulbs , I think you must know what type, color rendetion or PAR they are????

[RangerDan]

ok.. I did a really close inspection of the hood system.

I used this hood for about 3 months when I 1st bought it then I was shipped overseas and the wife killed my tank and just turned it all off.

anyway.
I did find some writting on the MH bulbs. Very faint, almost didn't see it.. and I was mistaken about the my florest lights too.. ;-) Ok.. I don't know [censored] about what I have on my tank http://www.reeftalk.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin.gif .... until now.

This is what it is.
2 MH 175W 10k bulbs.
2 PowerCompact Blue 55W 7100K bulbs.

The whole light system sits directly on top of the tank.
BTW. the brown algie is a spreading over everything. Should I purchase a clean up crew at this time?

[tendar]

Do you have a Local fish store that you can take a sample of your water to and have them test it for ammonia, nitites and nitrates?
If it has been running for 5 weeks you might be able to start adding a cleanup crew if it has pretty much finished cycling. Snails will help out alot with the diatoms.
If the bulbs have only been used for 3 months then they should still be good and the algea is just part of the new tank that everyone goes through. I would definetly cut you photo period down some to help cut down algea till it is under control since there are no corals in there yet.