Filtering out phosphates

[JamesMJ2]

I have been fighting a losing battle for the past couple weeks. I can't seem to shake this green water. I will have it cured(or so I think) then the second I open the tank to light it comes right back. Here is what I have been doing thus far. 5% water changes everyday, 25% every two weeks,and absolutly no light in the tank for a week. Feeding every two days. This usually clears up the water, then I'll service my can. filter. After this regimen of tricks I open up the tank and BAM green again in two days. Here's the basic set up of the 46gal bow front. I have 5 plants 2 Baby Tears 1 Anachris 1 Micro-sword 1 Amazon sword. All my fish are in my sig, as well as my equipment. I have the light on a timer it turns on @ 12pm and off @ 10pm. I have been fertilizing with Seachem flourish 2ml once a week. I have a hagen CO2 unit and my water parameters are KH=4 GH=3 pH=7.0 ammonia 0ppm Nitrites 0ppm. Given all of this the only thing I can think of thats causing these blooms is phosphates. Maybe I am wrong though, I thought that it would be worth trying though. If anyone has a filtering media that removes phosphates I would love to hear it.

 

[Galerius]

I've been having the same problem, but with Black Beard Algae. So, I went to the LFS for a Phosphate test kit, and yep, my readings were *off* the scale (top reading was a 5.0). I immediately performed a 50 percent water change, gave the tank about 2 hours, and re-tested; still, my readings were off the scale and my Nitrates were untraceable - a perfect scenario for algae.

I purchased SeaChem's PhosGuard and placed it as instructed into my Emperor 280 on Christmas Eve. I then cleaned all algae off the glass, and literally cut and pulled it off of my plants. Also, I reduced my lighting from 10 hours a day to about 4 hours (an hour in the morning, 2 at midday, 1 in th evening - on a multiset timer).

Five days later, I re-tested and now my readings are somewhere between 2.5-5.0; still too high, but at least on the scale. There is no new algae appearing on either the glass or on the plants. I'll be performing my weekly 20% water change this evening, and I'll re-test in 4 more days, and let you know how the PhosGuard is working.

Once the phosphates are under control, I will be adding Flourish Nitrogen to my tank to give it the added non-toxic nitrates and ammonium that my plants need to use up the remaining "extra" phosphates.

I'll keep you posted on how this goes.

 

[fishluvr]

About a week ago, I had a bad case of green water. I came right after adding a full (recommended) dose of Seachem Flourish (the first full dose since setting up the tank...was a little overkill).

To fix the problem, I did a 50% water change, disconnected half of my lights (went from 384 to 192 watts on a 120 gal tank), continued to run the remaining lights for 11 hours a day, and stopped adding any ferts...The problem cleared itself up in about 4 days.

I'm guessing that I just got lucky...

I'm running without CO2 for now, so I've continued to run only half of my lights...I hope to get a CO2 system up-and-running within the next month.

 

[Guest]

James,

Don't guess. Test both your phosphates and nitrates. Algae is normally caused by a nutrient imbalance. As you have discovered unless you treat the problem you can't get rid of it.