???

[kawasakizx636]

was wondering how long it takes for that purple stuff to grow on the back glass. My rock has lots of it cause i bought my rock from the lfs showcase tank. It looks like there some kind of brownish stuff on the glass. i heard its suppose to go lime green then purple. I started my tank on june 24 2006. is there's maybe some drops that i have to put in. Also i bought my tank as a kit so i got this package with three bottles that i have to put a capfull of each twice a week: reef plus, reef complete and reef carbonate.
is that stuff good for the tank cause i'm running out, should i buy more or get something else. also i have some kind of residue floating on the top of the water, is that normal. and my last question, what kind of skimmer should i get. i have a 46g bowfront.
thx

 

[Charlie]

I would expect it to take quite awhile for coraline algae to build up on the glass of a newly set-up tank, and thats assuming that the water parameters are good for such growth.

Here is some advise that I learned @ this site. "Never add anything to your tank that you don't have a test kit to monitor its level." Like everyone else, I have MANY test kits. The resultant test information can be a real eye opener. Additionally, if your test results give you reading that just don't seem right, test the water at the lfs or use a friend's kit to verify. These hobbist test kits are not 100%. I have found a few discrepancies. The biggest was comparing my hydrometer readings with my refractometer readings. Not even close!

Hydro = 1.030
Refract = 1.023

 

[austinsdad]

I prefer to get my suppliments from regular water changes as opposed to dosing the tank and I can leave a magnet in my tank for 2 weeks and get purple stuff growing on it already. You've only got a 2, maybe 3 month setup which I think is still a bit early to see purple. Give it a couple of months with regular water changes and I think you'll see some starting to spread from the rocks to the glass, and heater, and skimmer, and powerheads, etc, ect.

I like the CPR Bak Pak HOB skimmers.

 

[roka64]

Charlie and austinsdad are correct. I don't add anything to my tank. I go the natural way, as much as possible. I only add Zoe, Selcon and garlick to my food.

The "brownish" stuff is possibly algae. The corraline will be bright green, then turn to purple.

 

[Charlie]

The corraline will be bright green, then turn to purple.

I bought some Premium Fiji pre-cured lr over the net. I had it shipped overnight to prevent excessive die-back. When it arrived, it was 100% mottled beige/brown and looked as dead as dead gets. There was absolutely nothing on this rock. I was VERY disappointed. After 5-6 weeks I noticed quite a bit of bright white coverage that looks like white enamel paint. Within another week or so I noticed tiny pinkish dots developing in/on the smooth white surface. I'm assuming that the white stuff is turning into coraline algae but I won't be sure for awhile yet. I hope so because so far nothing else has developed on this rock.

For whatever reason my calcium readings are in the 200's, despite the fact that I do weekly PWC's with IO salt. I've been dosing with C-BALANCE for more than a week and the levels have been rising slowly.

By the way - On my new IO Calcium test kit I had a reading of 270-285 after dosing for a few days. I brought a sample to the lfs. They got a reading of 350 on their Salifert kit. Go figure ???????

 

[swjunkie]

The brownish stuff is more than likely diatoms. Normal in a newly setup tank they will die out on their own. Diatoms will not turn into coraline (purple stuff). PWC is all you basically need to replenish your system.

 

[kawasakizx636]

i do water changes every 20 days

 

[Mrsfuller2572]

I set up my tank on Mother's Day with coraline loaded LR from LFS show tank that was being dismantled. Coraline started showing up on everything else about a month ago. So roughly 3 1/2 months into it. I do a 5-8g. water change every week. I also have evaporation issues due to fans, so on a hot week, it's more like 10g. water change. Some is just top off. Water parameters have been perfect since the begining. I add nothing.

 

[kawasakizx636]

i'm starting to get a little bit on my heater but not the glass yet. But its only been 2 months so, i guess i just have to wait.
also i can't wait till i can buy some coral, but the lfs told me that it needs 9 hours of light, and i just have 7 hours right now. he told me that i should advance the lights a half hour every week, starting at 5 hours. Is that right?

 

[ntswift]

What kind of lighting do you have? What are you trying to light acclimate?

 

[kawasakizx636]

Ihave a blue and white T6 superlux.

What are you trying to light acclimate? Not shur what u mean.

 

[swjunkie]

How much are you changing out when you do a water change? personally I would do about 4.5 gal. every 2 weeks.

 

[Charlie]

i do water changes every 20 days

I guess everyone does things differently but I do a 12% PWC every week. I might add that my calcium levels were still too low to promote coraline algae growth.

You MUST test for calcium & alkalinity to have an idea as what the levels actually are. Water changes are good but you may not always get what you anticipated. I didn't.

I put 3 large pieces of lr into my tank from the lfs. They were 75% covered in deep purple coraline. After 1 month the coraline had not expanded to the other Fiji rock which was basically brown. I eventually ordered a few more test kits and found that despite my weekly PWC's the calcium levels remained low. Two weeks after elevating my calcium & alkalinity levels and I have tiny pink dots forming everywhere. I can't wait to see what a month or two will bring.

I'd rather not dose my tank but for whatever reason it appears necessary. Next stop is the kalkwasser express.

 

[kawasakizx636]

alright
thx for the info