Finally Algae going away

[Allanira]

Ok so lately I have had my parameters going crazy. Everything that I put in the tank except 1 green chromis is still alive ( I had 2 but 1 commited suicide poor little fishy). I have always seen all 5 of my snails. Just not all at 1 time. Today all 5 were out and about. Also my 2 hermits were out and about. I see the 4 fish I have every day and the 2 cleaner shrimp everyday. Well I was really looking closely today better than I have the last couple days and my algae is starting to go away. I dont know what made it do it. If its cause the snails are coming out more or what. Alls I know is that as of today my parameters are:
S.G. 1.026
pH 8.4
Alk 2.7 meq/l ( remedying that now with baking soda)
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrate 20ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Calcium 554

WOOHOO I am finally getting this under control in the tank again. I also got my protein skimmer up and running today too. My new pump came today. I am going to leave it running over night. Or should I just let it continue to run as long as I can? Also my cheato isnt looking too good. When my husband is home he doesnt want the light on all night. If he gets up in the middle of the night to walk out a cramp or cause he cant sleep he sees it and it annoys him lol. So he turns it off. He'll turn on the aquarium lights but not the fuge light. Is that ok that its not getting 24/7 light? Or should I put a covering over when hes home? Hes a fireman so he needs his sleep and with that light on it bugs him for some reason. Well thanks ahead of time for advise on this. I really appreciate it.

[sassafrass]

Most reefers leave their skimmers on 24/7 except when feeding corals or clams. Turning on the aquarium lights manually is not good for the corals ,in the book the conscientious aquarist by Robert Fenner ,he says specifically that your aquarium lights should always be on a timer. Random lighting for the cheato can have a slight destabilizing effect on the ph in your tank. All things being stable is the most important factor in successful reefkeeping
regards , Lee
PS congratulations on the algae going away!!!

[Aquarist007]

The reason for running the light in the refug in reverse to the tank light is to minimize the pH drop at night due to lack of photosynthesis at night. Your pH is high enough however that you can probably get away with leaving it off at night. However I still would try to keep the light on for about 16 hours a day
You can buy a light timer for about 10 dollars also.

Can you be a little more specific on your chaeto not looking good?

[Allanira]

Its starting to get kind of scragly. It also looks like it has air bubbles all over it. I had it folded over 1 of my baffles to the skimmer are for a bit and it started looking better but now it starting to look scragly again. I will try to get a pic on here but I can never seem to get them to go on cause they are "too large" by the systems thinking. But thats another story lol. Its also not in a ball form anymore. Its spread out in the fuge and started sinking. Instead of being on top of the water like I have seen in other peoples tanks. The light is on for atleast 16 hours. I leave it on when the hubby isnt home so that it gets extra lighting. I have a 65w cp or pc light on it. Its bright enough to light up the living room so I dont trip on stuff early in the morning when I am not awake yet. So every other day it gets 24 hours and the other it get 16 hours. Also I think the algae going away is more because my snails and hermits are coming back out now. I dont know why they went into hiding in the first place lol. Goofy me probably cause my parameters went out of wak. I have been keeping a closer eye on the params now. I check them either every day or every couple days as I can. Gotta get me a job soon to pay for this hobby lol. Thanks again for advise. I need more though. I need to get out of the newbie rank and into amataur rank lol.