refugium/sump

Question
QUESTION: well i have yet another question, i believed you were the one that answered my previous question regarding my sump/refugium lighting. this is somewhat of a follow up.

i changed my lighting in it from a 50/50 to a regular 3200k flourecent  (i didnt have a 6500k bulb that u recomended but i am going to purchase one tommorow), i thought that would be better, and surprsingly it worked...i believe.

my chaeto has become greener, and seems to be growing, but that is not what im after. the next day after changing bulbs, i started to see bubbles on top of my live sand bed, and eventually rising and escaping. it has increased everyday till the point where i am seeing tons of them partially rising peices of my sand bed and forming like a crust,and the bubbles are a brown red-ish color. my chaeto also has red like flowers blooming from their endpoints.

my 3 questions are

1:) is this a bad thing? or is this denitrafication? my nitrates however have not gone down.

2:) will my chaeto be okay.

3:) when i change the bulb to a 6500k one, will this stop

thanks in advance

-Chris

ANSWER: Hey Chris. sorry for the late response, after going to 2 funerals i think i would rather have your problems! lol

The bubbles sound like algae is pearling, which is giving off oxygen. this isnt a bad thing, just keep up with skimming and water changes to get the algae down

your chaeto sounds good, and it sounds like its eating up nitrates good. When you get a 6500k bulb, the chaeto will eat up more nitrates, meaning less algae growth

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: 1st off, sorry about the funerals. one is tuf, but 2 is horrible i understand why the late responce, no problem. hope eveything works out well for you. :)

well i've added the 6500k bulb, and i got a new reflector. (its a clamp-on style)so i think it will be much better. plus i also bought some more cheato. i was lucky enough to get some from my LFS in their running sump/refugium in their 400Gal reef tank.

i was wondering though if you could tell me what the red flower blooms on my chaeto are, and it also looks like it has some red-ish colored,spider-web substance on it as well. im not sure what that is but i believe its some other type of algae.

my skimmer i ordered is on its way in the mail, and should arive here by tommorow, and i should have it running also. it is a Coralife:Super Skimmer Needle Wheel Protein Skimmer 125 gallon, i have a 75 gal. so it will be very helpful. i was wondering if you have heard or used this brand or skimmer before, and see what you think of it.

i am adding daily some Amquel+ plus to remove nitrates, or atleast try to keep them down, but it doesnt seem to work well, ive been testing every 3 days, and is still in the 40-80ppm range.(i use API tests) so i hope that with the skimmer, and the new lighting my nitrates will dramatically drop.

thanks,
-chris

Answer
The red stuff sounds like cyano bacteria, which is from overfeeding or not having a skimmer, once your skimmer starts pulling out excess nutrients the algae will die off

As for the skimmer, its the same ones i use. Ive used plenty of skimmers, and none are as easy to get going as the coralife super skimmers. theyre awesome

Are you still getting nitrates after a water change? if you are, maybe something is wrong with your test kit, a 30% water change would get you from 80ppm to about 50ppm, so if after a water change its still stuck high maybe take a water sample to a store to get it tested and see what their test kit says