Tank Journal Archive

[megsez]

Ok so i have been having an on going battle with hair algae sins deciding to get the tank up and running again . It was strange as i have never had an issue with it before.

I could put this down to high phosphate levels. After running rowaphos i got the level back down to near zero. I have been able to identify that phosphate is getting in via my top up water as the level wpuld clime after adding gresh water or doing a water change with synthetic sault.

Not sure how this is ooccurring as i use rain water. Only thing i can think off is debris in my guttering leaching phosphates but am open to any ones input on this. Tanks are only 3 year old also.

I tried putting an algae turf scrubber in but thats not working the best. So i have decided to purchase RO water and i have invested in a 1000L ibc and purchase NSW. Only cost $80 for a 1000L dwlivwred so works out cheaper then making it and getting it my self.

Will see if the algae starts to die off soon. If any one has any tips that would be great.

 

[Sam Parker]

wow it most certainly has taken a hold in your tank! Have you considered doing something like a Triton ICP test to see if it is just phosphate or perhaps some other heavy metal that is in your water? You might be spending your efforts on phosphate when they are not the culprit?

Either way, you will not be disappointed with a nice new IBC and pure RO, keep the water changes up and your tank should bounce back soon enough

 

[megsez]

Hi sam, yes deffinatly took hold and it did it quickly lol. Good idea about the Triton test kits.

Il see how it goes with the ro water and the NSW from the ICB. Due to having the very high phosphates and also being able to test them and prove they are higher after every time i was adding water it is hopefully the cause. We have rain water on fairly new poly tanks so i cant think of much more the phosohates getting in.

Any one know if the algae will just start to die off or will it need removal?

 

[Sam Parker]

Should die off on its own once its nutrients are removed. But it may be helped along once it is starting to break down

 

[somethingfishy76]

I've had my tank look just like yours a few years ago, my solution was implementing cheato and growing it under a blue/red light. Look into a proper refugium and the light can be bought from ebay if you are strapped for cash. BRSTV on refugiums on youtube gives great insight as to what required.

 

[megsez]

Thanks somethingfishy. I thought the same and have a large area in my sump that i put some cheato in. May be the lighting but i can't get it to grow. Its under a small T5 and it used to grow no problem but for some reason it wont. I have tried another type also and no luck thats why i got the scrubber for a shot.
Money mot an issue so if you have amy tips on maby a better light would be great.

I did a 30L change on Wednesday and will do a a larger one this weekend and keep that cycle up and see what happens also

 

[megsez]

Ok I have kept up the water changes. Did 100l today and cleaned the sump. I dont think the algae is getting better but i dont think it is getting worse.

I have started to look in to the possibility of having phosphates bound up in my live rock. Quickest way i can see to fix this is to replace most of the live rock with new live rock or new base rock. Has any one had experiance with this?

 

[Buddy]

I just removed 90% of my rock due to the same issues as you. I have a heap of matrix in my sump that keeps nitrates at 0 so I wasn't concerned about a mini cycle.
I plan to cure some rock separately to the tank and make sure it has 0 phosphate before adding back to the tank.

 

[megsez]

Ye thinking i am going to do the same. Have found a good supplier of live rock or base rock. You think pulling most of my rock out out and replaceing it with LR would be ok? Or would it be a dienoffnof the live rock and casue another crash? The rock i cam get is of the diver so will be fresh

 

[Buddy]

I would say if you are adding a large amount of live rock you will get some die off for sure, even if its fresh rock.
Getting a cycle or mini cycle will depend on how long the rock has been out of water for.

 

[ReeferRob]

The phosphates are coming in through the rain water mate, no ifs, ands or buts about it. You could try running the water through a phosphate removal resin, if that doesn't work you could try a mixed bed deionization resin cartridge and see how it does. The green haze in that tote tells me there's heaps of phosphate in that water. I collect and use rain water in my freshwater systems after I run them through a cartridge of Phosguard. When I didn't, the hair algae went crazy in my freshwater systems.

 

[megsez]

Thanks for the replies guys. Gona keep up the aggressive water changes as did another 100L on Wednesday and will do another 100 this weekend.

I was going see if the algae just died off on its own but think i will start removing it by hand. I will keep this up and if no good in a month il swap out most of my rock.

I have swapped to using RO water now to help with it all. Water comes from a trusted supplier as i dont have an RO filter my self.

Reefer rob do you know how the phosphates get in to the rain water? You mentioned you run it through phosphate remover but will an RO filter remove phosphates if i get one for home?

 

[megsez]

Ok so I have been looking in to why i struggle to grow cheato in the sump and also why the turf scrubber struggles to grow green algae and mainly produces the brown type. I currently use just a Aqua one with a T5 globe for the sump (has always worked in the past). The display has an Illumagic Blaze. So from what i under stand the algae in the display tank is thriving due the availability of much superior light vs the low quality in the sump.

I just wanted to get every one's opinion on this light for the sump. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/292624721669?rmvSB=true The light spectrum is much higher in the red for plant growth.

I normally support local stores or online Australian stores and this will be the first time i have used Ebay as I am very hesitant to spend big $$$ until i get this tank running like it used to. Obviously I will continue to carry out water changes etc and address the cause of the outbreak but this will all help.

 

[ReeferRob]

Just falling through the atmosphere will cause rain water to pick up pollutants including phosphates of one sort or another. I'd try running the phosphate media first to see how you get on.

As for the light, just be sure it has some blue light to it as well as the red light. the panels I use have 6red-1blue LED.

 

[megsez]

Just falling through the atmosphere will cause rain water to pick up pollutants including phosphates of one sort or another. I'd try running the phosphate media first to see how you get on.

As for the light, just be sure it has some blue light to it as well as the red light. the panels I use have 6red-1blue LED.

Ok sux about the rain water. The reading i have done its hard to find out if an RO filter will remove phosphates from my water. As you also said I will have to look at running the water through a media reactor with phosban in it maby. Will one pass through be enough to remove the phosphates?

The light has 166 red and 34 blue. Looks like a good clip on unit so this will hopefully give me a good idea if i need to get better light. Below is a picture of the scrubber growth

 

[ReeferRob]

A good carbon and the phosphate remover should work fine. I use Poly filters on mine as well for the freshwater for the systems. The main thing to do is pass the water over the resin at a slow rate to remove the pollutants.

 

[megsez]

Ok cool. I will start looking at setting up a reactor with phosban or something similar.

Carried out another 100L water change. Below is a progress pic. As mentiond previously i am removing some of it as I go so the improvement is not all die off. May be me just wishing but i dont think it is growing much anymore.

 

[megsez]

Ok light arrived today so looking forward to setting it up tonight.

Must say i am impressed with quality for what i paid for it. Even has AU plug on it.

 

[megsez]

Water changes are on going with the usual regularity and amounts. Algae is deffinatly not groing back any where near as fast.

Got some more clean up crew today to help the battle.

I also decided to get back in to making my own fish food. Used swordfish, prawn,squid,brine shrimp,garlic,vitamin A,nori and home grown spinach,lettuce and garlic chives. Coat me all about abou $7 and last a very long time with 2 ice cube trays.

 

[megsez]

Acan cirtanly loves the food