Do old T5s cause diatoms?

[bjj_junkie]

Hey guys, this is my first saltwater aquarium and im not too sure why some things happen. My tank has been running from one month and 3 weeks from the day I added water till now, it's a 60gl tank and I started it with 90lbs of live sand, 50lbs of live rock and 20lb of dry base rock. I figured since it would cycle anyone I should just add the base rock all at once. Well the system was cycled and safe after about three weeks but now I'm getting these diatom blooms everyday and like I said I've never had a saltwater tank but this doesn't seem normal cause I clean the glass in the morning and by the time I get home from work there's already I large amount on the glass again and the sand is covered again (in the morning there's barely any) I have an 8 bulb t5 fixture and I run 4 t5s from 9am-7pm and the other 4 from 11am-4pm. I bought it used but the guy said the bulbs were pretty new but if there weren't, could this be the reason for the diatoms? The live rock doesn't seem to have any coralline growing on it and the dry rock just looks gross and some are kinda fuzzy. I dose it everyday with calcium and alkalinity buffer and at night with purple tech. Parameters are in check and ill post them on the bottom. Any thoughts will be great. I don't know if maybe my lights are on too long or I fu#ked up adding the dry rock or maybe I just need new bulbs.

Salinity 1.024
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrite 0 (close to zero at least)
Phosphate 0
Calcium 420
Kh 196.9

 

[bjj_junkie]

Forgot to add...

Ph 8.2-8.4
Temp 79-81

 

[willbratz]

You running your lights way to long. Corals only require a min. of 6 hours. I would cut your main lighting (whites) to 6 hours with blues coming on 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after.

My lights don't even come on until 2 pm and are off by 8 pm.

Remember, you can adjust your lighting to when your home home.

I hope this helps out.

 

[uh.oh...]

Its sounds like you're in the midst of cycling. Un cured dry rock and lr week leach things algae loves to eat. 8 bulb t5 (high output I assume?) is going to be A LOT of light, what brand fixture do you have? If you tell me ati or tek then I'll tell you to wear sunscreen

 

[willbratz]

Also you should not be dosing your tank with anything, you haven't tested for. If your dosing your tank without testing it your just creating an unstable environment. If the base rock is Fuzzy and happens to be green, you've also got hair algae.

I would suggest a 20 percent water change and a weekly 10 percent water change every week.

 

[uh.oh...]

Also, I guess I should mention that you can't dose your corals bigger. Same goes for coraline (a calcifing algae). If you're testing your levels and they are decreasing everyday by an amount you have to correct immediately, then you probably have a huge problem, or you did the test wrong. It's a waiting game, with stable amounts of calcium, magnesium, and alk.

 

[uh.oh...]

Will... You are typing too fast

 

[willbratz]

Will... You are typing too fast

I know, my wife just asked me if I was writing a book. I said no, reading to fast

 

[bjj_junkie]

Thank you, I'm gonna set the lights to run alot less then and see how that goes. I thought they needed alot more light lol

Why would I wanna do a water change if all the parameters are on point?

Yea it is a tek light, is that good?

I started dosing because my ph was way too low. I have an apex with the ph probe and I can see how low it would get at night and it's gotten alot higher and became stable now

 

[willbratz]

Thank you, I'm gonna set the lights to run alot less then and see how that goes. I thought they needed alot more light lol

Why would I wanna do a water change if all the parameters are on point?

Yea it is a tek light, is that good?

I started dosing because my ph was way too low. I have an apex with the ph probe and I can see how low it would get at night and it's gotten alot higher and became stable now

Because if the fuzzy stuff on your rock is green it's more than likely hair algae and as said in an earlier post these things are eating up stuff like phosphates, etc. in your water and can give inaccurate readings.

Have you been doing regular weekly water changes since you set up your tank?

 

[bjj_junkie]

Because if the fuzzy stuff on your rock is green it's more than likely hair algae and as said in an earlier post these things are eating up stuff like phosphates, etc. in your water and can give inaccurate readings.

Have you been doing regular weekly water changes since you set up your tank?

No I haven't done any water change, I thought the water had to age with the tank and that new water would just throw everything off. I have chaeto in the refugium but theres green hair algae and god knows what else in there but I thought that was normal. It tops off with ro/di water. It's completely open top so I get alot of evap if that makes a difference.

 

[willbratz]

If your tank has cycled, you want to start doing weekly water changes. That "should" replenish all your trace elements (depending on coral load), and it should be enough.

If that is hair algae, when you do a water change save 4 gallons of it in a 5 gallon bucket and scrub that base rock and get as much of that algae off as you can, if you don't that **** will eventually take over your tank. I've been battling it for over a month and I've just now got it to start receeding.

If it gets out of hand your in trouble. Reducing your lights will also help in the fight.

 

[johnsonw2]

You should do around 10% water change each week. The only reason those elements are low is because you haven't done water changes. When you do your weekly water changes, the new salt water added will replenish all the elements you are dosing.

 

[bjj_junkie]

Thanks guys ill give that a try. I just set my timers to run a lot less. I thought you had to like mimic the sun but it's better like this cause now I can enjoy it when I'm home. Before it would be turning off an hour after getting home and then I just get to see it with the LEDs on.

How about adding trace elements via supplement? I ordered it cause I needed to buy more stuff to get free shipping but I haven't opened it yet. Would this help?

 

[willbratz]

Thanks guys ill give that a try. I just set my timers to run a lot less. I thought you had to like mimic the sun but it's better like this cause now I can enjoy it when I'm home. Before it would be turning off an hour after getting home and then I just get to see it with the LEDs on.

How about adding trace elements via supplement? I ordered it cause I needed to buy more stuff to get free shipping but I haven't opened it yet. Would this help?

Trace elements have mixed reviews. I would keep it and use in a situation where your not able to do a water change. I have used it within my 55 not my 120 and was able to skip a week, but your better off taking the 6 gallons out and changing it out. It only takes 15 minutes to do it.

I change out 5 gallons in one tank and 15 in another and I can do it all under 30 minutes.