Lighting a 30

[andbigdaddy2]

I have a 30-gallon with
29lbs of live rock (more coming soon)
20lbs of sand
An Aqua Clear 70
A Skilter Filter (not sure what size doesn’t matter as it sucks I use it for movement and have a sponge and ceramic media inside it
I have 130 watts of pc lighting
I also have a 175 watt 5500K MH

My question is this I added the MH after the tank had been cycling under the pc lights for 3 months. I noticed the diatom algae covers the glass in a very short period of time and the green algae does the same. This didn’t happen under the pc lights I have since turned off the MH, as there are no corals in the tank. Is this normal in the breaking in process or should I be looking for another cause for the diatoms and green algae? Also how long is the breaking in process the diatoms are dying down, as they are not on my sand bed anymore but the green algae is still light fuzz on some of the live rock.

[oct2274]

well, one thing that will help with excess nutrients in the tank is getting rid of the sponge. many people get algae outbreaks when switching to more intense lighting.

[andbigdaddy2]

Ok so i should get rid of the sponge completely? Should i replace it with something or just run the tank with out it?

[schoch79]

I would get rid of the sponge completely. I wouldn't use the ceramic media either. Don't replace either of those with anything. Your live rock should be enough of a filter for your tank. If you want to use something else so that you feel more comfortable with the filtration I would say try to get a protein skimmer on your tank.

[axciom333]

New tanks with new rock are going to go through this, but there are ways to minimize the blooms.

Now that the tank is cycled your best friend is going to be nutrient export. Since you aren't using a protein skimmer a regular water change regimen would do a world of good.

I recently set up a new 36 corner tank and had some phosphate from the rock. I ran a homemade Phosban reactor and it took care of that. I also put a clump of chaetomorpha macro algae in the tank itself. The Chaeto grew like a weed and I didn't get the normal algae bloom on the rocks, just a bit on the glass.

You can either test for Phospate or assume you have some. You can build a reactor out of an old small Gatorade bottle and a powerhead. Or put a sock full of it in your Skilter.

I highly recommend the Chaeto in the tank. You can harvest it for a couple of months to export nutrients. Then when things are under control try taking it out. I keep a ball of it in the fuge on my larger tank but I am fugeless on the new 36 corner tank, that is why I put it in the tank itself.

Good luck!

[andbigdaddy2]

Thanks Ill try the Cheato and toss the sponge what about a floss for water polishing is that ok our should i pull that as well?

[andbigdaddy2]

Thanks Ill try the Cheato and toss the sponge what about floss for water polishing is that ok our should i pull that as well?

[schoch79]

If you really want something to polish the water I would say that the floss would be ok but I would only use it if I saw that the water had stuff floating in it then take it out when it was done and throw it away. I did this when I first started my tank to get out the extra sand particles clouding up the water. But haven't used it since. With saltwater tanks I've found that for the most part they seem to keep the water pretty polished by themselves from all the little bugs and filter feeders that are in your tank keeping that stuff out of the water.