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  1. #21
    Kerry's Reef's Avatar
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    So true!

  2. #22
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    Well, I let this go a few weeks without cleaning it...not what I had planned...just how it turned out! Anyway, it is interesting to see that the algae is turning to predominately the long bright green type and much less of the darker, slimey type. The center of the screen is still not filling in and is actually bright yellow with the screen holes filled in with a pastey pale yellow sediment that is difficult to scrub out with a toothbrush. I avoided over scrubbing the screen as I want the bright, thick green algae to spread. That pastey yellow sediment must be detritus embedding in the screen where the algae is not able to grow and process it...just guessing here. I will try to get back to a weekly/10day clean schedual and see if that doesn't improve things. I'm also guessing the lack of growth in the middle is a hot spot as my lights are only a couple inches from the screen surface, and, they can not be moved much more in either direction. Should I change the lighting schedual and see if that will improve the growth in the center? Currently, I am running the lights 14hrs on. Any sugggestions?

    Here are pics;
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    other side;
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    After scraping but before scrubbing with brush...note the yellow center area;
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    Algae is making a major comeback in my display tank. I think diverting the return pump to run the algae filter may be reducing flow to the main tank too much, and, food/detritus are not making it back to the sump, leaving the food to decay in the tank and thus fueling algae growth there. Any thoughts on this? When I can next afford to do so, I think I will buy a dedicated pump for the algae filter and leave the QO4000 for return only. Any recommendations on a pump? I'd like one a bit bigger than needed that can be dialed back as needed or split off to run a gfo reactor if needed. Here are picks from the tank today, before I hand-picked off what algae I could...and water test results...not seeing an improvements there.

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    SPG. - 1.025
    MAG - 1120
    ALK - 7.8
    CAL - 810
    PHOS - .04
    NITRATE - 5

    I have been adding MAG to try and get it in line, but apparently not enough. Cal is still way high, but, is down from 1350...guess I'll have to do a waterchange. Since I don't have much in the tank, I wanted to see if the algae filter would gradually lower those high levels. Currently, I am only dosing mag. and alk...no calcium.

  3. #23
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    What's your pH?

  4. #24
    Kerry's Reef's Avatar
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    I didn't test it this time as my API ph test is very old and I always seem to get the same reading of 7.8. It has always been difficult to differenciate between the test colors anyway, and now, I'm sure it must be way out of date. One I need to re-new for sure.

  5. #25
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    You can insert your pictures this way for easier viewing. Just click "reply with quote" on this post to see how its done.

  6. #26
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    The brown stuff in the middle is dead algae from being covered by thick growth. The center grew faster because of the brighter light, and let go, which is why there is little there before you cleaned. The brown stuff is like putting wheat into the water; you need to clean the entire screen down to the white, especially the wheat looking stuff.

  7. #27
    Kerry's Reef's Avatar
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    Thanks, SA! I'll do that. That central area never grew algae, but, there are some areas surrounding it that did and now have the yellow, so, I'm sure it is as you say. I cut off 3 of the 4 par38 lamps over the display again to reduce the algae in the main tank. I'm not sure, but, I think I may not have enough flow through my main tank now to get nutrients to the algea filter before they are turned into algae in the display. I may have to add a dedicated pump to the algae filter and improve circulation in the display. As it is, I don't think the lights on the filter are powerful enough to compete with the display lights...am I thinking this out correctly? Any comments on tweaking this system so it will handle my algae problems without having to keep all my display lights off?

  8. #28
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    If the middle area never grew, then the light is too much there and needs to be spread out.

  9. #29
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    That's what I was thinking, too, but, can't move these lights any further out. I'll have to see if I can maybe move the screen more diagonally in the sump and see if I can get more space between lights and screen. THX!

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