Algae Problems

[orange shark]

Hi all,

I've had my tank set up for 3 weeks now. CUC have been added (14 hermits, 12 astrea snails) and everything is going well. The only problem im having is that i'm getting a LOT of algae. By a lot i mean nearly enough to fill a full hair of head It seems too much for my CUC to cope with and they arenttouching some of it, how do i get rid of it and stop it from regrowing?

Thanks,

orange shark

 

[BigIan]

what type of algae is it? and whats your water stats? and also whats your lighting like?

 

[orange shark]

hair algae i think

ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 0-5
Nitrite: 0
pH: 8.4

my lightings on from 9-9 and its t5s i think

 

[Nick16]

cut the lighting down by a few hours. should help a bit? is the tank near a window which recieves sunlight?

 

[orange shark]

will 9-6 do, a bit of natural light gets to the tank

 

[Nick16]

yea that will be better. scrub the algae of the sides of the tank and try to net as much as possible and remove it. after doing this do a water change. this will help to catch any other bits floating around. lights should be on for ideally no more than 8 hours a day

 

[orange shark]

thanks, i cant do a water change yet because bleeding ro-man have screwed up my delivery and its been momre than a week and a half and i still havent got my unit yet

but as soon as i get it i will do

 

[SkiFletch]

What's your input water source?

 

[orange shark]

input water source...whats that

 

[SkiFletch]

Like, RO water, Tapwater, Raw sewage...

 

[sacramonel]

Phosphates were not listed. Chances are they are through the roof.

 

[garybuk]

yes i was going say you need to check your Phosphates ....

 

[orange shark]

its RO water

i dont have a phosphate test should i buy one?

also if they are through the roof how do i get them down (i do have phos guard in my filter)

 

[sacramonel]

Yes certainly buy one. It doesn't have to be through the roof to cause an algae outbreak. Check the parameters first. If it is high I would check your source water. If you are getting any phosphates coming out of your RO water then there is an issue with the unit. Maybe the cartridge needs replacing.

If the Phosphate level is 1 or higher then it is a certainly a RO unit issue. Less than that may be caused by some leaching of phosphate back into the water column from the live rock. A refugium typically can handle that.

 

[SkiFletch]

its RO water

i dont have a phosphate test should i buy one?

also if they are through the roof how do i get them down (i do have phos guard in my filter)

DO you have a TDS meter to check the output of your RO?