new to salt algae question

[bovsbaitboxes]

I had brown then went to green now hair and green what should I do? I clean the glass but the hair alage is getting all over the rock what is the best thing to get to eat this stuff? I am keeping my lights on a very low time(3 to 4 hrs/day). Maybe more cheato in my sump? also cleaning my skimmer every other day has alot of brownish/green water from the foam is this all normal for a tank that has been running about a month thanks John:iamwithst

 

[hijinks]

what kind of water do you use? also does your tank get direct sunlight?

 

[bovsbaitboxes]

using tap water with water conditioners now I am getting a very large ro unit (guy uses for his 600 gallon) soon do you think that could be it and what should I check in the tap water to see if there is a problem with using it thanks John

 

[hijinks]

all water supplies get phospates put into it.. along with a lot of others.. if its just a ro unit.. I'd consider getting a ro/di unit. I have an air water ice unit and love it.

but that is the root cause of your algae problem..

 

[h20 freak]

Never get something to eat algae to try to solve the problem. Attack the cause not the symptom, getting the RO will probably help a lot. See how that works first.

 

[bovsbaitboxes]

well the tank is brand new so there is only 2 snails 5 small blue legged hermit crabs a 2x2" frag of gsp an 2 zoo polyps that came on the live rock so I need some cleaning crew anyway thanks John

 

[Tonyscoots84]

it sounds like its going through its cycles. just make sure you are keeping phosphates low, also make sure you use rodi water not TAP WATER.

 

[MARCOANTONIOJR]

its for sure your tap water, check your nitrates they may never go down if you keep using tap. keep a weekly log. i setup a 29 biocube a few years back and used tap and had the same prob, now i have a 120 and use rodi, with my bio i bought something called az no3 to remove nitrates and it worked but stressed my fish out, u need a skimmer for it, it brought my nitrates to zero then i started using distilled water.

 

[gimincorp]

Guys,
My problems after restarting the tank were:
1. yellowish/brownish slime on glass
2. Hair algae explosion!
Yes I do use tap water and I don't plan to buy an RO/DI unit due to initial cost and catrtidge replacement costs.
Here are the changes I had done:
1. Thrown out both: biorings and filter floss from filter chamber.
2. Replaced thrown out filter material with cured crushed live rock
3. Added insane amount of chaeto in the tank (it was no biggy since nothing is alive in the tank besides bacteria and Kenya Tree).
4. Dosed miniscule amount of bourbon.
Results: Slime algae (1) on the glass is GONE! Hair algae (2) reduced greatly.
So,
Examine your filter media. Add more chaeto (I can help); dose some bourbon (I think it is 5ml / 25Gallon)! But be careful and research on the latter some more before pouring it in!
Good luck,

G.M.

 

[kool-cat]

RO/DI is really a must or distilled water. But some distilled wate rmight have harmful copper. If you got a small reef you might be able to distill your own water???(Never tried this, just thought about it. Might be a fire hazard.) Boil water and find away for it to trickle down to another container. (water vapors)