Question on Cyno and Hair Algea

[Reef Guy11]

Okay how come eveyone one said that cyno and hair come from over feeding/ to much nutient in the tank. Well I have tested with the test kits at work and the my own test kits. It always comes up nitrite 0 nitrates 0 amm 0 Ph 8.43. So where is the problem I have MH that are 2 250 watt mogel with 2 110 watt VHO antinics. There is a lot of flow in the tank. I don't understand it. :? 8O :x. Help please

 

[Anonymous]

And phosphorous is...?

 

[Reef Guy11]

Okay Okay never checked that. I Make my own RO/DI water I need to check that also so maybe there is something there. Hum I wonder .

 

[Mikef1]

You will most likely find that you have a level of phosphates in your ro/di water or in your tanks. Phosphates can come from many different things and can leach out of certain carbons.

 

[Joew]

How often do you clean your tank?, vacuum detritus from sand. YOu'd be suprised how much crap is on your rock. Blast your rock with a turkey bastor and see what floats. Alot of people do a blast the rock and vacuum with a cannnister filter.
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[bergzy]

install a fuge/algae filter with strong direct lighting.

i routinely and intentionally overfeed my tank with reckless abandon. this doesnt include what my wife feeds the fish.

it amazed me how my cyano, hair and dino problems left as soon as my fuge matured.

i do a 10% water change every two months and skim with a super crummy skimmer when the main lights are on.

everything reads zero and water clarity is transparent.

i never vacuum the sand and never clean the rocks.

i have snails and hermit crabs to do that.

i like to do as little as possible with maximum results. more work does not always mean better results. you know, work smarter not harder.

but, as everyone knows, there are a million ways to do something to get the same results. what i do may not work for someone else.

 

[Reef Guy11]

Hey thanks for the replies Guy's & Gal/SM. I will test for Phosphates today and let everyone know what the levels are. I have a fuge on this tank maybe why I get zero reading on the kits. The plant life including the bad Algea is using the nutients up so fastwould that be the answer I am looking for on why the kits read zero. If that is the case then the phosphates is what I have to worry about.

Thanks again everyone.

 

[bergzy]

here is an interesting read...

http://www.brooklynaquariumsociety.org/ ... h-pg17.htm

 

[Anonymous]

Hey thanks for the replies Guy's & Gal/SM. I will test for Phosphates today and let everyone know what the levels are. I have a fuge on this tank maybe why I get zero reading on the kits. The plant life including the bad Algea is using the nutients up so fastwould that be the answer I am looking for on why the kits read zero. If that is the case then the phosphates is what I have to worry about.

Thanks again everyone.

I LOVE using natural means to achieve the ends to a rather unnatural situation. However, do remember that when testing from a tank that's fraught with algal problems, it's very possible (and likely, even) that the phosphorous has been fixed by the algae/cyano. This is why I always tell folks to test their make up water, both before and after they mix the salt. I have yet to have a person come back and say "It's still perfectly clean". Each and every time they came back with detectable levels of phosphorous and/or nitrate.

So.. GOOD LUCK! If you find the source, it makes dealing with the problem so much easier.

 

[baseman]

I had a terrible problem with brown algae for about 5 months last year. I was using RO/DI water (purchased from a LFS). Nitrates, nitrites phosphates all 0. The only difference was the source of the water. My regular LFS was moving and I had to switch sources. Finally had the water I was buying tested. TDS was 35. My original source is back online and the algae is gone. I guess that shows that there are other things we can't or don't test for that can cause algae problems.

 

[Reef Guy11]

Okay well I tested the the tank and the RO/DI water phosphates in both are 0.01. I have gotten phos-zorb from work and added that to my tank in the overflow. That will take care of that now how do I go about treating the RO/DI water.