black(grey) algae

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tiredfish

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jan 2, 2004
Messages
149
Location
des moines, ioway
this is in my girlies tank. its only 10 gall in the bedroom.just wondering if its bad. it showed up after maybe 6 months of being setup.thanx for looking
 
Looks like a variation of cyanobacteria. It comes in many colors. Typically caused by PO4 but once started can be fueled by many sources. Eliminating the PO4 will usually rid the cyano. What is your water source?

Cheers
Steve
 
currently our water source has been from a bottling company called crystal clear bottled drinking water test to be pure supposibly, from right here in des moines.my fish store here has been also having problems with high nitrate levels and such with just straight tap but they use a ro unit. they also have the same color of algae's in some of their smaller tanks. this just showed up like 4 days ago and we immediatly did a water change.any ideas? maybe a filter that could remove metals and phosphates? thanx for the quick reply :)
 
tiredfish said:
currently our water source has been from a bottling company called crystal clear bottled drinking water test to be pure supposibly, from right here in des moines.
RO, Spring or distilled? Even though a certified drinking water, many sources of PO4 are actually not harmful to humans and generally not tested for. Unless the water is guaranteed RO or distilled, you will have an issue with PO4. A water test of your source and tank water will easily confirm that.

It's not just water but it's typically the main cause. Foods can also be large contributors, especially dried foods.

they also have the same color of algae's in some of their smaller tanks. this just showed up like 4 days ago and we immediatly did a water change.any ideas? maybe a filter that could remove metals and phosphates?
A non-aloe water conditioner and carbon will help with any metal contamination easily enough. PO4 is a different issue. A non-aluminum PO4 granular sponge or a polyfilter will help eliminate it from the tank. The best way to be rid of it is not to introduce it. If using a good RO water, increasing the frequency of water changes will help "dilute" the problem. It will eventually crash if so.

Cheers
Steve
 
well it seems that it's prolly just tap water that been ozonized it seys that its ozonized on the container and not spring or distilled. and we DO use dry foods like freeze dried jumbo shrimps and some tetra flake food but we dont use enough i would think to cause this. we only have 2 tiny fish. maybe we just waited to long for a water change. it would be nice to have ro unit just dont know that much about them. where and how to hook it up.ive been reading other post but im still searching for all the info i need in one place. maybe you can give me a link or something of use
 
tiredfish said:
.ive been reading other post but im still searching for all the info i need in one place. maybe you can give me a link or something of use
What info in particular where you looking for?

Cheers
Steve
 
a good ro unit of some kind. i have a friend that works for rainsoft and he's been tryin' to sell me one for our house.pretty cheap i think. but not for sure.than :) x
 
Just to go back to the cyano, you could also increase the waterflow to those particular areas and see if that helps.

Also, check out ebay for good deals on RO units.
 
By far one of the best usints you can get is from AquaFX. They are a sponsor here so you might want to post a question in their sponsor forum or PM them to see what they can make available. For that matter some of the other sponsors as well. E-bay definately has some great deals as Atari recommended.

Cheers
Steve
 
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