What is your dirty glass telling you & how quick does it get dirty?

[Paleozoic_reefer]

Used to clean glass every other day, now I can go a whole week without cleaning glass. Also turned the Light Point Intensity up to 75% after installing these light shades.

Beautiful tank!! I've been thinking about 3D printing some shades for my kessils to see if it cuts down on light spilling on to the glass and minimizes my glass cleaning as well.

 

[Heisenberg 78]

What does the film tell us… ?

are we over feeding or is it an imbalance?

 

[Quietman]

Mines recently changing glass film build up rates. Since my ATS matured I'm getting an extra couple days now and it's much less. I don't the a green color anymore, just that light haze that before would mean a green film the next day. It seems to stay a light film for several days now. (I could go longer than a few days, but even a certain amount of that 'shadow' film annoys me).

 

[Adam1985]

1. How often does your aquarium glass get a film of algae on it? If you clean your glass how long does it take to need another scraping?

2. If you're having to clean your glass often what do you think that says, if anything, about the chemistry of your tank? What's your experience?

1. Normally I do magnet cleaning daily. If I skip a day, it starts to look bad on the second day. So in practice, I clean daily but would say it "needs it" every 2 days, at least by most reefers' standards. I have been out of town unable to clean my tank many times, and after a 1 week gap it's still kind of OK, but after 2 weeks it looks really dirty.
2. It's normal that algae and/or bacteria grow on the glass; in my reefing upbringing we always said if you don't have algae growing on your glass, something might be wrong such as contamination with some sort of toxic chemical. I'd actually be super concerned if I didn't have to clean the growth of various stuff off of various parts of my reef regularly. PITA, yes, but somehow fun as well. I always have such a sense of pride when the tank is super shiny after a cleaning and polishing Yeah, the small things make me happy.

 

[Adam1985]

Haven't cleaned for last 3 months...
Same with water change

Wondering if we could get a closeup, just curious if those white spots are spots of CaCO3 precipitation or some kind of life form?

 

[Glenner’sreef]

I like this thought. Does the logic hold true even if it's just diatoms? I believe that's the only kind of algae I get growing on my glass.

Diatoms are definitely in the food web. Kent Marine Phytoplex and Coralfrenzy both use algae in their products. Not 100% sure if “film algae” from aquarium glass are accepted by corals, but they are certainly introduced to it every time we clean.

 

[gbose]

I get this brownish film towards the bottom of my front glass and on the sides, left side more than rt side since I can't to that side until I do my weekly water change. I clean my glass several times weekly just cause I hate seeing it but don't know what causes it. Any thoughts?

I have the same problem. I am thinking diatoms, but not sure what cure is. Someone in this forum suggested a 3-day blackout. Do others agree?

 

[EricTheRed]

Ok, so I voted that I clean it every day, but technically, I could go over other day. It doesn't get bad, usually just the white film, but I like to get my face right up on the tank so I can see all the detail in my coral. If I'm standing there, I might as well do a quick a quick mag float. I also might need glasses, LOL

 

[MamaP]

I voted every couple weeks because that's when I do it, but it could use it more often. I think it's personal tolerance level, but I do really enjoy looking at it a lot more with the clean glass, so I should probably do it once a week. Pic, for reference, is looking from the side at the front wall. Last cleaning was 2 weeks ago.

As far as what it tells us, I'm not sure. My guess would be nutrient levels like phosphates and nitrates are probably too high. My "typical" algae is the powdery-looking greenish-brown stuff that forms a film (or in spots) on the glass, but over the last month, I've noticed a new, thicker-looking more-brown-than-green kind that seems to look kindof wavy in the water flow, growing in small mats here and there. Any ideas what that could be?

 

[vetteguy53081]

1. How often does your aquarium glass get a film of algae on it? If you clean your glass how long does it take to need another scraping?

In one tank - never because it has a robosnail cleaner that runs daily at 2pm
The other- every 4-5 days and minimal film


2. If you're having to clean your glass often what do you think that says, if anything, about the chemistry of your tank? What's your experience?

My algae is due to intensity of lighting from orpheks. No matter how low theyre turned down, they produce light greatly

 

[jsker]

It is time for my to clean the skimmer and change the filter socks.

 

[zaba859]

Wondering if we could get a closeup, just curious if those white spots are spots of CaCO3 precipitation or some kind of life form?

Looks rather live because of curly shape.

 

[Subsea]

I put once a week. I just cleaned front glass an hour ago.


Because I am all about recycling nutrients into live food, I see glass film as a healthy bioindicator.

 

[1fastfxr]

My tank is only 4 months old so I clean the glass twice a week. It gets that ever so slight green haze on it. My No3 measures 12 ppm with a Nyos test get and my P04 sits at 0.25----the best I can tell----with a cheap API kit.

 

[G Santana]

Looks rather live because of curly shape.

Spirorbid worms

Looks rather live because of curly shape.

 

[JSully_94]

Generally, would you all consider regular calcium carbonate buildup on the glass and rear walls of your aquarium “normal”? Clearly a lot of people experience this, but how do people who don’t have to deal with scrapping it off regularly achieve that?

 

[SantaMonica]

Brown film = high nutrients in water.
Green film = low nutrients in water.

 

[MarshallB]

I used to need to clean it every other day. Since I started dosing vibrant ( for other reasons ) I only need to clean it once a week.

 

[Ro Bow]

Thisi is a 560g tank that was an emergency replacement of my 400g tank last Xmas eve. This 400g tank was the head piece of a 1400g system with (2) 180g outdoor frag tanks. For the past 6+ years the phosphates in this system average around 1.4- to 1.6 --- Yes the decimal point is in the right place. Testing of phosphates done via Triton ICP testing. Sometimes it has gone as high as 2.4 and once it dropped to .8 - But for those that chase numbers, it's high. Coral colors and growth have been good. In the 400g I would have to clean the front panel maybe once a week.
Since switching to the 560g I have to wipe the glass every 24 hours. Plus it's a peninusula tank - and it's 10ft long so I am basically wiping 3x as much glass 7x as often - And I hate it. What's strange though is the display tank gets a green haze on the glass within about 12-18 hrs of a wiping. The outdoor frag tanks - with pure sunlight pouring down on them don't grow any green haze at all. It takes about a month for there to be green dots of algae on the glass. Where inside with the 560g the brown crap you see at the top and bottom of the tank appears within a week of cleaning - in addition to the green haze on the glass. We did some testing and found that the system has bottomed out on nitrates and the phosphates are still around 1.4. Cyano was going nuts on the sand and across the top of the rock work in the display tank and coral growth has slowed significantly (only on some corals).
Two weeks ago yesterday we did a round of chemi-clean and it eradicated the cyano. Tomorrow will do the 2nd 200g water change - but the glass is still fogging up within 2.5 days of wiping. Going to start dosing nitrates next week and see if we can balance things out and make a little less glass scrubbing for me.
If interested to know more about the tank and system - there is a big thread here on Reef2Reef in the Big Tanks 400g+ and I also have a large video library on youtube under o2manyfish.

Dave B

2 comments:
1: love the tank
2: I have the same wooden fish! I got them in maui! So cool!

 

[Ro Bow]

Used to clean glass every other day, now I can go a whole week without cleaning glass. Also turned the Light Point Intensity up to 75% after installing these light shades.

That tank is beautiful! What montipora is that in the middle, making the spiral? Montipora Capricornus?