Anyone have algae issues with tap water?

[HookedOnFishh]

I have a low tech planted tank. Doesn't get sunlight and is not over fed. The plants do amazing and grow like crazy!! But, there is one issue I am not allowed to use RoDi water for my tanks because the bill for the filters was to high. Now I use tap water. Ever since I have gotten the stinken common brown algae on plants on the glass everywhere! Is there any way to combat this without using RoDi water? I am tearing this tank down and making it better soon...

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate don't have a test for that

 

[Bert2oo1]

How long have u been running your lights for? Also do u water change weekly? Tap water shouldn't have any effect
Do u dose any water conditioner like prime?

From Tom Barr
Many people feel tap is unsuitable for plants, this is simply not true. Old myths still abound claiming excess PO4 in tap water causes algae, this has clearly been shown by many hobbyist to be patently false. The tap water has nutrients in it, then you do not have to dose these nearly as much, this is actually a good thing! Why take something out and then add it back again?

 

[Brookster123]

It could be diatoms from an excess of silicates, if the tap is loaded with crap like nitrates than it could cause an issue.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[HookedOnFishh]

How long have u been running your lights for? Also do u water change weekly? Tap water shouldn't have any effect
Do u dose any water conditioner like prime?

From Tom Barr
Many people feel tap is unsuitable for plants, this is simply not true. Old myths still abound claiming excess PO4 in tap water causes algae, this has clearly been shown by many hobbyist to be patently false. The tap water has nutrients in it, then you do not have to dose these nearly as much, this is actually a good thing! Why take something out and then add it back again?

- I do a water change weekly
- I do not add prime or any water conditioner
- run lights form 3:00 - 10:00ish

 

[HookedOnFishh]

It could be diatoms from an excess of silicates, if the tap is loaded with crap like nitrates than it could cause an issue.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Aquarium Advice mobile app

How could I get rid of these silicates?

 

[Bert2oo1]

Id say it's more likely that u have shocked the system by adding the tap water. Going from RO water with nothing in it to going to tap water with some chemicals etc in it would throw off your water chemistry abit. Id use water conditioner if your using tap water just to get rid of any chlorine etc.
Your tank should get used to it I'd say. Drop your lighting Intensity and duration back by 2 hours for a few weeks or so and clean off as much as u can.

Also I'd be double dosing excel aswell.

It may take. While for your tank to rebalance but it will eventually and the diatoms will disappear by themselves.

I've always used tap water in all my tanks with no issues.

 

[HookedOnFishh]

Ok thanks! For your planted tanks (off the topic a little bit) what lights do you use and recommend? I am Turing my 72 gal into a planted tank. It is 20inches deep and am wondering what lights would work for growing plants.

 

[Bert2oo1]

I'm in Aus so I used makemyled. They can make any light u need (they work it out on your tank depth)

I see a lot of people using finnex planted plus's and they love them but I'm not sure if they work for your depth?

Caliban is from the uk and he just found a really good cheap fixture. If your from the uk u can check out his 85l thread.

Hope this helped

 

[HookedOnFishh]

I'll check them out

 

[HookedOnFishh]

I feel like there's many more
People in the hobby in the U.K. And Aus than the Us