Debris in sump

[TJDeMars]

I have brown debris on all the horizontal surfaces in my sump. Any ideas what this might be caused from? I do not use any sort of full time mechanical filtration, and my tank parameters are all good.

[lReef lKeeper]

could be a lot of things. a detailed description would help, as would a pic.

[TJDeMars]

well... I would post a picture but I cleaned it out today. I usually scrub it down every couple of weeks. The stuff is brown in color and it sticks to all the horizontal surfaces in the sump, it on the pump, the heaters. I have to scrub it pretty hard to get it off. I know not a great description but that is about all there is to it.

I'm just curious, but if calcium is precipitating out of the water would it leave this mess. My calcium is pretty steady at about 380ppm, my alkalinity is roughly 4meqs, and the ph is right about 8.3. I have been trying to get the calcium levels to raise for about a month now to promote better coralline algea growth, but it just seems to go right back down in about a day. The tank is not heavily stocked, as a mater of fact it only has 5 small corals in it and 3 fish and misc. hermits and snails. Just a thought...

[lReef lKeeper]

anything to do with calcium (to my knowledge) is usaully a whitish color. could just be some sort of tough algae. are they little brownish white dots ??

[dakar]

The brown is likely just diatoms, pretty normal. I keep the sump/refuge on my nano lit 24/7 and it needs period cleaning as well.. The calcium levels would not be related to diatoms, if calcium was precipitating it would resemble a snow storm in the tank.

[TJDeMars]

I thank you both, I think Dakar has probably hit it on the head. Is that a sign of over feeding or just a normal occurance? I've been considering re-doing the baffles in my sump to turn a portion into a fuge, How much lighting does a fuge need? Halide or would pc's do fine?

[lReef lKeeper]

diatoms are a normal accurance in this hobby. as for lighting a fuge ... i use a 18w strip light and a 75w flood light. nothing special is really "required".

check this out for easy baffle replacement ...

http://www.captivereefing.com/showpost.php?p=25029

[dakar]

I thank you both, I think Dakar has probably hit it on the head. Is that a sign of over feeding or just a normal occurance? I've been considering re-doing the baffles in my sump to turn a portion into a fuge, How much lighting does a fuge need? Halide or would pc's do fine?

Pretty normal, they can be attributed to a lot of things, higher nutrients, lighting that has shifted out of spectrum, stuff like that. As for lighting on your fuge you can use whatever you like, though halide lighting is probably a bit extreme except for a super deep fuge 24" or more. Personally I prefer the power compact flood lamps, self ballasted, cheap, efficient, and lower in color tempurature more targeted to growing macroalgaes.