Tank Overtaken with Algae

tervman

tervman

Member
I am at my wits in. I have a 3yo tank. It has two fish in it, and I am very careful about how much I feed them. I started using an RO filter, for my water, some time back. The tank gets no sunlight, and the lights are on only when I am home in the evening.
Nevertheless, my LR, pumps, etc, are covered in green algae, and it makes the whole tank look horrible. I tried brushing it off, but it keeps growing.
Any idea what I can do to get rid of this stuff?
 
fbm

fbm

Active Member
For starters are you just using RO water or RO/DI. My RO water had a TDS of 11 and I think it was do to phosphates (hard to filter out with just RO). Added a DI filter and output water is 0 TDS and now my algea problem is going away.
 
tervman

tervman

Member
Originally Posted by fbm
For starters are you just using RO water or RO/DI. My RO water had a TDS of 11 and I think it was do to phosphates (hard to filter out with just RO). Added a DI filter and output water is 0 TDS and now my algea problem is going away.
RO/DI....
 
getfooled

getfooled

Member
What type of lights are you using? Do you change them ever so often?
Lawnmower Blenny loves algae.
Do you have a DI filter added to your RO?
 
gmidd

gmidd

Member
I pulled this from About.com (you can just do a seach for "green algea")....
"The cure for Green Hair Algae is the same as the prevention: Starve it into oblivion. Green Hair Algae require not only light, but also nitrates and phosphates in order to survive.
Nitrates can be introduced into an aquarium not only as the end product of the Nitrogen Cycling Process
(ammonia/nitrite/nitrate), but also via some brands of commercial sea salts and tap water.
Test your tank water for nitrates and Phosphates.
If you have Green Hair Algae in your tank, your phosphates should read well above .05 mg/L., which is considered by many to be the lowest level at which Green Hair Algae will grow. The most common source of phosphates in an aquarium is from the FW used for top offs and water changes. In this case, doing water changes to reduce phosphates will only continue the problem unless the water source is changed. There are two basic methods of reducing phosphates in your tank.
Use only RO or RO/DI water whether you purchase an RO/DI unit or purchase RO/DI water from a commercial source. (Recommended)
Purchase and use a good "nitrate sponge". Many of the nitrate absorbing materials also absorb phosphates.
Use Mangrove Plants in your system to reduce phosphates.
Nitrates will always be something to contend with in your tank. For fast, immediate reduction, you can do a water change, using the Instant Nitrate Reduction Method. This will reduce your nitrates at the fastest rate, using the least amount of time and water. This will also get your nitrates down to a workable (10 mg/L area) level but it is only a Bandaid and does nothing to remove the source of the nitrates. Siphon out as much of the Green Hair Algae as possible. You will probably find that you will have to use several other methods (many of which are part of a good Aquarium Maintenance Routine) to keep your nitrates in check.
By reducing the nitrate and phosphate levels in your tank, you will soon be healthy and free of the Green Hair Algae. Many of your tank occupants (corals and other invertebrates) will also benefit from the reduced levels."
 
judyk

judyk

Member
I had the same problem on a 3 year old tank. I tried all recommended methods and the only thing that seems to be working is a phospate reactor I added a few weeks ago.
 
tervman

tervman

Member
Originally Posted by JudyK
I had the same problem on a 3 year old tank. I tried all recommended methods and the only thing that seems to be working is a phospate reactor I added a few weeks ago.
Just curious....did you put the phospate media in a bag, before putting it into the reactor, or did you add it loose? I read a couple of articles on Phosphate Reactors, and it APPEARS they were talking about putting the media in without the bag, to increase the water flow through the media.
 
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