timmylucas Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 I seem to have some type of algae outbreak in my aquarium. I dont know why. I think it may be something in my water. I use a RO/DI unit but the filters have turned a brown color for some reason in the last month. The system isnt very old but i guess I may need to swap them out. I clean out my sump and skimmer regularly to reduce waste and nutrients. I dont have a tendency to over feed and it seems like I cant get rid of the algae outbreak. I keep manually removing it but it seems to grow back quicker and quicker. I only have the lights on for 8 hours a day. I use LED's. I dont know what to do to get rid of this hair algae or whatever it is. Any suggestions? I'm thinking I need to swap out my Ro filters but Not sure. This is the first time Ive experienced an outbreak like and I have had the system up and running for more than a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 What are your water parameters? Do you have pictures of the algae? A simple way to determine if your ro unit is not working properly is test the water. Check phosphates, nitrates, and TDS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 pictures would help, or a better description of the algae.... long and green? Sounds to me like bryopsis. excessive phosphates and nitrates, likely from long term overfeeding. Many times aquariums build up nutrients and then boom...on comes the algae. Are you running GFO? Refugium? Can you test phosphates? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Z Reef Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 But seriously, test phos, nitrate, and tds of RO water and we'll probably have an answer pretty quickly on what the problem is. If your filters are brown, I'd at least swap those out ASAP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabeaver Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 the first sediment filter will get brown relatively quickly, I noticed on my DI chamber its finally color changing showing its time to change that media. Do you have a TDS meter to check your RODI output? and post pictures, depending on algae type can change how you fight it. I had a bad HA problem when I first started and then months later had a huge bryopsis outbreak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 If it is your RO water, that is a simple cause and not to hard of a fix. Knowing your TDS will really help. If you don't have a TDS meter I am sure someone can let you borrow one. Some LFS will test your water for you, I know Upscales does (that's mainly where I shop) not certain of others in the area. Even if you fix the cause of the problem that will not fix the problem immediately. If it turns out that your RO is the only cause a three day period with no light and a large water change will get you a lot of the way towards fixing the problem with the algae. I find carbon dosing (vodka man myself) to be the easiest long term preventer and since you have a skimmer that is an option for you. With most tanks I have helped it is not just one cause but a combination of causes that leads to algae problems. There are many ways and methods to setup a tank, but sometimes when methods that work on there own are combined they don't work as well anymore e.g. A sandbed in a lot refugium will decrease the efficiency of your protein skimmer (J. Adams and R. Shimek). It could very well be that you have one or two contributing factors for the algae. Sometimes removing the root of the problem is enough to fix the solution over time. Sometimes it's not or we don't want to wait that long. I'd go into looking and fixing root causes first. Common ones include: Wrong spectrum of light High nutrients To low of flow that is allowing dead spots Over feeding Protein skimmer undersized or not working Source water (rodi) Source salt Dirty filters Combination of filters that prevent each other from working well Lack of a way to biologically break down waste Your problem is likely one of those. That said fixing the source of a problem might be very slow to fix the problem itself. Sometimes a little help is needed. JMO Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted October 15, 2014 Share Posted October 15, 2014 Hey timmylucas, Lots of good advice in this thread. Here is a really good read from Mr. Saltwater Tank, check it out Deleted... he charges 37 bucks for the information. Way too much money, I can see 5 bucks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmylucas Posted October 16, 2014 Author Share Posted October 16, 2014 I snapped some photos, I am doing tests on my water as we speak. I will have to take a sample of my RO water somewhere to have the TDS looked at. As of now it looks like my nitrates are higher than normal. They are at 10 PPM which is higher than normal for my system. So I will start there. Its just growing out of control. Its crazy how fast it is growing. Manual removal does nothing. It grows back within a day. I need to find the source of nitrates. I wonder if it is because I switched over to pellet food within the last month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rworegon Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Pellet good is high in phosphates. Check your phosphates. Is they are high run some gfo. Carbon dosing is s good option but takes a while to realize the benefits. Trochus snails will help in the short term. Less bulldozer like than turbo snails and they can right themselves if they fall over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabeaver Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Pellet good is high in phosphates. Check your phosphates. Is they are high run some gfo. Carbon dosing is s good option but takes a while to realize the benefits. Trochus snails will help in the short term. Less bulldozer like than turbo snails and they can right themselves if they fall over. Red banded trochus are my workhorse snails, and my longest living snails Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenderfoot Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 This is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rworegon Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 ???? What's that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 The phosphate level of pellet food can vary with type, and manufactor. Elos is incredibly light in phosphate IME Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Some type of algae outbreak. Help? Clean up crew!!! Go see a decent LFS, garret at the premium aquarium can usually get you a good balance at a good price...or other spots who have trochus, hermits! And other things like a cucumber, or even a kole tang:) I'm a sucker for inverts though:) Good idea to get nitrates down, but I'd bet money your phosphates are even more to blame. Probably for or rock that is he source. Think: how can it escape? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ninjabeaver Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Once you find the source control that, utilize a CUC, and manual removal....it looks like GHA to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrBret Posted October 16, 2014 Share Posted October 16, 2014 Yep...my guess is phosphates. Get a sea hair, and a small army of hermits. not going to change anything in your water, but will help take it out either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.