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mr.gaboozlebag
Non-member
I was typing at the same time as you Kim, I will look at those articles.
Thanks everyone,
Thanks everyone,
Algae problems
- Thread starter mr.gaboozlebag
- Start date
With RODI you know you're starting with no unknowns in the water. Using it is pretty standard for any salt tank. In fact, one of the most important aspects of keep a successful reef tank is controlling what goes into it. You really have no idea if you aren't using known pure water.
You don't need to add anything special when you use RODI water, salt mixes more or less assume you're starting with pure water. Many marine aquarium stores will sell RODI by the gallon. That's a good place to start if you need a lot, which I think you do. I'd make up a trashcan of salt water with RODI and do a few big water changes, trying to clean/brush/siphon as much of the algae out as you can.
Back way off on your lights too. That'll keep the algae from growing until you can eliminate its food source. Since you don't have any corals, you really don't need to have the lights on at all yet.
The bubbles are just dissolved gases collecting under the algae slime, nothing to worry about in and of itself.
You don't need to add anything special when you use RODI water, salt mixes more or less assume you're starting with pure water. Many marine aquarium stores will sell RODI by the gallon. That's a good place to start if you need a lot, which I think you do. I'd make up a trashcan of salt water with RODI and do a few big water changes, trying to clean/brush/siphon as much of the algae out as you can.
Back way off on your lights too. That'll keep the algae from growing until you can eliminate its food source. Since you don't have any corals, you really don't need to have the lights on at all yet.
The bubbles are just dissolved gases collecting under the algae slime, nothing to worry about in and of itself.
The bubbles you are air bubbles forming underneath your layer of cyanobacteria/diatoms or dinoflagellates. That is why they keep comming back.
Here is a list of different algaes and description.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=14
Here is a list of different algaes and description.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/article_view.php?faq=2&fldAuto=14
Behrmon
pr (BearMon)
Sorry, looked like bubble algae to me.
City water or well water IMO is irrelevant, I have well water as well and do not use it. TDS of 5 million
Sorry if these are not helping at all.
http://bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=35243&highlight=rodi
City water or well water IMO is irrelevant, I have well water as well and do not use it. TDS of 5 million
Sorry if these are not helping at all.
http://bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=35243&highlight=rodi
46 ppm is pretty good for well or city water, considering that max potable is 700 ppm! Usually tap runs 100-300. The problem with well water is that you don't know exactly what that 46 ppm TDS is composed of. It's probably full of silicates, and then there's the source of your cyano bloom. It's not likely to be phosphates, those are usually added by municpal water treatment plants (I still haven't gotten a satisfactory explanation as to WHY, tho).
OP
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mr.gaboozlebag
Non-member
There's a bit of a problem with getting RODI, I don't have enough money, being in middle school, and my dad says it is to expensive, and my mom doesn't like bring home water because it's too heavy. And there is no way to convince my dad of anything. It took me months to convince him to let me get a protein skimmer with MY own money. Sigh.....
Will this algae go away on it's own soon?
It's fine, you were just helping.
Will this algae go away on it's own soon?
It's fine, you were just helping.
OP
OP
mr.gaboozlebag
Non-member
Do you think that I should add to my clean up crew, I don't want to have too many snails and crabs because I already have 6 nassarius snails and 4 scarlet hermits.
BTW, it didn't work, I was trying to make the confused emoticon really big.
BTW, it didn't work, I was trying to make the confused emoticon really big.
It may just be a bad cycle and it may go away with syphoning, cutting down your lights and not over feeding your tank. And a lot of water changes...if its not your water.
If it is your well water that is fueling the algae it may get better but I don't think it will go away completely.
When I set up my first tank I had a bad cyano outbreak at about a month. I used RO/DI from the beginning and still go it, but it did go away.
So yes there is a chance it will go away or get better.
If it is your well water that is fueling the algae it may get better but I don't think it will go away completely.
When I set up my first tank I had a bad cyano outbreak at about a month. I used RO/DI from the beginning and still go it, but it did go away.
So yes there is a chance it will go away or get better.
One of the unfortunate realities of keeping a reef tank is how hard on the wallet it can be. My favorite signature so far: "For the love of God, don't ask me what x cost in front of my wife!"
Not using RODI water is almost sure to cause continued headaches. The algae for instance will feed on the impurities in the water and eventually stop growing when it uses them all up. Problem is, every time you put more water in to replace evaporation or during a water change, the algae gets another feast and starts growing again. Good protein skimming will help remove some of the impurities as algae dies, but it's still an uphill battle that can tend to take all the fun out of having a tank. That being said there are less expensive ways of eliminating impurities in make-up water than buying a $250 tap water filter. If I recall correctly, self-serve RODI from LFSs is like 25 cents a gallon, maybe $1 for a 5 gallon jug full. So for the cost of a cheap fish, you could have enough clean water for a 100% water change - not that I'm recommending doing a 100% water change, but just for example. For a 40g tank, I think anyone would have a hard time justifying the cost of a full RODI filter. But even seeing what starts to happen in my tank when it's time to replace DI cartridges, I wouldn't even consider putting a gallon of straight tap water in.
Not using RODI water is almost sure to cause continued headaches. The algae for instance will feed on the impurities in the water and eventually stop growing when it uses them all up. Problem is, every time you put more water in to replace evaporation or during a water change, the algae gets another feast and starts growing again. Good protein skimming will help remove some of the impurities as algae dies, but it's still an uphill battle that can tend to take all the fun out of having a tank. That being said there are less expensive ways of eliminating impurities in make-up water than buying a $250 tap water filter. If I recall correctly, self-serve RODI from LFSs is like 25 cents a gallon, maybe $1 for a 5 gallon jug full. So for the cost of a cheap fish, you could have enough clean water for a 100% water change - not that I'm recommending doing a 100% water change, but just for example. For a 40g tank, I think anyone would have a hard time justifying the cost of a full RODI filter. But even seeing what starts to happen in my tank when it's time to replace DI cartridges, I wouldn't even consider putting a gallon of straight tap water in.
OP
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mr.gaboozlebag
Non-member
I just remembered to reply to this thread.
Nitrate is 25ppm.
I just did 3 days of no lights, and there is a noticable improvement. I also added 3 turbos and 2 astreas.
I have a new problem. Bubble algae! I have about 2 bubbles. How should I get rid of them?
Nitrate is 25ppm.
I just did 3 days of no lights, and there is a noticable improvement. I also added 3 turbos and 2 astreas.
I have a new problem. Bubble algae! I have about 2 bubbles. How should I get rid of them?
Well, if you can very carefully pull them off with forceps or something like that without breaking them, pull them off, remove them from the aquarium, put them in a little cup of water and bleach and dump. Best to nip them now. A possible long term solution are emerald mithrax crabs (fairly common in LFS), which have been known to eat them. The problem is that behavior varies between individuals (some just won't eat it) and I've heard that some don't consider them completely reef-safe, they may be a slight threat to inverts or very small fish if you get an aggressive one. I would try to manually remove them now, if you can pull out the rock they're on, that's definitely worth a shot.
I've found the best way to extract individual bubble algae pieces is to vacuum them out when doing a water change. That way, even if you pop them you suck out everything inside.
Emerald crabs are rumored to eat them although I've never witnessed it, although I didn't notice as much in my tank when I had a few in there. It's difficult to totally get rid of and stay that way since it's so common. But fortunately, it doesn't spread too quickly so it's fairly straight forward to keep it in check with e. crabs and/or manual removal.
Emerald crabs are rumored to eat them although I've never witnessed it, although I didn't notice as much in my tank when I had a few in there. It's difficult to totally get rid of and stay that way since it's so common. But fortunately, it doesn't spread too quickly so it's fairly straight forward to keep it in check with e. crabs and/or manual removal.
Dave
Formerly Rosey
Rowan you can get rodi water from Aqua Addicts for 20 cents a gallon. Just bring a bucket to put it in. The Aquarium Gallery sells it too but not sure of the price. As stated above w/out it your problems will persist. 8 hours of light should be plenty until you get things in check. More flow will help too.
OP
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mr.gaboozlebag
Non-member
I've been getting RODI from my mom who works at a lab. Thanks for the offer though Jay.
I picked up an algae control secrets book from the BRS library, and it said that using only actinic lighting would help because Cyano uses red light more. I tried that, but I do not know if it helped because I have been doing a lot of other methods too. A lot of the algae has decreased. Unfortunately I have gotten more bubble algae. I will try to siphon them out. I think that adding the snails has helped a little. I have been only feeding my damsels about once a week, and that has helped stop algae, and my fish don't mind.
I had something else to say, but I can't remember what.
I picked up an algae control secrets book from the BRS library, and it said that using only actinic lighting would help because Cyano uses red light more. I tried that, but I do not know if it helped because I have been doing a lot of other methods too. A lot of the algae has decreased. Unfortunately I have gotten more bubble algae. I will try to siphon them out. I think that adding the snails has helped a little. I have been only feeding my damsels about once a week, and that has helped stop algae, and my fish don't mind.
I had something else to say, but I can't remember what.
reefsmurf
Non-member
If you mean the Julian Sprung book on algae control I have that too. Since RO/DI i've had almost zero cyano.
Algae is a pain. I'm on RODI (0ppm tested), Phosban reactor (new), probably ~1700gph of water movement, in my 29g , skimming like crazy, super low feed, random cleanup crew, and I still have ALOT of hair algae. On the plus side, after all these changes above, the glass almost never gets dirty now since the hair algae gobs up whatever nutrients and there's not enough left for the diatoms/whatnot. The only thing left to change is an old MH bulb.. Sanjay says spectrum shift shouldn't matter so I've been holding out on that one.
So you need to try to find a RODI unit from someone here used cheap, if you can. Or at least have your water tested with a TDS meter to see roughly how bad it is.
Algae is a pain. I'm on RODI (0ppm tested), Phosban reactor (new), probably ~1700gph of water movement, in my 29g , skimming like crazy, super low feed, random cleanup crew, and I still have ALOT of hair algae. On the plus side, after all these changes above, the glass almost never gets dirty now since the hair algae gobs up whatever nutrients and there's not enough left for the diatoms/whatnot.
The only thing left to change is an old MH bulb.. Sanjay says spectrum shift shouldn't matter so I've been holding out on that one.So you need to try to find a RODI unit from someone here used cheap, if you can. Or at least have your water tested with a TDS meter to see roughly how bad it is.
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