horsehunter Posted August 3, 2003 Share Posted August 3, 2003 I have seen different threads recomending cutting back on lighting to curb or kill algae growth. I have a 20gallon high nano 6 or 7 weeks old and producing algae faster than my 5 astrae snails and blueleg hermits can cope with it. They are the only critters other than anything in the LR.I am not sure what kind of algae not long yet and bright green.I do have some nice coraline growth I do not want to loose and some orange things sprouting from one of the rocks they are orange and hard. Iwould like to get the algae under control before I start adding corals. My tank was set up with RO water is fully cycled. My nitrate is less than 10 and my phosphate is undetectable. I do weekly 10% water changes. I currently don't skim trying to decide between Remora & Backpac. Sorry for the long post but wanted to provide as much info as possible. MY lights are 2 65w PC's 10000 K 10 hours Actinic 12 hours Do I cut back or turn off the actinic the 10000K or both? How will other things that may be in my rock and coraline cope? What happens when I resume normal lighting scheduals? I do not want to take down the tank and brush the rocks as I am afraid of what it may do to anything else growing on the rock also the one piece of rock I did scrub didn't come out to satisfactory. Hopefully the LFS will be able to get me a Lawnmower Blenny before to long. Thanks in advance for any ideas and sorry again for the long post. Frank Link to comment
fishbabies Posted August 4, 2003 Share Posted August 4, 2003 no brushing. once i used a black piece of plastic about 2"x2" and just set it on top of an algae patch so i could maintain my lighting schedule. ....algae gone....but that's not always practical. from my experiences i have to sing the praises of turbos and kalkwasser. the golfball sized turbo wiped out all the algae in 3 days and the kalkwasser kept it from coming back. kalkwasser will also act as steroids for your corals and keep your pH high which microalgae cannot tolerate. since it sounds like you have sweet corallines, the lighting thing might be tricky. phosphates feed algae....and aside from freshwater, they come from fish food, fish waste, anything that can decay. high calcium levels also help to precipitate phosphate. surface agitation/aeration (very important for high tanks) will help the gas exchange that will get rid of the carbon dioxides in the water that feed microalgea phosphate removers help...but you do not want to rely on them....they do have elemental compounds that are toxic to some corals over long periods of time.....but they are good for keeping microalgaes under control during your attack on algae period Link to comment
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