54G Corner Build

[gerryo]

Three FTS's when I removed some rock to my Nano.

This is one instance when less is more.

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[gerryo]

Couple shots of my fish.

The Coral Beauty is so dark it is hard to see in most pics.

The Solorensis male's colours show up even in the semi dark.

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[gerryo]

Hi everyone.  I've been away for a while and lots of things have been happening.

This tank suffered a total crash in November of last year, and it took a long time to get it going again.  The cause of the crash is still not known for sure.  There was a fault in the heater, the tank overheated and fryed or poached everything.  All fish, all corals, all everything. 

So now I have mostly softies again, just to keep things easier.  Xenia, Leathers, Mushrooms, Buttons, Zoas, RBTA, Purple Sponge.  Couple of SPS - Hydnophora, and a Potato Chip Pavona.

3 fish - a pair of Ocellaris Clowns and a Yellow Corris Wrasse.

I'll post pics as soon as I figure out - AGAIN - how to do the posting.

[gerryo]

OK. I recieved the last of my LEDs from Rapid.  This kit is 6 Royal Blues and 6 Bright Whites to go in the back corner of the tank.  I had covered this spot with an 18 inch T5HO but was not happy with the blue back there after installing the blue LEDs across the front and across the middle of the tank.   

I'll get this fixture built and then take some pics. to show the difference.

Had to make a drastic change in my light rack to go from T5HOs to the LEDs.  I'm still using some T5s as well so should be well lit up.

[Rybren]

Gerry,

Good to see that you're sticking with it.  You'll have some mad LED skills when you're done.

[gerryo]

Thanx Jerry.

Woke up this morning to hair algea all over the place.  Didn't have any algea problems since the last crash in Nov.

The reason I know it's algea is that there are air bubbles trapped in it as they are being made by the algea.  I don't have a Tang to fight this stuff, so should I just leave it to run it's course?  I assumed the CUC would take care of thinga like this. lol  This stuff is all over the corals.  Zoos, Leathers, everything is being affected. 

[Darth]

check your phosphates, getting a tang is great but if the algea is taking over there is some imbalance in the tank. I would do some water changes maybe run a phosban reactor how longis your photo period?

[gerryo]

The only thing that has changed in this tank, over the last month, has been the addition of the new Rapid LED Royal Blue LEDs.

I have switched them off and will see if there is any improvement.

I have never ran a phosban reactor.  I do not own one. Maybe a change in the photoperiod on the LEDs will also make a difference.

[Darth]

what is your water change routine like? have you changed salt mixes, something is causing the outbreak it sucks cause it could be anything at this point

[gerryo]

No, my salt mix is the same as always.  Like I say, nothing else has changed.

I have had the blue LEDs turned off for the last 1 1/2 hours and I have already had a change in the Zoos and Leathers.  The Zoos have coloured back up and opened, and the leathers have opened up as well and have started one of their sloughing off stages.

Lets see what happens over night just to see if it is connected to the use of the blue LEDs.

Wish me luck.

[Darth]

good luck interested to see if it's the lights

[gerryo]

I would say at this point that the biggest part of the problem is the use of the blue LEDs.      Obviously the algea growth is connected to the blue concentration.

The growth has abated considerably but is not over yet.  I have decreased the photoperiod of all my lights to see if I can curb this even further.

However, I seem to have lost my Alveopora and my Hammer to the algea smothering.  Only time will tell.  Other corals may bounce back with the use of the turkey baster and higher water flow.  I have added another Koralia 3 in here to swirl things about.

[Hookup]

I would think that the additional light, I.e. Increased PAR is the issue, not the blue itself.

That said, algae needs phosphate to grow... So find that source and you can eliminate it. 

Test for phosphate and get a reading, likely 0ppm cause your algae is consuming it as fast as it is being produced....  Then for a second test, heat some tank water to 80* or so for 30seconds and test the water when it cools.  It won't be accurate, but it will show existence of organic phosphate (or inorganic, I forget... The one the hobby test doesnt test for)...

Finally, test your tap water, as I assume you are not using RO/DI...  Same two types of tests...


If it's not your source water, it might be foods, or even leaching from your LR.

[gerryo]

Phosphate test reads 0 with my test kit which hasn't reached it's expiry date, yet.

Finished putting together the last LED fixture and installed it on the tank.  This fixture with 6 whites and six blues replaces an 18 inch T5HO that was on there.  This fixture is over the back corner of the tank which didn't receive any of the Royal Blue Actinics.

I say that it has 6 whites and 6 blues.  That is not so.  It only has 5 whites.  My old hands shake so much now it is very hard to do soldering, so I buggered up one of the LEDs.  This company offers terminals for the LEDs that you do not solder.  Guess what I'll be using from here on in.

To try to counter some of the algea growth, I have removed the first LED fixture that I installed.  It has 12 Royal blue LEDs in a single row, and this was placed across the middle of the tank, with 80 degree lenses on the bulbs.  The lenses concentrate the light severely and I feel they are not needed.  You get much better spread of the light without the lens.  Rapid say that the spread from the bare bulb is at abt. 140 degrees.  Almost twice as wide as an 80 degree lens.

This should remove some of the par from the bottom of the tank and not give the algea its life source.

[Hookup]

This should remove some of the par from the bottom of the tank and not give the algea its life source.

Algae needs phosphate to grow... light is simply good... (however bad-bulbs can promote growth in algae, this is possible too)

Think about SPS systems which would have more light than you have but no algae... i think that the missing ingredient is that you have nutrients and they do not.

Phosphate test reads 0 with my test kit which hasn't reached it's expiry date, yet.

Test for phosphate and get a reading, likely 0ppm cause your algae is consuming it as fast as it is being produced....

[Rybren]

Gerry,

I tend to agree with Hookup.  I doubt that your lights are to blame for the algae; it's more than likely caused by excess nitrogen-based elements and/or phosphorus-based elements.

I'd start running GFO and macro.  I'd also consider doing a series of water changes in an attempt to dilute/remove the excess nutrients.

[gerryo]

OK.  Water changes I can do more often.  I do 10% weekly now.  Do I increase this to 10% every 3 days?  Or more often.

What is GFO?  Never been involved with this before.  I have no reactors.  Can this be run in a canister filter?

Macro.  Do you mean that I should put Macro Algea in here to fight the Micro?

[dan2x38]

GFO = granulate ferrous oxide

Your running a canister filter? That can also be the contributor to the algae the canister filter can create a nitrate sink. As for macro algae it will up take your macro nutrients like nitrate & phosphates then get rid of some (export) and it keeps growing - it will out compete the algae.

[Greatwhite]

Macro.  Do you mean that I should put Macro Algea in here to fight the Micro?

Macro algae eats the same stuff that micro algae does.  Chaeto grows in a ball and doesn't spread - and eats up phosphates and nitrates, and it gives a nice place for pods to live!  Most people keep a ball of it in their refugium, but you CAN put some in your display tank in a plastic mesh bag - it just doesn't look real nice.

I like turbo and trochus snails in a fight with algae...

[gerryo]

I'm not running a canister filter right now.  I use one about once a month, when I remember it, to run carbon in the system.  Then it is off line again.

There are apparently many things that can contribute to algae growth, and just as many ways to try to control it.  What I need to do is try something for a while to see if it works, then if not, switch to something else.  Too many things tried could cause more problems that I don't even know about yet.

I will try the GFO method, along with some macro, and see if this works.  Tomorrow.

And thanx, Greatwhite, for the cheato idea.  I do not have a refugium.  I had one for about a year, with cheato in it, and it never grew.  Never produced any pod life that I could determine, even though the display tank had massive bursts of pod growth, none of it ever grew in my fuge.  So I removed it.  Maybe I could salvage it.  Tomorrow.