Green algea....how do I get rid of it

[pearsont74]

This is spreading over my sand bed...I have moved my 3 PH and no change...what will eat this stuff....
I cant really suck it up without getting alot of sand so will a water change really do anything. I top off with ro/di water and I have also cut back on my lighting but no change

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/felixx/tank.html

its the 2nd pic

 

[Royal Gramma]

Image is broken for me

 

[pearsont74]

urrg.....cant upload and it seems everytime i use a url image its doesnt work....frustratin

 

[Devilishturtles]

Test your water for phosphates. Also, can you give a nitrate reading? How many hours a day are your lights on, and how old are the bulbs?

 

[pearsont74]

yeah...i need to run a test....will do this evening
bulbs are less then 3 mths old and i have them on about 10 hr
ill try to get the pics working

 

[SLACkra]

i would start doing water changes with ro water too. since buying a ro filter i have noticed a dramatic change in teh amount of algae. also there are several species of gobies that will sift through the sand which will keep it looking cleaner as they mix it up as they forage for food.

andrew

 

[seaham358]

A pic would help. Test for PO4 in your tank and the ro/di water that u use to top off. If the resin is old or the PO4 level is very high in your tap water it may be passing through the filter. You should siphon as much as you can out when you do a WC, I did and it helped/made the tank look better. It took me several water changes and using a phosban reactor to rid my tank of cyno. There are no critter that I know of that eat cyno, I tried every critter that they say eats it, crabs, snails and nothing touched it. Only through getting all new filters for my ro/di and running phosban did I get rid of it. Good luck... First step, testing tank and top off water..

 

[pearsont74]

let me give more info....maybe to help
my ro/di filter is less then 3 mths old
but as i was doing a cleaning and all this weekend i found out that my PS wasnt working at full cause a dumb suction cup got stuck in the mag pump intake...so it probably wasnt running for at least 2 weeks
i will do a few water changes and see if that helps. thanks

 

[pearsont74]

see the link above....i stuck it on my home website....guess i need to just stick them there

 

[seaham358]

3 months is fine for most filters but if you have bad water your resin can burn out quickly. How much water have you made? Do you have a TDS meter and PO4 test kit? I would check for PO4 still. My resin would burn out quick and I would have to change out my resin after about 200 gallons. My buddy has a TDS of over 700 and he would burn through resin really fast.
I now run a dual DI and a booster pump which helps my resin and water quality last longer.
If your water has PO4 then doing a WC will only feed the problem... IMO you need to test for PO4 to be on the safe side.

 

[pearsont74]

ok...will do
need to get one LOL
i do have a TDS tester but havent tested

 

[seaham358]

TDS meters are nice, but you need to test for po4 also. The TDS will show you when your filters are starting to fail. You want 0 on the TDS, but I run mine most time till I hit a 10-14. I test the water to make sure no PO4 or nitrates are getting through. The number is total disolved solids and there is not way to tell if there good or bad solids unless you have the water tested. Is the pic the one under the clowns? If so it looks like cyno to me...

 

[pearsont74]

yes...and i thougth cyno was red

 

[seaham358]

it can be red, maroon or green. My last batch of cyno was red and a bright neon green, it looked very cool.