Corals and lighting

[gq]

I current have a 3 in 1 light a 10k, a blue actinic light and a regular light i use to keep the light on for 12-14 hours and i called my lfs and they told me to only keep it on for 8-10 hours.When i did that the algae stopped growing so much. The algae was brown and it continues to stay @ the bottom of the tank. I also don't have any base at the bottom of the tank. I was looking to add corals this week but i am afraid that the algae on the rocks and the bottom of the tank will be to much waste for the corals to survive.What do you think? Also when i start to use the lighting again will the algae start to reproduce again? Please help a brotha out! I really wanted to thank the person that made this site. Please do let me know because i am excited about getting corals this week!
Also i am about to buy more green gurlepa!
( A plant that reproduces off of algae)

 

[swtanks]

Is the brown algea a dusting? If so it is probably diatoms. Have you checked the silicate levels in your tank? Elevated levels can cause this outbreak.

 

[cruzan277]

How long has your tank been up. What are specs(tank etc etc etc)and water parameters. This will help everyone to help you.

 

[dr. msu-fish]

I personally have used a more traditional approach at lighting. However, a freind of mine uses considerably more actinic. He maintains that the higher frequency of light is absorbed more by the choraline. Hence the reddish collor of choraline. There may be truth to it...but i dont know...any thoughts?

 

[gq]

Originally posted by GQ:
<STRONG>I current have a 3 in 1 light a 10k, a blue actinic light and a regular light i use to keep the light on for 12-14 hours and i called my lfs and they told me to only keep it on for 8-10 hours.When i did that the algae stopped growing so much. The algae was brown and it continues to stay @ the bottom of the tank. I also don't have any base at the bottom of the tank. I was looking to add corals this week but i am afraid that the algae on the rocks and the bottom of the tank will be to much waste for the corals to survive.What do you think? Also when i start to use the lighting again will the algae start to reproduce again? Please help a brotha out! I really wanted to thank the person that made this site. Please do let me know because i am excited about getting corals this week!
Also i am about to buy more green gurlepa!
( A plant that reproduces off of algae)</STRONG>
The tank has been set up since the start of september of this year. Also it did create specks on the front of the glass until the snails cleaned that up and it stopped producing after i turned the 3 light fixture off and kept the regular light on. I also do have a clean up crew(crabs, and snails)! The brown stuff continues to stay on the rock as well as on the bottom of the tank. Is it safe to buy any corals right now? Also i did have my water tested at my lfs as well i tested with my own kit and i was told that everything was perfect with my water the same with my kit. I do water changes every 2 weeks but i do realize that i will have to do them 1 a week now. With the water changes i don't have a lot of changing in water conditions at all which surprised me at first but then i realized that i do pay a lot of attention on my tanks. But anyways can this help and can i purchase anything right now or should i wait? As you can tell i am excited about the corals

 

[jakob4001]

I would purchase a lawnmower blenny; we found it to be the best/fastest "clean-up crew"; we had brown diatom infestation in the 135 G on glass,rock, substrate; most was consumed inside of 2 week period

 

[mlm]

I think that turbos snails do the best job of cleaning the live rovk but not to good of a job on the sand.