Is there any special reason besides heat why you can't touch a halide bulb, one of mine popped and hollywood said make sure to not touch it.

yes because the oils on your hand,, fingers not good it all heats up 8) 8)

never touch HM bulbs with fingers

cant touch them because of oils etc, if you do you can wipe down with achohol

what watts was it

150w, luckily seeing as I have only had this fixture for approx 1 1/2 weeks they will replace for free.

Also since I have had these obviously my corralline is dying off, but I have getting a mass of other alga trying to take its place, my parameters are all normal it doesnt look like hair algae just string stuff that looks like a green feather.

Any ideas?.

Briopsis.

Im growing some too. Grows fast.

Just pluck it out, or you can assist by adding vodka.

The vodka will overmultiply the bacteria, which in turn will utilise the nutrients before the briopsis can, which will kill off the briopsis.

It works well with all algaes.

Picture coming.

Its actually quite nice to look at.

I had a bulb pop the other day and I didn't touch it with my hands

Thanks for the name of the plant

I am sure once the bubbles settle from my skimmer they will look awesome, but they have kinda taken over my tank. When my corralline comes back will they stop growing so fast.

Also my halimeda is growing very fast almost doubled in size in 2 weeks.

Is everyone against using aglae as decorative? Can you have it growing alongside corals? There are some nice ones about.

These ones are supposed to be slow growing. I tend to like the algae look, I think green is quite often missing from tanks.

Just a small tank, but I still like the idea.

Nothing wrong with it actually.

If algae is thriving, you will generally have very low PO4 as the algae will be consuming it.

It just needs pruning to control it.

It chokes your corals

If algae is thriving, you will generally have very low PO4 as the algae will be consuming it

if algae is thriving, you will have plenty of PO4 to fuel it. if algae is growing slowly, then PO4 would be low surely?

I think what Cracker means is a tank can have a phosphate problem, and therefore lot's of algae. However, if you test the water you may find a very low orthophosphate level, because the algae is consuming it as fast as it is being released, and growing even more algae.

That's why you sometimes see threads on Reef Central with someone complaing they have heaps of algae, but no phosphate problem. ( That they can find ).

This is one of the common traps for newbie reefers.

But hey! Better not get Layton started again !! :lol: :lol:

But hey! Better not get Layton started again !! :lol: :lol:

you guys just can't help yourselves can you

three main reasons

1. The cooler air helps make smaller bubbles

2. The pressure is lower down there (low pressure down, high pressure up)

3. The fungi spores from the rotting fish food help feed the tank.

Can happen to anyone dude!

But hey I'll admit it. When I see that short fuse it's REAL hard to resist lighting it ! :lol:

Chimera and Wasp.

My Briopsis is growing rather fast.

My Po4 is not even readable and I had another WS wipeout 2 weeks ago.

I have 4 dead fish hiding under rocks and my Po4 and NO3 are completely ZERO.

The dead fish are producing NO3, (Through AM), and PO4 and the briopsis is getting it before the water column is registering any extras.

When the dead fish matter has been consumed, my algae will slow down.

I am estimating another month or so.

Algae is a great way to polish the water for SPS.

Cracker you briopsis is growing because of nutrients, there are many nutrients other than nitrate and po4, zero po4 and zero nitrate does not mean you have no nutrients.

seawater has lots of nutrients that we cant test for.

same thing.

Does anyone use this in their refugium, and I agree, refugiums can look real smart if done right.

Rob@Aquagold

Algae is a great way to polish the water for SPS.

Yes, but I wouldn't be encouraging briopsis, some people have had big problems with it.

Also, your phosphate may be undetectable with a Salifert kit, but that does not get the lower levels. A different tester such as a Merck or a Hanna would likely find some. If phosphate was really absolute zero you would be experiencing problems with your sps, and I know they're healthy enough