brown algae

[Mihai]

While curing some LR in my garage I added some of the LR rubble in my sump
(I have an empty tank), and I put a 19W fluorescent bulb (meant to
replace the 75W incandescent) in a work lamp. I'm running the lamp at
12h/day. The sump is really small (7gal or so), and I'm running 100gph
through it. After about 2 weeks most of the sump (walls, pipes, rocks,
sand) is covered with (ugly!) brown algae. (about 1-2mm tall). I didn't see anybody alive
in that sump except for a small feather duster worm (sabella tilosaula
or so), so probably nobody eats the algae.

Should I worry about those algae? How can I get rid of them?

Thanks,
Mihai

 

[Anonymous]

what kind of water did you use??

Brown diatom algae is a low light algea, sounds like that lighting isnt cutting it.

Try to upgrade the lighting and maybe change water frequently. this is going to be a never ending battle. Try a few snails

 

[Dubge]

Isn't that common for a new tank to get algee blooms like that in the begining? I just started another tank not to long ago and the first thing that I got was the diatom algee, it is almost gone now, I also added 1/2 doz snails and they are going to town.

Ray

 

[Mihai]

Well... the water is aged tap water :-(. This + the light must be the reason.
I'm still to research the RO thingie (which brand/results/price/features).
BTW, if you have advice on a good RO, please let me know. I'll check the light.

Thanks,
Mihai

 

[ChrisRD]

As Dubge said - this is normal in a new setup. Better quality water, skimming, good circulation, etc. should help keep it to a minimum.

 

[wubaguba]

Mihai, check out this RO/DI unit on eBay. I bought one and love it....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=20684

 

[Meloco14]

If you aren't ready to invest in an RO unit check around town for water dispensers. In my area there is a water store that sells RO water for 50 cents a gallon, and there's an LFS that has a dispenser outside the store selling saltwater for 75 cents a gallon, and RO water for 25 cents a gallon. This is a cheap way to go until you want to spend the money on an RO filter. But make sure you read the labels on the dispensers to make sure it really is RO water, don't just use any drinking water dispenser. They usually list the types of filtration used on the dispenser.

 

[Mihai]

wubaguba, that's a really nice cheap filter. Thanks a lot. It's the cheapest nice filter I saw so far.

Meloco, I'm ready to invest in RO if I need RO water. The only thing that stops me is Robert Fenner's advice (you know, they guy that wrote "The conscientious marine aquarist"). He claims that one week old water is good for reefkeeping, because we put much more things in the aquarium than what comes from the tap water (so RO/DI will eliminate 99.9% of what's bad in the tap water, but we put 100 times more bad things back in through food and other aditives). I know that most other reef aquarists believe the opposite, I don't know what to believe: it might be just a myth, or it might be true. I think that for now I'll give it a try to aged tap water and see what happens. The problem is that even if I'll get an algae bloom I'll not know if it's from the tap water or not, as many RO water users get the bloom anyway when the tank is new.

I think that the only valid test is if one guy (you?!) that has an established tank would try to put aged tap water instead of RO water and see what happens. If bad things start to happen all of a sudded, then the matter is solved. But I'll probably not convince anybody with an RO filter to try it on their beloved tank (I doubt that I'll do it myself)

All the best,
Mihai

 

[Anonymous]

He claims that one week old water is good for reefkeeping, because we put much more things in the aquarium than what comes from the tap water (so RO/DI will eliminate 99.9% of what's bad in the tap water, but we put 100 times more bad things back in through food and other aditives

Fenner said that???? Huh!

I think that the only valid test is if one guy (you?!) that has an established tank would try to put aged tap water instead of RO water and see what happens.

But remember, the problems with tap water are not overt poisons, but small quantities of stuff like phosphate, nitrate and other chemicals. It may have low levels of this stuff, but you repeatedly add it to the tank to make up for evaporation. The water evaporates, but the other chemicals don't and the levels increase over time. So to do this test you would have to try it for months. Tap water is all different, also.

 

[Mihai]

Fenner said that???? Huh!

Yup, it's in his book (the conscientious marine aquarist), in this
online article http://www.wetwebmedia.com/water4maruse.htm,
and in another online article that I recently read (also by him), but I can't find now. However he's the only one to claim that.
On the other hand his argument (that we put much more stuff in than the RO can ever take out) kind of makes sense.

Regards,
Mihai

 

[Anonymous]

Diatoms will normally cycle through on their own in a week or two with no more intervention necessary.

Be thankful you don't have the nasty brown algae I have in my tank (Lobophora I think) its extremely hard to remove.

 

[ChrisRD]

My $0.02...FWIW...

In that book, Fenner also mentions that some sensitive fish species, and corals/inverts may demand purified water. I think his statements are fairly accurate regarding fish, but corals/inverts are much less tolerant of variable water quality than fish IME.

There's really no myth or mystery to the whole RO thing. Using tapwater is sorta like playing Russian Roulette. You don't really know what you're adding to the system when you use it. You could spend the money to have a full analysis done on your tapwater, but that would cost more than the RO unit, and your tapwater content could change in the future.

As to the theory that you're adding everything back in with food that the RO removes - IMO that is just flawed logic and a drastic oversimplification. There are definitely compounds that can be added to your system using tapwater that would not be present in foods. In fact, in the article linked above, he mentions a bunch of chemicals that fall into that category. As for other additives - you really shouldn't be adding anything you're not testing for, and beyond basic Ca/Alk supplementation IMO there's no need to add anything else to the tank.

RO units are very popular among reefkeepers (with good reason) and they are a very modest investment in the scope of the hobby - especially considering the benefits...

 

[Mihai]

Chris, you convinced me , thanks for taking the time to show me the way. I imagine you have to do that with every beginner (and with some, several times ). I admire your energy.

Thanks again,
Mihai

 

[HClH2OFish]

And I'll add my nickel as well...

Don't forget that tap water varies in quality by location. Doesn't aging the water just get rid of chlorine?

I'd rather start with pure water and *know* what is being added to it rather than using tap water and still not know what is in it after aging..