300 gal FOWLR

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FLESHY;4782694; said:
I have seen many diatom blooms on the surface of aragonite sand beds that havent been washed. Hence I recommend it.

I have found all sorts of things in substrate that was "clean".

Even caribsea, whom I recommend, gave me chucnks of wood in my aragonite. Reefgrade aragonite. So who knows whats in the other stuff. :D
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Gotcha, very interesting.

I haven't had any issues and I did not wash mine. I proly got lucky.
 
I wish i had gotten lucky with my sand. I didn't wash it, as it was the "bio-active"/B.S. IMO/ kind, and i have diatoms and hair algae most everywhere. Although the hair algae does seem to be receeding in the past week or so.
 
Hair algae I havent had an issue with, but if there were things in the sand to make phosphates and nitrates, it could definitely be a cause.

There really isnt any reason NOT to wash your sw substrates, at the very least it will help your tank clear faster.
 
ok so im building a new sump but it wont have the wet dry section. but it will have a sump section where i could put pot scrubbers, bio balls, or rock. so im not sure what i should put in it. Any suggestions?
 
yzf450motoxrider;4803195; said:
ok so im building a new sump but it wont have the wet dry section. but it will have a sump section where i could put pot scrubbers, bio balls, or rock. so im not sure what i should put in it. Any suggestions?
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It would be a wet/dry system if you plan on using those things, unless it was all under water. Is that what you are planning?

I would go with the rock and maybe some Chaetomorpha under a light. Just work would be good, that is what I would choose out of those options.
 
yea it would be all under water i dont have the room to make a bio tower section.
what type of lighting would i need for the algea
 
yzf450motoxrider;4805074; said:
yea it would be all under water i dont have the room to make a bio tower section.
what type of lighting would i need for the algea
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Gotcha, ya then definitely rock if you can. The fact that the rock is porous means it has a lot lot more surface area than any man made thing you would use.

For the algae, you will want to use a reverse lighting cycle to that of the main tank and use 6,700 kelvin bulbs. Basically, the higher the wattage the faster the stuff will grow. You have a few options here:
1. Regular fluorescent light strip with 6,700k bulbs. This would probably be cheapest if you could find a used strip, but you will be pretty limited on wattage which is not ideal
2. Go to the hardware store and buy a/some(depending on how big the area is) round clip on shop lights(each clip light is around 8 bucks). Also buy 6,700k bulbs that fit into them. These are usually an outdoor bulb and run about 7 dollars a piece. The one downfall here is if you need multiple clip ons, it can make it a little cluttered around your sump.
3. Use a VHO, T5, or PC fixture if you have one laying around. Again you would use 6,700k's. This would be the most expensive, but also the highest wattage.
 
Chaeto? I wouldnt...if you are going to rely on it for your main filtration I would recommend something more along the lines of an algal scrubber.
 
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