[Reefer769]

ok well just recently i have been getting a lot of this green film algae growing on the glass, and just making the tank very blury. this stuff grows in minutes, i clean in and 30 mins to an hour later its back... i just checked myu PH and it reads somewhere between 8.4-8.8, is this the problem? and also, should i be testing for anything else? i have been washing everything out with tap water and then putting it right back in the tank, so maybe this would be a problem? i really have no idea why i have this green stuff growing on my glass, i have never had this before. the tank has only been up a little over 6 months so it is still fairly new. any ideas?

oh yea while im at it, i mine as well ask how the heck do i get this overflow started. it is just a basic overflow with a big u tube to syphon the water into the return side of the overflow which is then flushed down to the sump, and i have no idea how to start it, ive tried many things and nothing seems to be working. any ideas?

[LazyReef]

You know, I have a bias here, but I use the Ilynassa obsoleta snails to keep my glass clean. Very similar to Nassarius sp. In fact they used to be in that genus but got kicked out into their own. Gotta razor blade the coralline off the glass still, but I gather from other threads not everyone has that problem.:-; Buy some snails. The bias.... well I sell a ton of them on ebay and they work great. Get them from anywhere you can. They love cleaning glass and I like looking into my tank without sticking my hand in it every week. Burrows through my substrate like little moles during the day eating every speck of crap they find. Hope I am allowed to peddle on this board, if not, apologies beforehand.

[Reefer769]

alright, well not i have a problem with my sump. i just started it up, and the overflow box(in the tank) is just getting a bunch of bubbles, and the overflow tube that flows the water down into the sump is just spirting out BUBBLES! is this normal? also, i am worried i might have to much flow in my tank now since i have this sump set up... and i am also getting a bunch of tiny bubbles back into my tank from the mag drive 5 return pipe. will all this settle down? or will i have to make some adjustments?

[Reefland]

If there are bubbles in the U Tube, make sure you are getting the siphon started good and you'll have to let it run for a bit for the bubble to work through the U Tube.

As for the micro bubbles, it could take a bit for them to dissappear or it could be that there are no baffles in the sump to remove them.

[Reefer769]

i have baffles in the sump, the water goes over a wall then through a chamber then over a wall, under, and then over to the pump. would a filter sock be neccessay for the tube that spitting the water into the sump? or should i just give it some time. and i also noticed that the mag 5 is very noisy.

[Reefland]

Just give it time; and your Mag 5 should not be noisy, they are pretty quiet pumps.

[Reefer769]

alright scott, my main worry is that there might be too much flow in the tank now. do you think that this could cause anything bad to happen, such as stress on fish or i dunno, anything?

[Reefland]

No, you do not have too much flow. It is very difficult to add too much flow to a tank unless of course you sit a MAG 18 in the middle of a 10gal aquarium.

[Poseidon]

Originally Posted by Reefland

No, you do not have too much flow. It is very difficult to add too much flow to a tank unless of course you sit a MAG 18 in the middle of a 10gal aquarium.

Instant MESS!!!

Buy more SNAILS!!! LOTS and Lots of them. I remember a previous thread you started asking about snails, i know there were some recomendations in there. Do a search of threads you started, I am almost certain you will find it.

[cesar]

Another thing. Is your tank close to a window? I believe that direct sun light can cause that green algae. I have the same problem but with brown algae.

[Reefer769]

alright, the tank is in the basement on the side opposite of the windows that are down there, so yes it is fairly close, and i will search for that thread, hopefully i can find it. i also had another question, how do i perform water changes now? when i syphon the water out of the tank then the water level will go way down and stop the overflow wich will overflow the tank... so im very confused on how to do this now, would i have to shut the whole thing down? any ideas?

[Reefland]

Shut down the return pump which will drain the tank to just below the level of the internal overflow box, perform your water change and then start it back up.

[Reefer769]

i dont get it... would the overflow be running this whole time? im just confused... would this idea just drain all the water into the sump, and i would have to start the syphon(wich was a HUGE pain) all over again everytime i want to do a wc?

when i do this, i will probably add a ball valve to the retun tube. so then i can just close it and no water will drain down to the sump when i wanna do a wc, and i would just break the overflow syphon and let whatever water is left in the overflow tube to drain into the sump.

[Reefland]

No, only the amount of water from the display that is above the level of the overflow box inside the tank will drain into the sump. You should be testing the functionality of your continuos siphon overflow anyway. If it is built correctly, you can unplug your return pump and see exactly what I am talking about. The functionality is also important for a power outage. Unplug the return pump, let the tank drain the 1-1.5" of water into the sump and when done, start the pump back up to make sure everything starts running ok, siphon included.

[Reefer769]

so will i have to start syphon again, or no?

[Reefland]

That depends on the quality of unit you bought. If it is a true continuous siphon overflow then you won't have to start it. You should definitely check it out now and test it yourself while your standing there rather then finding out the hard way when the power goes out while your away and you end up with water on your floor.

[Sueet]

And for the record, it's REAL easy to restart a siphon... Just get a small section of airline tubing, and feed it up inside the U-tube, so that the end of the tubing goes right to the very middle/center/deepest part of the U..... Then use your mouth to suck the air out..... A longer piece of airline tubing will make it easier to not find out first-hand how salty your water is

[ick sucks]

hmmm algae. natures way of removing pollution. what you say algae is a bad thing-absolutly not! algae is very effieceint at keeping your tank clean. you should incourage algae to grow. the only problem is when it grows in the display tank. it looks unsightly, fogs the glass and in general looks like ****! also it can smother corals and kill them shielding any light from them. i would let it grow if you have no corals and plan on a fish only tank. i would load the tank with hermits and snails if you have or want corals. if you choose or have corals i would grow it in a sump/refugium. and grow it good. You see not everyone wants it in there tanks. but i do and it grows long and proud. in some areas its as long as 4 inches! my clowns actually have taken it up as a "anemone" host.

i feed my fish 8 times a day

my tank is 25 gallons

my algae is growing 4 inches long on the back and sides of the glass

and i have 5 fish
my ammonia and nitrites are 0
my nitrates are below .05

hmmmmm algae aint that bad after all.

the only thing i do is help my algae grow by adding plant grow. i have no plants only algae.

no mechanical filtration in my tank.

no filters at all only a red sea hang on skimmer.

im a naturalist and believe nature is stronger and has things figured out.

[Samper]

That bioload is super heavy.