FO systems

[BIGgourami]

you guys get alot of coraline or other algaes?

i'm starting a 3 gallon (to replace my 2.5) and i want to know if you do or not, determining wether or not i add the LR from the 2.5 or buy lace rock and LS

 

[BIGgourami]

well i started the 3 gallon as a Fo anyways... so i guess it's an experiment

pics to come shortly

 

[mach_six]

I had a FO only tank a long time ago, I bought 50lbs of "dead" rock from that petplace and it doesn't seem like they sell that rock anymore. It took a while for the dead rock to be seeded. However it grew fast on the glass and even on the sand. I had to scrape the glass a lot.

I had 2 - 55W PC on a 38G H. The only live rock I got was larger than a normal fist because I couldn't afford to spend a lot on live rock back then in college. I read that you only need a little bit to start and they weren't kidding. Mine started out almost flourescent green then various colors of pinked started and eventually took over until I stopped with the upkeep of the tank.

 

[BIGgourami]

the tank's a three gallon eclipse, it's got a 6W T5 over it.. i've been trying to find a way to squeeze the coralife mini i have into the lid but it looks like a no go.. and i'm not very handy anyways...

"However it grew fast on the glass "
what did? film algae? coralline? cyano?

i know it's going to take a while but i aded some filter media from a tank i never scraped the coraline in and some sand, so it should be pretty coralline free... hopefully stay that way as the plastic scratches SO f'ing easy

 

[RyanP]

while yall are on the subject, i was told both ways: coraline will grow better under brighter light and it will grow better under lower light. Anyone have a diffenent answer?

 

[BIGgourami]

i'd have to think better under bright light

the coralline in my 29 with halides grow faster than the 29 with PC's

 

[mach_six]

The coralline algae was growing everywhere at first but the rocks. Don't know why they're slow to catch on the rocks. One side of the glass was almost covered entirely of coralline algae, it's hard to scrape the calcium deposits off.

They say they grow well under low lighting but not sure what's 110W of PC retrofitted in those plastic double NO bulb hoods is considered. I know there was a lot of light lost.

I believe you get different shades of pink under intense and low light. Mine was always bright pink.

 

[Deano1956]

I have a 45 gallon 4' tank with 80 watts T-12 9300K and after 3 months I am getting some good coralline growth on my rock, but my dragon wrasse keeps spitting sand all over and covering it up so I clean it off and he does it again