wow! algea bloom

[thisanthrope]

I cycled my tank for two months with the hood light off. I just stocked the tank with some blue leg crabs, emerald crab, green star polyp, and yellow polyps. so the hood light has been on for 10 hour intervals for three days now. I have been changing 1 gal of distilled water a week for a 10 gal tank. I have algea all over the place.

is the distilled water I bought at the grocery store not distilled?

what should I do?

 

[two11devan]

The distilled water should be working....give it some time...as long as you are using the distilled water and not tap water....you should be able to get it under control

 

[reefrunner69]

Once the tank was cycled...did you do a large water change? Cycling builds lots of nutrients in the system, if you didn't do a water change, the the alagae bloom would be expected.

Rather than distilled water, you should try to use RO or RO/DI water. These are more pure than distilled and most distilled water is distilled using copper tubing, which can leach into the water.

What kind of algae is it? Is it a rust/brown colored dusty algae?

 

[two11devan]

After i cycled my tank using tap water, I got a brown algea bloom....the only water I had available to me at the time was distilled water. I used that for a few water changes and it cleared up nicely....i might have gotten lucky there, but now that I have found a source of RO/DI water....I will be using that exclusively

 

[thisanthrope]

only a one gallon water change before I added livestock. yeah its rust looking algea all over the place. whooey. I will continue with a another water change and switch to RO.

whats the shelf life of RO water if a few gallons sat around for awhile awaiting the next water change? and I also neglected to mention theres about 15 pounds LR, LS, and I leave a small protien skimmer running.

 

[reefrunner69]

whats the shelf life of RO water if a few gallons sat around for awhile awaiting the next water change?

Mine site for upto a week or two before I use it, just store it in a dark place to prevent algae and bacteria blooms.