Samper And Charlie

[heinze]

I'm Writing To You Both Particualary Because You Both Gave Me A Bit Of Hope That My Diatoms While Edventually Clear And I Will Have Back The Tank I Used To Have....
Few Questions For Ya..
Should I Remove My Bio Balls From My Weer And The Sump Chambers As I've Read The Can Hinder Not Help Some Times.

Ideal Lighting Time For Both Halides And Actinit, I Have Two 250 Watt Halides And Two 54watt Tubes (actinic).

Also I've Been Told If I Leave My Lights Off For 36 Hours Do A Large Water Change Afterward It Will Rid This Infectious Algae.

Should I Be Adding Snails And Hermits Or Will They Not Touch The Brown Stuff.

Dkh Is Up To About 9.8, Keep Raising Slowly Or Leave It For A While.

Last But No Means Least What Percentage Of Water Change Should I Be Doing Weekly, I Do About 10% Max....

I Know There's Alot Of Questions In One Go But I Thought I Might As Well Get Them Out.

[ReeferSD]

I would get rid of bioballs for sure.if you have coral, the lights off for 36 hours in not good. Get some flow down to where the diatoms are. My biggest diatom problem was water flow. Nassarius vibex snails will help stir sand bed. so will crabs if you like them. as for lighting, i think everyone is different but my actnics are on for around 11 hours and full light around 9 1/2. i went to home depot and found a nice intermatic timer for fairly cheap. It runs 3 seperate plugs at different times, the built in battery is nice so i dont have to re-set everthing if power goes out. What is your Flow like?

[heinze]

So Removing The Bio's Is A Good Idea. And Yes I Did Have A Tank Full Of Corals But And Slowly Losing Them Due To Them Being Covered In The Diatoms. My Lights Are On For About The Same Times As Yours And They On Plug In Timers But The Back Up Battery Seems A Good Idea.
Flow..... I Have A 500 Liter Tank Which Has A 3000 Litre Return Pump Back From The Sump, Two 1200 Maxi Jet's And One 2500 Power Head. And Should Hopfully Be Getting A 4600 Liter Hydor Korali Power Head. But I Don't Have Any Sort Of Wave Maker, Do You Think That Would Help The Situation Or Is It Just Better For The Fish/corals

[charlie]

Yeah, you'll want to get rid of the bioballs, do it over a 2 week period so you don't shock the system to bad. A little more flow wouldn't hurt, is there a way to drop at least one of your existing powerheads down in the tank to get some directed at the problem spots?

Leave your alk alone for a while, it is just fine where it is at.

You could throw some snails in there and see what kind of damage they can do.

I would keep up with the water changes, maybe even do 2 a week for a while. I believe it was Anthony Calfo that always says, solution by dilution.

[heinze]

Any Good Wavemaker/surge Makers That You Guys Recomend

[heinze]

I'll Try What What You've Said

[heinze]

Is That Your Own Tank (400 Gallon Reef Log)

[Samper]

Heinze I would second the removing of the bio balls slowly. Your alk is good but could be slowly raised some more over time between 10 and 12 dkH. Aiming a powerhead at the spot might help to clear it but only because you will be keeping the particles in suspension better so your skimmer can remove them. You may want to use a baster or a powerhead and blast your rock out really good every day for a week. You will be surprised what may have built up inside of it. A good cleanup crew is always recommended. I like a mix of snails and hermits but most don't like crabs and strictly use snails. Either way is ok but you have to be careful as the crabs are opportunistic and can/will kill a snail from time to time. As for the WC routine when I battled hair algae I was doing 20 gallon WCs on a 75 gallon tank twice a week, blasting the rock out with a baster, cut the lighting in half for two weeks, skimmed super wet and limited feedings. After a while the problem cleared up and has stayed that way every since. I just ordered a red sea wavemaker and will let you know how I like it when it gets up and running. The reviews are pretty good on it. Flow is crucial and every system is different due to the inhabitants and aquascape. The trick is to not have any dead spots where deitritus can settle and decompose.

[charlie]

Is That Your Own Tank (400 Gallon Reef Log)

Yeah heinze, that was my tank about a year and a half ago. It no longer looks like that.

[heinze]

Nice To Be Speaking To You Both Again, Just Hope One Day My Tank Looks Like That. I'll Have To Take A Few Picks So You Can What It Looks Like At The Minute, And Then I Take One In A Few Months And Show You What You Have Helped Me Turn It In To.

[charlie]

Well, thank you..

I would be taking pics weekly to show progress, that way you will have it documented, and further down the road, maybe you'll be helping someone else out with solid documentation of what it takes. Good luck man, hope things work out!!!!!

[heinze]

good idea, even if i can't help any one it will be nice to have some thing to look back on.....
been hunting through all my books tonight looking for tips in there can't have to much knowladge.
suspect i'll be back soon though with some more question......
cheers.....

[charlie]

good idea, even if i can't help any one it will be nice to have some thing to look back on.....
been hunting through all my books tonight looking for tips in there can't have to much knowladge.
suspect i'll be back soon though with some more question......
cheers.....

Wow, you look thru books too, I have a library of books about reef and fish that won't quit. I agree, the "net" is nice, but having something to look at, that really helps. I wish more folks would rely on written literature in this hobby.

[heinze]

brought for or five before i started out in this hobby. thought i would do it properly and go about it in the right way, proberbly why my first tank went so well. I think the main problem with this tank is i had all my fish from the last one and the only place i could put them was straight in the new one. Even though i managed to save about 250 litres of water from the old tank it necer got to cycle properly and is still trying to catch up......

just realised as well havn't seen my manderine fish for a few days (which must be strugeling in a non mutured tank) and i don't want to srip down my live rock looking for him, what damage will it cause if he's rotting away in there....

[charlie]

I'm sorry, I get lost in the liter/gallon thing. If you used your live rock from the old tank, he might still be around because you had to transfer some pods over!!!! I don't think it will cause anything super bad. But that is another good reason to have a clean up crew. They gotta eat too, ya know!!!

Keep up the good work, things will clear up for you!!!!

[heinze]

nice one. speak to you later

250 itres = about 60 us gallons( roughly ). just under half my tank volume......

[charlie]

250 itres = about 60 us gallons( roughly ). just under half my tank volume....

Thanx. That will help me in the future.

[weez1959]

another easy way is 4 litres = 4 quarts give ot take an ounce or 2

[charlie]

That's kind of what I thought, but please don't expect me to do any math right now.:eek3::eek3::eek3: