Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2016 6:05 pm Re: What the heck?
The weird white stuff just sort of disappeared on it's own, so maybe it was food crumbs, but none of their food was actually white. I did some more research into the algae and realized it's pretty normal and while I did a clean and removed everything and gave it a scrub, I did leave one rock in particular completely alone, just to help establish the tank. While it's coming back in places, it's not nearly as quickly as it appeared before. I really like the tank lit up. I mean really lit up. I'm using an LED bar, of course the basking and UVB lamp, and also the (I'm guessing here) florescent light that came with the tank.
What I didn't realize was that the amount of time I was leaving the lights on during the day was A) mean to my turtles and B) more likely to increase the algae. I've since cut back on the amount of time I'm using the tank lights full blast. I use the blue LED's in the morning for about an hour by themselves, starting at 9 am, before the white lights come on at 10 am, and again in the evening for an hour after the other timer cuts out the white lighting, basking lamps, etc. I'm sort of hoping that it's like daylight and dusk for my little guys and girl.
We shall see if that continues to affect the algae control. So far, it's pretty good, and realizing that algae is actually helping the tank establish a healthy atmosphere makes it much less concerning to look at.
Thanks so much to all who have taken so much time to write up care instructions, especially the stickies. When I'm looking for an answer to something, I'll admit that I've often failed to read all the important information someone has painstakingly written up and dedicated to helping us newbies out. I'll do better, I hope.