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Substrate alternative?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Travis G, May 5, 2014.

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  1. May 7, 2014 #21
    ThyRaven

    ThyRaven Well-Known ReefKeeper

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    the sand is fine. what is your flow rate? I have 3800 gph from my return pump and 2 power heads cranking another 1500 each. yes it is a bit much and i'm working on slowing it down but i dont have anything growing out of my sand. Might just have a dead spot that is allowing stuff to settle. I dont remember what Pet's Playhouse charges for water but they are right down the road from you.
     
  2. May 7, 2014 #22
    Travis G

    Travis G Experienced Reefkeeper

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    Factory return pump and 2 450gph powerheads ends up bein 1300ish gph it took a couple weeks of playing with the powerheads so I didnt have a sandstorm. Sand is decently clean. Its the rocks and walls that are covered
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 24, 2015
  3. May 7, 2014 #23
    mthomp

    mthomp Inactive User

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    its not the sand. You need to do as one person said and give your tank time to mature. People deal with hair algae all the time. I dont know very many that break their tank down and restart every time they get it. They find the problem, fix the problem, and the algae starts to go away. It is part of reefing and one of the reasons it is so rewarding.

    Now iif you truly want to go bare bottom that's cool. I manage several bare bottom and sand bottom tanks, and I can tell you both need to be cleaned regularly just the same to prevent algae from growing on the glass. Lighting also plays a big part, old bulbs and poor spectrum will help algae grow. If you are using LEDS check the spectrum if you are running your white lights to high that can help algae grow since that also covers the red and green spectrum.

    So you have a few things you can look at in order to solve your algae problem right there. Going bare bottom will not be a fix
     
  4. May 8, 2014 #24
    Bud West Des Moines, IA

    Bud Loves Bacon Website Team Board of Directors Leadership Team GIRS Member Vendor

    8,876
    West Des Moines, IA
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    Constantly changing the rock structure, flow patterns, lighting, etc will cause losses in the periphyton layer. This in the layer that everything grows on - bacteria, algae (coraline, etc) sponges, etc. so for instance flipping a rock with algae exposed the non-light seeking life forms to be exposed to light and die off, leading to more problems. Changing flow patterns will cause established bacterial colonies to die off and re-establish. Google "mything the reef" and go to part 3 (usually the first link) and refs the section (15 I think) on cycling. In a reef tank, getting a tank established takes 6-12 months before things really start to settle down. During that time, things we can't measure will cause issues you just can't chase around, or else this time period will just keep extending.
    As far as nuking your rock with acid, this solves nothing IMO just resets the clock. Most people think this removes bound phosphate and while it does, that phosphate is usually chemically fixed in a crystalline type matrix and is not accessible under normal pH conditions (pH below 7.0 is required to dissolve it). It's theorized that it can be accessed via bacterial cleaving but that is a slow process and could be a symbiosis between algae and bacteria, which makes it hard to battle. But it's doubtful that it would take longer for the phosphates to get cleaved out than it would take to restart the rock after nuking it.
     
  5. May 9, 2014 #25
    Zach Coralville, Iowa

    Zach Well-Known ReefKeeper

    605
    Coralville, Iowa
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    Turbo nailed it.

    You will also quickly crash a tank by sticking your hands in them. Keep your arms out of your tank as much as possible. This is a HUGE cause of trouble.

    Also.. what size tank is this and what kind of algea are you dealing with overall?
     
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