What does it mean that I have to clean my glass daily?

[Anemone0524]

I'm at the point now that my glass has buildup that needs to be cleaned daily, or it gets pretty thick.

what does this mean, specifically?

Too much inorganic N&P?

Too much feeding?

Inefficient skimming?

Thanks!

[L98-Z]

Could be one or all three.

[CorkPullerPHL]

+1

[eyebedam]

As far as cleaning it off? What are you cleaning, Coraline growty or brown algae---Im guessing it depends on what the growth is your cleaning.

[Anemone0524]

a combination of both. Mostly brown algae though.

[Fig]

Do you run GFO?

[j2707ah]

How long has the tank been running? Is there algae any where else?

[mcoomer]

I would check nitrates and phosphates and get back to us. I suspect you're going to find one or both are high. What does your water change schedule look like? What kind of skimmate are you pulling out? I'd probably adjust my skimmer to skim a bit wet for now and do some frequent small water changes.

Mike

[JeF4y]

It means you have a reef aquarium! Welcome to the club...

[DLANDINO]

Pictures would definitely help. Cyano sometimes presents first on the glass and then begins to spread to the sand and rocks, diatoms do this too. Have you tested your water for Silica? Diatoms thrive on it.

[Anemone0524]

I do run GFO, although sometimes i feel like it's not strong enough. It's one cannister in a BRS Two part reactor, using the good stuff (ROWAPHOS), connected to a MaxiJet. dunno, seems like it never makes a difference.

Tank's been up since June 2009. I have had plague algae since inception (GHA, then Bryopsis, then Red Turf, now some sort of leafy Halimeda looking stuff). Bottom line is i have too much nutrients.

No3 is at 1ppm thanks to Vodka. Po4 is is undetectable. Both of these facts are irrelevant since my algae is fat and happy, meaning they soak in the N and P so my test kits read this way.

I suck with water changes. Maybe 5% a month.


My skimmer is a MXS200, but i've NEVER been impressed with it's organic matter removal. Seems like it takes me weeks to get skimmate worth dumping, like 1 to 2 inches of it. With my bioload, I would expect more.

Other facts:
My refugium is worthless - my chaeto grows slower than my SPS.
I run carbon in the other canister of my reactor.


I've never tested for silica....but I don't have a cyano problem or a diatom problem.

[hyperfocal]

Originally Posted by Anemone0524

I suck with water changes. Maybe 5% a month.

You won't find a magic pill that works better than just doing regular WCs.

[Anemone0524]

i'm gotten to the point of desperation: I'm planning and researching a Algae Scrubber. Apparently these things are hot stuff. "10 to 20 times more efficient than a skimmer at pulling out inorganic nutrients".

We'll see. :|

[hyperfocal]

Originally Posted by Anemone0524

Apparently these things are hot stuff. "10 to 20 times more efficient than a skimmer at pulling out inorganic nutrients".

See above, regarding magic pills.

[j2707ah]

QUOTE : My refugium is worthless - my chaeto grows slower than my SPS.

what kind of flow and light do you have in your refugium?

[FunkieReefJunkie]

It means you are OCD. But 8 out of 10 reefers are so feel you are in good company.

[Stuart60611]

I have two suggestions that are somewhat inter-related which made a big improvement for me. With respect to the msx200, I would take a look at adding the "red demon" pinwheel which can be purchased at premium aquatics or warner marine. It makes a big improvement in terms of skimmer air draw and ultimately skimmer performance. Also, I would look into carbon (vodka) and bacterial (prodibio, zeo bak, or microbacter) dosing. I have also tried growing chaeto in the refugium and found it to be not that effective. Since I have been carbon and bacterial dosing, my skimmate production has more than doubled and no longer have any algae whatsoever in the system. I barely clean the glass once per week, despite my heavy bioload and feeding. Moreover, my system has now become so low nutirent that I cannot even grow chaeto which now just dies in my system because there are not enough nutrients to maintain it. I willing to bet that these two suggestions will completely solve your issue because they did for me.

[Anemone0524]

Originally Posted by j2707ah

QUOTE : My refugium is worthless - my chaeto grows slower than my SPS.

what kind of flow and light do you have in your refugium?

It's in a 37 gallon tank that receives 30-40% of my drain from the display. (Drain is probably 500-600 GPH). I also have a K4 powerhead in there for no good reason.

The light is 4-6 inches off the water. It's a CFL (23w?) 6500 Kelvin.

I have no sand in there. Just Rock and Chaeto.

I have been planning on changing the bulb to 5100 Kevlin to see if that makes a difference in growth.

I've also been told that some Chaeto might be a bad 'breed'. (?) They were telling me that some grow better than other, and I may have just gotten a bad batch.

Who knows.

[j2707ah]

I have heard that to much flow can cause the chaeto to not grow well. As for the bad breed, in my last tank I had started with some chaeto and it never grew. when I added another batch from a local reefer it grew like crazy and my HA went away. I think each tank works allot different, so you might just try one thing at a time.

[Metal Man 1221]

i noticed that after i started dosing vodka i had a good amount of cyano build up along my sand bed and in the corners, now i have to clean off a film of bacteria that collects on the glass pretty much over night, if you dose vodka that might be your issue

[dcombs44]

If it's brown, it may not be algae, but diatoms instead.

Diatoms thrive on silicates with can be found in your water supply or in some substrates. I fought diatoms for years. Finally did some research and found out that the miracle mud that I used in my refugium was chalk full of silicates, hence the continuous diatom blooms.

[Stuart60611]

Originally Posted by Metal Man 1221

i noticed that after i started dosing vodka i had a good amount of cyano build up along my sand bed and in the corners, now i have to clean off a film of bacteria that collects on the glass pretty much over night, if you dose vodka that might be your issue

If you dose live bacteria along with the vodka, I bet your cyno will go away. The problem is that cyno is bacteria that is also fed by the vodka. When you add live bacterial additions of nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria along with the vodka the cyno gets out competed by the live bacteria additions.

[Jstdv8]

I was going to mention the algae scrubber but it looks like you found that allready

[Anemone0524]

I did find the algae scrubber.

Here's why i'm tortured by the idea:

SOME people say it's a miracle worker. It brought their N and P to zero in 13 minutes, zero algae, and now SPS growing through the roof.

OTHERS say that the only way to have a good Algae Scrubber is to use Halide lighting and Surge Flow to grow Turf Algae. This is incredibly expensive and not practical for me.

So before I tear down my irrelevant refugium to build a Algae Scrubber, I need some good evidence it will actually solve my plague, otherwise i will have traded one useless idea for another.

[Anemone0524]

If i use RODI with zero TDS, and my sand is high quality sand, where in the world would silicates come from?