Why Ro Water Is Good For You And Your Tank

[Lynden]

Hello, some of you may remember my recent tank crash.

But anyways, putting the past behind, the tank is cycled now, phosphate is 0.2, ammonia is trace, nitrite is trace, and all other parameters tested for are in a good range, except for nitrate, which is 40. So I bought my first pieces of livestock after the crash: a carpet anemone, a goniopora, a sea apple, and a blacktip reef shark egg!

No, I lied on that one. I am awaiting the lowering of nitrate; I put bioballs in the filter to cycle the tank quickly, and when things were good, I took 'em out.

However, there remains The Green Fog. Around the time when nitrites were rapidly diminishing, the tank was acutely shouded with a horrendously thick cloudiness, which is green, and it severly restricts visibility in the tank, to about 6''.

I did a 30% water change, but to my frustration, ammonia and nitrite rose to around 2 ppm each. But within a day, they went back down to 0.1 ppm each. I did a master test on the tapwater, like I have done before, and all values were excellent. So, where did the ammonia come from? Perhaps a residue was left after removing chloramine from the tap water? If so, why didn't it kill the fish before?

But there still remains the green fog. If everything except for nitrate is in the good range, why is this fog showing up? Also, I noticed a reduction in diatoms after the fog began to persist.

Any help would be appreciated!
-Lynden

 

[SkiFletch]

No idea what your fog is, but I can come to some conclusions as to what its properties are and what it might be. It's definitely photosynthetic as it fixes ammonia and nitrates very quickly and out-competes diatomaceous algae for nutrients. The water change you did probably introduced a chemical which created dieoff of whatever the green stuff is. That fueled an ammonia decomposition reaction which was ultimately converted by the living green fog. Have you tried protein skimming, UV, or Ozone sterlization? Could be a type of phytoplankton or other water-borne algae that might be killed or removed by the above

 

[Lynden]

I believe it is an agal bloom. It looks like algae, and does seem to assimilate some of the nutrients present in the water. However, there is a living vertebrate in the tank; a balloon molly, which regularly picks of the diatom growth from a 6'' radius. All of the diatomaceous growth ouside of this proximity is virtually unscathed.

However, I wouldn't say that the algae assimilated the majority of the nitrogenous compounds- I would imagine that the bacteria did most of this; the biggest reason I did a water change in the first place was because my carbonate hardness and pH were a little low.

I'll check parameters tommorrow again - as always - and post if the results differ from today's parameters. I did a topoff today, with RO water that contained a little ozone. Should kill those little buggers off quite a bit.
And tomorrow I am going to another town to a pet store which has a fairly less incompetent marine section than my pet store, and I will try to "stock up" on equipment and the like. I would love to get a UV sterilizer but I really doubt they will have one...

Oh, and thanks for the reply, buddy.
-Lynden

 

[Mr Miagi]

You use tap water dont you? May pay to try RO water, even if you dont actually buy a unit, just buy some water from an LFS and see how you go.

 

[crazyelece]

It sounds like a free floating algea to me. The best way to deal with it if it is, is a UV steralizer.

 

[Great Lakes]

Lights off, cover tank for two days......You have an algae bloom and the dark will destroy it. But you will have to have a way to help export the dieoff such as heavy skimming or some good temporary mechanical filtration. Then reindtroduce the lighting at a gradual pace.

I had this very same bloom once. Until one experiences it...shudder...you can't believe it. My tank looked like pea soup at the worst of it.

The dark and heavy layers of floss in my wet/dry box did the trick.

GL

 

[SkiFletch]

However, I wouldn't say that the algae assimilated the majority of the nitrogenous compounds- I would imagine that the bacteria did most of this; the biggest reason I did a water change in the first place was because my carbonate hardness and pH were a little low.

At the risk of nitpicking, I have to disagree. Most plants and algaes have the ability to use both ammonia and nitrate as nutrient sources. Usually in an ecosystem like our tanks, if one plant/algae is able to use ammonia/nitrates faster than the other, it will bloom quickly and cause a reduction of all other "slower" species. Some algaes like you describe can even out-compete bacteria in their ability to use nitrogenous waste. You mentioned that the cloud got thicker and bigger in conjunction with nitrates dropping and that within a day, 2ppm of ammonia were removed also with the green cloud. Pretty clear indications to me at least that the algae did the job

Have you tested for phosphates in the tank at all? You might not see any now since the algae rules over your tank, but that also may have been a chemical cause of the initial bloom.

 

[Matthew5664]

It could have been Phytoplankton that caused the GREEN FOG, then when all the food run out it crash causing the rise in NH ???

 

[Lynden]

I did a topoff today, with RO water that contained a little ozone.

I am trying RO water; problem is, the manager at my pet store probably doesn't even know what reverse osmosis is. I will try to get it from my local grocery store. I tested the parameters of the water, being the non-trusting person that I can be, and found that the pH was over 7.0. But Gh and Kh were both zip, as was the case with nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, calcium and iron.

At the risk of nitpicking, I have to disagree. Most plants and algaes have the ability to use both ammonia and nitrate as nutrient sources. Usually in an ecosystem like our tanks, if one plant/algae is able to use ammonia/nitrates faster than the other, it will bloom quickly and cause a reduction of all other "slower" species. Some algaes like you describe can even out-compete bacteria in their ability to use nitrogenous waste. You mentioned that the cloud got thicker and bigger in conjunction with nitrates dropping and that within a day, 2ppm of ammonia were removed also with the green cloud. Pretty clear indications to me at least that the algae did the job

Sounds plausible, but I did find evidence of bacterial activity, the pH dropped somewhat, and nitrates built up. Phosphate is rather low, but nitrate is still very high. If the algae truly did rule the tank, then wouldn't it have used all of the nitrates, or at least cause a noticable reduction? All of the other nutrients that I tested for are at trace levels or undetectable, such as in the case of chelated iron.

Lights off, cover tank for two days......You have an algae bloom and the dark will destroy it. But you will have to have a way to help export the dieoff such as heavy skimming or some good temporary mechanical filtration. Then reindtroduce the lighting at a gradual pace.

I had this very same bloom once. Until one experiences it...shudder...you can't believe it. My tank looked like pea soup at the worst of it.

Will try. Problem is, I don't have a skimmer I suppose I could try to put some sponges or something in the filters.

And yes, the intensity of the bloom is terrifying! sama: It turns the entire room green, and I can't see past 6'' in the water. Ridiculous. Why do they even start? The blooms seem quite random.

Thanks,
-Lynden

 

[crazyelece]

I am trying RO water; problem is, the manager at my pet store probably doesn't even know what reverse osmosis is. I will try to get it from my local grocery store. I tested the parameters of the water, being the non-trusting person that I can be, and found that the pH was over 7.0. But Gh and Kh were both zip, as was the case with nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, calcium and iron.

You really can't test the Ph of RO water very well as all of the buffering agents have been removed from the water and the Ph can swing fairly far very quickly. With fresh water you would have to mix RO with tap water or other buffer agents to keep it stable. With salt water the salt mix adds buffers back into the water and then the live rock and aggronite substrates continue buffering the Ph in the tank.

 

[SkiFletch]

How high are your nitrates? 20, 30, more less? Sometimes floating algaes like you're describing prefer to fix ammonia and phosphate before they try to use nitrate, and some even prefer silicates. You'd be surprised what they can do with a measely 1ppm of phosphate Its kinda tough to point the finger on what caused the bloom, now its all about maintaining low fuel levels and managing it.

The best way to see how "pure" a water source is with a TDS (total dissolved solvents) meter. It measures solutes dissolved in water in ppm. Usually tapwater is laiden 100+ppm of solutes. RO water usually comes out at 3-5ppm and RO units with a DI cartridge will come in at 0-1ppm.

 

[Lynden]

My nitrates are 40

How much does a TDS meter cost?

-Lynden

 

[crazyelece]

Mine cost $50 US and is a dual meter. It is placed inline on my RO system so I can monitor input and output tds. This way I know when I need to replace my DI resin and I know if the water company added a bunch of crap if the input spikes. I have had input readings ranging from 190-400ppm. Outputs ranged from 10-20ppm before I added a DI filter and 0-1ppm after I added the DI filter.

As far as portable tds meters I think fosters and smith have them and I see them on ebay fairly often. I think you need to calibrate handhelds from time to time so you may need to look into that. The inline one I have is calibrated at the factory to a certain orientation and then never moves so it doesn't need calibrated after.

 

[SkiFletch]

I have a handheld portable. Got it cheap off fleabay . I'm sure its not perfectly sensetive but it definitely tells me when its time to change my DI cartridge or clean my RO membrane. Thats really all I need to know

 

[Lynden]

Sounds good. Will try to get one as soon as I get my hands on some money!

Today I bought a used UV sterilizer. I set it up, it works fine, but I should probably change the bulb soon, considering it's used.

However its the old kind, though. The UV, uh, "contact time", is not the longest. The bulb is a 18 watt T-8, which I understand is a little higher than normal, s I figure they should compensate for each other. Is that statement painfully wrong? Or am I okay?

Anyways, thanks for the help so far, guys.
-Lynden