how do i know??

[R.Allard]

i have had my tank runnin for about 2 months now and the alge has turned from brown to like a green mossy/hair stuff.. is this good???
i started my tank with about 50 lbs of LR that was set up in a tank for
about 7 months or so and everything seems to be doing great and all my levels are at 0 so...i added a clam (crocea)about 4 in accross and
about 25lbs of LR and no amonia spike well not really it was .25 and now is at 0. again. my Q is when can i start putting hard corals in ??
I dont really have alge growing anywhere else but on the glass with the exception of coraline alge covering everything and a week or so ago i checked my cal level and it was at 460-480.
my tank is a 110 show with 2 250w 65k iwasakis and 2 atinics VHO 110w each. i have aproximately 2000 gph running through the tank and a 400gph powerhead so i think i have enough flow .
my temp is staying arround 80.
anything i should check for ?? any help would be great :-D

[Chuck]

A lawn mower blenny can really help as well. I just traded mine to a LFS I wish I had known you needed him :(
He was getting a bit skinny as the hair algae is not present to speak of. I think the snails are managing any that is left.

[R.Allard]

yup RO/DI and am doing 25% water changes every month for three or four months
till i get the tap water out of the tank..
thanks
R.

[matt]

Hi;

If there's tap water in your system, I would do much larger and more frequent water changes for a while, like 40- 50% a week for a month. I know this sounds excessive, but remember if you change 25% of the water twice, you haven't removed 50% of the water, more like 40% (maybe 43%). Any math geniuses out there? For the third 25% change, you'll only remove about 13-15% of the tap water, and the rest is the water you already changed. Something like that, anyhow.

For hair algae, you might eventually get a yellow or sailfin tang, but I wouldn't do that until your system is really settled. Do you have a good skimmer? If not, I'd get one, even though I can already hear the skimmerless crowd disagreeing.

Matt

[mattheyn]

hey matt, i pm'd you last week about taking a look at your 10 gallon setup. would like the opportunity to get a closer look. let me know if this is feasable

[R.Allard]

I already have a sailfin tang that is doing great and have had a skimmer from the get go..i was thinking the same thing about the water changes
but was more leaning tward 25% every two weeks..
Is the green alge a bad thing??
thanks for the help
R.

[matt]

Hair algae is not in and of itself a dangerous thing to your tank, unless it really gets out of control. But, it's an indicator that you have some water quality problems to deal with. The 2 main nutrients that "feed" hair algae are nitrates and phosphates; you could try testing for those, but the truth is that the algae are much more sensitive to the presence of thes substances than are the test kits. You could test zero for nitrates and phosphate, but still have a fair amount because the algae would be absorbing them as thy're produced.

Do you have a deep sand bed? That can really help with nitrate levels. But lots of tank go through a hair algae bloom; really, it could be just the tap water.

Matt

[witecap4u]

You could also get some emearld crabs. They tore through the hair algae I had in about a week or so...cs

[ratboy]

2 years ago my tank had some problems and I had a hair algae bloom. My kalk additions were sporadic due to my old pump that I always had to fiddle with and my DI cartrige was bad. I got a new pump and replaced my ro filters and the hair algae stopped spreading but my tang, snails, etc couldnt clear out the existing stuff. I finally took out each rock and scrubbed it clean of algae in one bucket, then rinsed it in another bucket of tank water then back into hte tank. That got it under control to the point that my critters keep it in check.

[R.Allard]

OK..i just had my water tested with a TDS meter and my RO/DI system is putting out .004 tds so how is that and when do i need to replace my filters
in my RO/DI unit???
also i dont have allot of the hair alge my turbo snails and my sailfin tank keep it pretty much in check .. will there ever come a day when i wont have any alge???
thanks for the help
R.

[matt]

will there ever come a day when i wont have any alge???
R.

This would be a good title for a reef geek/country song :lol:

Kind of the eternal question....

Matt

[R.Allard]

hahah LMFAO.... you aint ever lian.. theres another good hick sayn...
R.