24g Nano - adding spray bar & using distilled h20?

[sweetxoxo31]

Hi All,
I've posted before and posted I had issues with another bloom of brown algae, a little green algae, now some white dots - kinda crusty and can pick them off with your nail on the inside of my glass. I have already had my cylce (small one due to my LR & live sand) I have a CUC also. I have 2 damsels in as well. My water parameters were good, no ammonia no trites, no trates, salinity 1.023, temp around 76-78, and ph about 8. I am going to test other things such as calcium etc tonight...but one thing that seemed to be mentioned was...I used my tap water on a 25% h20 change, conditioned it with amquel to remove any metals & chlorine etc. added salt w/ power head before adding to tank. Today, I bought 5 gallons distilled water & have it in a bucket with salt & Power Head. I also have a spray bar my sister made for her tank and thinking that after the distilled water is mixed thoroughly, I will clean the walls of the tank, try to vacume the sand of the brown algae, and add this spray bar to the tank to add more circulation, and add the distilled water this time to see if it helps???
Would this help and...where should I place the bar...behind the LR so it keeps things moving from back there too??
Thanks!

 

[subielover]

I would, like you said, place the spray bar in the back. You can then direct your other powerheads to the front of the tank. Using distilled water will eliminate one potential cause of algae, which would have been your tap water. When using distilled it may even be more important to make sure the water and salt has been mixed for a minimum of 24 hours. Of course, matching s.g., temperature and ph is also a must. Sounds like you are making progress

 

[jackri]

What do you mean spray bar? I guess it's ok as long as it doesn't produce bubbles. I wouldn't use tap water with a chemical treatment... as those heavy minerals just don't disappear and you may end up with phospates (which cause a nice algae bloom).
Distilled is pure water i guess... never used it -- always used ro/di so I don't have any experience with that.
You may want a phosphate test as tap water can be a really bad source for it.

 

[whisk]

I would get into the habit of mixing your water a week in advance. I think using distilled water is a much wiser choice on your part and that will help eliminate some of the algae.
I'm not sure what your CUC is but cerith snails will eat that brown algae off your sand.
i dont have any experience using a spray bar, but good circulation in your tank will also help control any algae. good luck!

 

[nano-newb1983]

what is a spray bar?