C
coankas
Guest
I have black hair algae and could it be because i don't use and RODI? i really don't have the money for one right now and buying saltwater from my lfs is way to expensive and hard to transport.
S
sebae0
Guest
yes it could be your problem, but secondly how old is your tank? usually you"ll get some hair algae or cyano when cycling but if your using tap and its high in phosphates or silicates your gonna have alot of problems. ro/di is the best way to go, if money is a problem right now try buying distilled water from grocery store. hth
wablondie98664
Active Member
you can usually buy ro/di water at the grocery store. that's what i do, and it's only about 30 cents a gallon.
T
thomas712
Guest
Are we talking about Alabama water?
Coankas - See if you can get some RO/DI water at a local vending water supplier, or like a Miejers or Walmart. I can get it for .29 cents a gallon in my hometown.
Water that is purified by RO/DI methods removes many of the heavy metals, and impurities that you can find in city drinking water from Auburn to Huntsville and all over. What happens when you use tap water is that you are putting nitrates and phosphates back into the water and its nothing but fertilizer for photosynthetic algeas, sometimes these algeas can use the PO4 and NH3 up and your test kits can fool you by showing that they are low or even zero. But low and behold here comes the tap water to feed the bad algeas again. ]
Now someone might suggest using Macro algeas or Plants in your main tank, and that tap water is fine. While it may be true that macro algea's (what they call plants) can use up some of these nitrates and phosphates they will still be contained in the plants and can be released by them as well. Plants tend to root to the rocks and substrate and can cause problems in the display tank.
There are a very small few that can safly get away with using tap water, but for the most part using tap water is just borrowing trouble.
Thomas
Coankas - See if you can get some RO/DI water at a local vending water supplier, or like a Miejers or Walmart. I can get it for .29 cents a gallon in my hometown.
Water that is purified by RO/DI methods removes many of the heavy metals, and impurities that you can find in city drinking water from Auburn to Huntsville and all over. What happens when you use tap water is that you are putting nitrates and phosphates back into the water and its nothing but fertilizer for photosynthetic algeas, sometimes these algeas can use the PO4 and NH3 up and your test kits can fool you by showing that they are low or even zero. But low and behold here comes the tap water to feed the bad algeas again. ]
Now someone might suggest using Macro algeas or Plants in your main tank, and that tap water is fine. While it may be true that macro algea's (what they call plants) can use up some of these nitrates and phosphates they will still be contained in the plants and can be released by them as well. Plants tend to root to the rocks and substrate and can cause problems in the display tank.
There are a very small few that can safly get away with using tap water, but for the most part using tap water is just borrowing trouble.
Thomas
ophiura
Active Member
Originally posted by Thomas712
Now someone might suggest using Macro algeas or Plants in your main tank, and that tap water is fine.
Thomas, who on earth would suggest such a thing????
Don't forget silicates, which can also come in through tap water and cause trouble.
I really think that the money saved on not going with RO water (either by getting a unit or buying from the store) will be thrown into energy and products to try and combat the algae. So there is a definite trade off. It is not just another thing to spend money on in this hobby....there are shortcuts elsewhere that can save money but the quality of the water going in is fundamental, IMO.
fishkiller
Active Member
I found that distilled water is almost worse than tap as far as phosphates go.........
jugger
Member
well i live in colorado and the water where i live is not bad.... O ppm PO4 and 0 nitates.... i guess im lucky.... i would like to have a filter system in the future but iright now everything is healthy and happy.... so untill then ill have to keep using tap water.... but who knows what else is in the water that i cant test for??? .....i wouldnt suggest it to anyone else espeacially if you have alge problems
bonermeister
Member
Yes.