Mr. Saltwater Tank TV Friday Am Quick Tip #59: I’m Just Passing Through
If you’ve got brown algae growing in your newly setup saltwater tank, don’t sound the alarm just yet:
Browse the Store! Questions?
If you’ve got brown algae growing in your newly setup saltwater tank, don’t sound the alarm just yet:
Browse the Store! Questions?
what about green hair algae what you recommend for that ???
Thanks Mark, great tip.
Are you speaking or will you have a booth at MACNA next year?
With regards to the hair algae: That is a whole problem on its own. Thats a sign of high nutrients (Nitrites, Nitrates, & Phosphates) poor lighting or too long of a photo-period (duration). Test your water 1st. See what the parameters are. Replace bulbs as needed, run lights 8-10hrs (I run @ 10hrs). Don’t over feed. 2-3x small feedings per day not a huge feeding. Run GFO if you can and do weekly water changes until the parameters are good. You need to find the source then you can combat the hair algae.
Plus you can get a sea hare or mexican turbos to control for now.
thanx man best explanation ive found in the pass 2 weeks very very appreciated !!!
Hey Mark, I notice now that you have the ecotech radions, on the video your tank looks more washed out, have you compared your old videos with your MH to the recent ones? I wonder if it’s a color setting to tweak, or maybe it’s just the video…
whats the neon green algae that’s dusting the tank now that the diatoms are gone?
hey mark happy holidays there yea as chris mentioned how are those radions working out for you are those 3w led’s, do they have a brighter setting
where is the best or right place in the sump for a protein skimmer. is it in the first compartment where the tank water enters the sump or by itself in another compartment or in the last compartment where the pump returns the water to the tank. watched numerious vedios and did not see anything positive. ty ed
where to place protein skimmer in the sump.
Ed id put it in the first compartment, if you put it in the last one where the pump is you will get micro bubbles into the display tank and I assume you want to use the middle compartment as a refugeum so the first compartment is the best place IMO
Hey all
Whenever I clean/vaccum my sandbed in my FOWLER tank, which needs to be done because of all the fish waste in there, I will get a diatom outbreak over the subsequent days. It won’t resolve until the next water change which is every 2 weeks when I clean the sandbed again and the whole process starts over. What my question is, am I constantly “recycling” my tank when I do this? Is this going to eventually cause stress on my fish because the tank is in a state of flux all the time? Once again, it seems to be a necessary duty because if I don’t do it I get all kinds of hair algae in there.
Any thoughts would help.
Thanks, Steve
Chris…its the video. I have to open up the exposure on the camera so there is enough light on my face and it has been raining here in TX (finally) for the past week. Rain = less natural light = have to open up the camera more = the tank looks really bright.
Gene…see my Radion update show
Hey Mark, thanks for the tips!! Kinda off topic here, but since we are talking LEd’s a little, I was wondering if you have seen or heard much about Plasma for lighting in a reef tank. I ask this, because I am totally jealous of your radions, and I am trying to gather information on replacing the 120 watt LED panels over my reef. I have heard that in a few years, plasma is going to blow LEDs out of the water. Have you heard anything about this? Maybe I just thought up another vid for ya!
One more thing.. What kind of lid do you use over your tank. I keep glass lids, and I am wondering if it’s reflecting too much of the light off of it. I am thinking of replacing the glass with eggcrate. I figured it may help with gas exchange if I were to switch. Any thoughts?
When looking at lids the one thing you should keep in mind is the type of lighting going on you tank. If you’re using very high outputs like metal halides you’ll need to have space between the water surface and lights as well as venting room such as fans. I’ve built my last three hoods based on equipment and found different lights have different requirements.
Hey Mark, Have you done a video on quarantine tanks and set up? Every time I pass by my LPS(Local Pet Shop) I hear of people losing fish in like two days after putting them directly into their tanks. Always sad to see people get scared off of the hobby after losing expensive fish unnecessarily. Acclimation and method isn’t taught enough at the stores.
Thanks for the help Dave. I use 120 watt led panels, the cheapy ones..LOL. They work good for me, but I would like to upgrade. I get what you ate saying, and thats why I thought egg crate may work, given that theres 120 bulbs in each panel. The light is really spread out over the panel. I have a tall hood, and because of the LEDs, there’s almost no heat. Both of the panels have 3 internal fans, which keeps them cool enough to touch at any given time.
Hey Mark,
With the holidays approaching and people leaving for vaccation, you should do a Friday quick tip about automatic feeders or ways to monitor your take when your away for the week.
-Nick
@ Darrell…hehe (: consider this cause it’s freaking awesome! Here it goes…make a cover/screen outta Bird Block, yep that’s right, Bird Block. But, what ever you do, don’t tell the fish you just put Bird Block over their tank cause they’re not gonna understand. Kidding aside, Darrell, this stuff is remarkably invisible and absolutely will not interfere with lighting. You can make a bad ass frame using a screen frame kit…it looks sexy! My friend Dan was very clever making his; it’s awesome! I have his Bird Block and just need to make mine, but don’t tell him I told you (:
Sweet tip Mark! I like to do nothing! I’m good at that, lol. Hey Mark, as for Nick’s request above… maybe it’s time for the Fish Porn Webcam! Hehe (:
Take care guys and gals!
B-
Easily one of the biggest concerns for the newbie… 🙂
Thanx to Danny for the suggestion and Mark for putting it together as a top tip vid… 😉
what about the green stuff!!!! i have a lot of it now getting all over the glass, the rock and my sand bed … doesnt look pretty … suggestions?
@ PACO go look at the 3rd comment man it explains in a few details !!! hope it works out for you
@mastertech thanks I completely missed that one I usually read before I ask I run lights a bit too long!!!
@Brian Thanks for the tip!! I hadn’t thought of that, and I think it will work for me! I wont tell my fish:) HAHA! I’m sure my wrasses wont have any problems figuring out that it’s there.
How to properly acclimate a starfish?
I’m working with a slight outbreak of brown algae and also green hair algae.
My son took off for Tahoe and left me with his beautiful 100 gallon tank with 75 gallon sump (protein skimmer, gfo and carbon etc)! The refugeum looked great when he left. At first I thought I had coraline (sp?) growing, but now its all over and from what I’ve read its red algae. I also have a black slime algae. First off..is this good stuff or bad? If it’s bad, how do I get rid of it? I’m doing regular water changes and filter changes. Using rodi water and my water check numbers are good. Im worried this sump mess is going to hurt the fish. will it?
Okay, right now we have our 90 g reef tank at 14 hours of T5 lighting each day and always seems to have algae issues. Too much light-time? Chemical levels are fine and I don’t think we’re over feeding. We would really like to enjoy the tank with the lights on before work (6-8 am) and after work (6-9pm). What if we turned the lights off mid day for a few hours to reduce the total light-time? Seems unnatural for the fish.
It really is quite simple : )
hi
can you do a quick tip about green algee???
thanks
i have red green slime alge which forms alot of air bouble on the tips in my tank it now covered the coral sand and the live rock i have tried siphoning as much as i can but keeps coming back within a few days i doing weekly water changes. the tank is about 2 months old now. will this go on it own? or do you have other surgestions