ok another question regarding algae
my tank has a lot growing fairly quickly. so i am trying to reduce this, by a few measures.
first, i am finally over the diatom blooms, and they have all but been irradicated. i still have fair amount of cyano covering my rocks, but it seems to have at least stopped spreading since i reduced feeding, and did a few water changes. i now havea significant growth of corraline on the glass, rocks, pvc, and powerheads, about 4 or 5 different shades of stuff.
my concern is the green film that covers the front andside glass, daily. i clean the glass so i can see the fish and 24 hours later, the fish are blurry again. if i look in from the sides, the entire front wall is totally green again!
is this normal? or do i have it growing too quick?
so i have two solutions. reduce feeding..again. and lower the light period.
lights: right now i am running the actinic blue 14 hours(no 40watt). the 10k daylight 10 hours(no 40watt). and the actinic white 8 hours(vho 220watt).
i dont really have anything in there that requires the higher lighting right now. just a peppermint, a cowrie, the 6 fish, the green brittle, and the hermits. there are no corals or sponges or shrooms, etc...
so would it hurt to cut back even more on he lighting? and which light is contributing more to the algae growth, the blue(40w), 10k daylight(40w), or actinic white (220w). should i scale back all te lights or jsut the offending light. my guess is that its the 220 vho's and that maybe i dont need to run them at all for the moment, since nothing actually needs them on. but i think i should still berunnign some sort of day/night cycle for the sake of the other inhabitants.
my other solution is feeding. when my diatoms and cyano were really out of whack, i was feeding blender mush once a day and flakes once a day, and shrimp pellets once a day along the bottom for the scavengers. i have since reduced to blender mush-once-every other day, no flakes, and no shrimp pellets. and my cyano and diaotms have reacted accordingly. so it appears to be working. i spot feed the star every other day, once, when ifeed the fish, so havent had any problems with it going after fish.
so how long is safe to go between feedings? can i drop to once every 3 days or even every 4 days? i jsut really want to get this glass algae in check, and naturally get my water parameters in order. everything else is good asfar as ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, and ph etc... though my nitrates are still around 5-10 (and i have finished removing the rest of the bio balls)
so, any input on the feeding and light schedule?
thanks
jay
my tank has a lot growing fairly quickly. so i am trying to reduce this, by a few measures.
first, i am finally over the diatom blooms, and they have all but been irradicated. i still have fair amount of cyano covering my rocks, but it seems to have at least stopped spreading since i reduced feeding, and did a few water changes. i now havea significant growth of corraline on the glass, rocks, pvc, and powerheads, about 4 or 5 different shades of stuff.
my concern is the green film that covers the front andside glass, daily. i clean the glass so i can see the fish and 24 hours later, the fish are blurry again. if i look in from the sides, the entire front wall is totally green again!
is this normal? or do i have it growing too quick?
so i have two solutions. reduce feeding..again. and lower the light period.
lights: right now i am running the actinic blue 14 hours(no 40watt). the 10k daylight 10 hours(no 40watt). and the actinic white 8 hours(vho 220watt).
i dont really have anything in there that requires the higher lighting right now. just a peppermint, a cowrie, the 6 fish, the green brittle, and the hermits. there are no corals or sponges or shrooms, etc...
so would it hurt to cut back even more on he lighting? and which light is contributing more to the algae growth, the blue(40w), 10k daylight(40w), or actinic white (220w). should i scale back all te lights or jsut the offending light. my guess is that its the 220 vho's and that maybe i dont need to run them at all for the moment, since nothing actually needs them on. but i think i should still berunnign some sort of day/night cycle for the sake of the other inhabitants.
my other solution is feeding. when my diatoms and cyano were really out of whack, i was feeding blender mush once a day and flakes once a day, and shrimp pellets once a day along the bottom for the scavengers. i have since reduced to blender mush-once-every other day, no flakes, and no shrimp pellets. and my cyano and diaotms have reacted accordingly. so it appears to be working. i spot feed the star every other day, once, when ifeed the fish, so havent had any problems with it going after fish.
so how long is safe to go between feedings? can i drop to once every 3 days or even every 4 days? i jsut really want to get this glass algae in check, and naturally get my water parameters in order. everything else is good asfar as ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, and ph etc... though my nitrates are still around 5-10 (and i have finished removing the rest of the bio balls)
so, any input on the feeding and light schedule?
thanks
jay