I HATE my tank

[gen]

Everytime I think I am getting the hang of this, something else goes wrong! Why do I keep getting a lot of algea on my glass and sand. Last week I put in a phosp. filter and within 24 hours it looked good within 48 it was all gone. Once I took it out it all came back again, but this time orange. My phosp. level is 0. I am wondering if it is my lighting compact with 50/50 6700k, or water I use tap. All other readings are in line.
Any suggestions.

 

[plum70rt]

test your tap water, thats a common cause of red slime algae if you have high phosphates

 

[beth]

Give some details about your set up, age, contents, water source, critters.

 

[gen]

The tank itself is setup since May of 2001, I switched to reef August 2002, I have an 85 gal flat back hex with 80lbs of LR, 2 1200 maxijets for circulation, wetdry sump, berlin turbo protein skimmer, I use tap water with Prime to take out the chlorine, 6 mexican turbo snails, 25 hermit crabs, 1 brittle star, 3 green crabs, cucumber, 2 pepermint shrimp, 2 fire shrimp, yellow tang, coral beauty, tomato clown, wrasse, bleanie, damsel, and 5 corals.
Thanks

 

[cliffrouse11bas]

It is probably your tap water get a phosphate test kit. My tap water was high in phosphates started using ro water from walmart from the time being the algae has gotten much better...

 

[j21kickster]

if you dont like it you could give it to me get off that tap water

 

[gen]

where can you buy the water? Walmart?! what is ro/di water? How about my lighting should I get a more powerful bulb.
Thanks

 

[jim672]

Gen,
RO/DI=reverse osmosis/de-ionized. You can get distilled water at most grocery stores, Walmarts, Targets, etc. Or you can get you own RO/DI unit.
If your light bulbs are old......over a year.....they may be contributing to your problem.
One other possibility: you don't mention what you have as a substrate. If you're using crushed coral and you haven't been vigilant keeping it really clean, that may be leaching phosphates back into your water.
Jim

 

[t bone]

I have crushed coral also, and I used to have a real problem with algae, especially, the brown slimy stuff.
It took about three vacuumings in one month and less food for the fish and the problem went away.
Now, I vacuum about once every 1-2 months and do not have an algae problem. I spent too much time at my LFS buying Phosphorous filters, but overfeeding was the culprit.

 

[diehard]

I agree Tap water doesnt do your tank any good. Heres an example my father n law and i setup our tanks aprox 1 week apart, i purchased a seachem R/O and he did not, well guess what, big time algea problems he has,and of course irubbed it in by saying I TOLD YOU SO ,and heres the Kicker he doesnt go out and buy his own, he comes and takes My prepared R/O when im at work...LoL
so get yourself one, or do like he does.
RobinL

 

[ntvflgirl]

But don't use distilled water. Sometimes they use copper to treat it with. If you get it at Walmart, look for "drinking water". On the label, it will say "reverse osmosis". It's about .53 per gallon. But will save you a bunch of headaches. You should also be able to buy it from your lfs for about 35 cents a gallon. But bring your own container.

 

[mbuckley]

One other thing, I know it gets expensive but I change my No bulbs every 6 months. You don't notice how much they spectrum changes until you switch the bulbs...

 

[sgt__york]

I've said this several times in the past - but i'm just sharing my experiences - and guess that's why most of us post here.
I 100% tap water will be a NEVER ENDING problem. Not even if you dechlorinate and chemically treat it.
If you don't want the huge expense of a r/o unit - the long time it takes to make water (along with the huge amt of water waste it puts off) - I would recommend a D/I filter for tap water.
I use a product by AQUARIUM PHARMACEUTICALS - a tape water purifier (d/I unit). It cost about $50 to purchase and about $25 for replacement cartridges - that make about 75-100 gal of water each (depending on the lack of quality of ur water source).
Figure $25 for 75 gal is still only $.33 per gallon - cheaper than walmart - AND you don't have to carry the stuff back/forth. It does not take long - it's made at a trickles pace - about a gal every 5-10mins.
I have never had problems using this - and water tests on it have always been wonderful. Just another option for you to ponder.
The Filter removes:
DISSOLVED MINERAL including: Calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfate, choride, carbonate, flouride
HEAVY METALS including: copper, zinc, lead, iron, cadmium, aluminum
UNDESIRABLE CONTAMINANTS including: phosphates, nitrate, ammonia, silicate, nitrite
CHLORINE AND CHLORAMINE
ORGANIC PULLUTANTS including: Insecticides, herbiides, PCB's and Pesticides
I have ONLY had an algae problem 1 time ever - and it was due to overfeeding. I was feeding my tank 2x a day or so. NOW, i feed maybe twice a week - and no algae problems. I find the fish are more productive also - eating off the back glass, the substrate, the rock, foraging for copepods, etc - isntead of just waiting for me to feed em.
Good luck - but I would defiately say #1 problem -get ride of pure tap water as a source. Many months from now - you will be telling someone else what a difference it made for you.

 

[ty@heidi]

GEN, try using reverse osmosis (R/O) water. I know that where I live you can purchace ro at supermarkets, and or local fish stores, but if its not available in your area you can purchace an RO unit on online for about 150$, and its worth ervry penny. Another suggestion is to get a few more inverts, mainly Trochus snails, and emrald crabs......maby try an Urchin tuxedo (AKA Royal urchin) are the best I've found for reef tanks. Good Luck!!!!!

 

[lordofthereef]

i ALWAYS use tap water. i have no problems with it. i never even tested it! then one day i went and bought the tap filter. what a mistake! the cartrige only lasted for like 15 gallons before it was all used up! not only that, but i had a huge algea bloom too! so i stopped using it. now to this day i use aged tap water like i always did. i also use a product by kordon. it's called "amquel". it removes chlorine and chlorimine. it works for me, so maybe it'll work for you too.

 

[gen]

Thank you all for all your help. I will try the r/o water when I go to the store. I use Prime in my tap water to take out the chemicals. I never had this problem when I had a FO tank. I thought it might be the lighting. I'll try the water first. I can always buy it when I go food shopping once a week.
Thanks again.
Gen