little white hard barnical/calcium deposits all over my back glass
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mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
sounds like coraline algae, which is a good thing unless you dont want it there. most people do, and try very hard to get it sometimes
Zer0
is back to save the day!
A picture of these would help us alot more.
Coraline tends to be on the redish/pinkish side.. so im not sure if the white things are coraline.
Coraline tends to be on the redish/pinkish side.. so im not sure if the white things are coraline.
cmor1701d
Aquarium Advice Addict
Sounds like some good stuff is happening in your tank. Soon you'll be into the regular glass scraping we have to get used to <g>.
Zer0
is back to save the day!
Yeah, they are also pretty hard too. Never understood how worms could be so hard, but those definitely are. However, i've never seen string like tentacles coming out of them so i'll have to look closer. 
roka64
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
- Mar 21, 2006
- Messages
- 13,858
Turing off the lights will lower the biological activity in the tank (reducing the pH), but this is a gradual reduction and shouldn't be an issue. You will also need to possibly reduce the feeding or what you are feeding as well.
I feed every other day and sometimes skip an extra day and have had no ill effects.
I feed every other day and sometimes skip an extra day and have had no ill effects.
brandon429
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2009
- Messages
- 17
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hi
just chiming in bored day
to beat the hair algae you have to deal with nitrate and phosphates first, lighting adjustment won't be the prime mode for reasons you mentioned. Yes some pH support suffers with reduced lighting, because intense lighting>photosynthesis sequesters carbon dioxide from the water (removing/binding carbonic acid) and drives up the pH. Good ion supported water may not suffer with reduced lighting, but it's been shown that actual physical removal is absolute step #1 in beating hair algae, then nitrate and phosphate support ideally as weekly giant water changes 3x your normal workload, or a reduction in fish and feed bioload, or installation of better mechanical support or pad filters (binds phos/no3) or some combination of all the above and I personally guarantee you hair algae will not get your tank anymore.
You can also cheat and install a large UV filter but it will not kill gowing algae, only the repopulation after a manual removal of all traces. The fact it kills some plankton is not critical, reefers are feeding their corals and circumventing the natural feed web. Not that a reef tank produces anywhere near enough plankters to sustain corals alone, so killing some off if you'd rather see hair algae gone is a fine trade off in bad situations too.
Keeping a UV filter on a tank is no different than running a bare bottom tank, the BB tank is extremely low plankton production, even worse (for the argument) because it's long term, UV can be periodic
sometimes burning off the patches when you drain the tank for a large water change is a nice way to get in the nooks and crannies.
There is nothing wrong with UV I have seen it work time and time again for years but there are many natural ways which I recommend. Notice I didn't mention clean up crews.
Thats focusing on cleanup, after production, whereas no cleanup crew shows you the pure primary production trends of the system. Sometimes doing things in reverse works strangely
Not everyone agrees with such bioload control, they'd rather have diverse fish life and use powerful skimming mainly to support the tank, or a large refugium to do the work. You can start with utmost bioload restriction first which will kill it off the fastest, and then loosen up as you rework the balance of the tank.
hi
just chiming in bored day
to beat the hair algae you have to deal with nitrate and phosphates first, lighting adjustment won't be the prime mode for reasons you mentioned. Yes some pH support suffers with reduced lighting, because intense lighting>photosynthesis sequesters carbon dioxide from the water (removing/binding carbonic acid) and drives up the pH. Good ion supported water may not suffer with reduced lighting, but it's been shown that actual physical removal is absolute step #1 in beating hair algae, then nitrate and phosphate support ideally as weekly giant water changes 3x your normal workload, or a reduction in fish and feed bioload, or installation of better mechanical support or pad filters (binds phos/no3) or some combination of all the above and I personally guarantee you hair algae will not get your tank anymore.
You can also cheat and install a large UV filter but it will not kill gowing algae, only the repopulation after a manual removal of all traces. The fact it kills some plankton is not critical, reefers are feeding their corals and circumventing the natural feed web. Not that a reef tank produces anywhere near enough plankters to sustain corals alone, so killing some off if you'd rather see hair algae gone is a fine trade off in bad situations too.
Keeping a UV filter on a tank is no different than running a bare bottom tank, the BB tank is extremely low plankton production, even worse (for the argument) because it's long term, UV can be periodic
sometimes burning off the patches when you drain the tank for a large water change is a nice way to get in the nooks and crannies.
There is nothing wrong with UV I have seen it work time and time again for years but there are many natural ways which I recommend. Notice I didn't mention clean up crews.
Thats focusing on cleanup, after production, whereas no cleanup crew shows you the pure primary production trends of the system. Sometimes doing things in reverse works strangely
Not everyone agrees with such bioload control, they'd rather have diverse fish life and use powerful skimming mainly to support the tank, or a large refugium to do the work. You can start with utmost bioload restriction first which will kill it off the fastest, and then loosen up as you rework the balance of the tank.
brandon429
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Oct 3, 2009
- Messages
- 17
-
forgot about the worms, google images:
sabellid or sabellidae its in that family/taxon 99% sure
they are good for the tank. they live on floating plankton, and actually might be one of the primary populations affected by UV use if their small food source is stressed but these guys are so present in the microbiota of a reef I don't think they'd ever die off toally, sabellids will always inhabit a reef no matter where you get one wet. I've seen them die off in time in nano and pico reefs, again indicating their preference for good plankton, and in large reefs they can reach plague proportions which to an appreciative eye only lends more credibility to the reef keeper
forgot about the worms, google images:
sabellid or sabellidae its in that family/taxon 99% sure
they are good for the tank. they live on floating plankton, and actually might be one of the primary populations affected by UV use if their small food source is stressed but these guys are so present in the microbiota of a reef I don't think they'd ever die off toally, sabellids will always inhabit a reef no matter where you get one wet. I've seen them die off in time in nano and pico reefs, again indicating their preference for good plankton, and in large reefs they can reach plague proportions which to an appreciative eye only lends more credibility to the reef keeper
