Hair Algae and Diatoms

[madstyle1]

wondering if its safe to take out LR out of water and scrub off Algae hair with a toothbrush? Also by taking out the LR out of the water it will give me room to siphon out all the diatoms on the sand. Any advice?

Water Paramaters as follows:
Ammonia:0ppm
Nitrite and Nitrate: both at 0ppm
PH:8.4
Phosphate .25

started off with tap water but with last water change ... I change to RO/DI

Ive been doing weekly water changes, cut back on lighting, and feed every two days.

I have 2 clowns, 10 turbo snails, and 2 emerald crabs.

 

[roka64]

You can scrub it off. I wouldn't worry about the diatoms, they will burn out quickly enough.

 

[madstyle1]

ok thanks ...i think i have found the source why it keeps coming back. everytime i change the water i never i scrub the algae on the rocks so im assuming its still being fueled by that rock. so thats the reason why i asked that question in the first place

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

It's not being fueled by the algae... it's being fueled by 0.25ppm phosphates! Scrubbing it down will help, but I'm pretty sure it'll be back. The RO/DI will obviously help, but I'd get some phosphate remover (RowaPhos, etc) in there as it'll take a while for water changes to dilute down the water.

 

[roka64]

I agree, the phosphates can be the of the hair algea. Check your phosphate level from your RO/DI water.

 

[ezy33]

IMO the phosphates will leach from the rock for several weeks. A phosphate remover is in order. RowaPhos is what I recommend, as it works for me!

 

[cmor1701d]

IMO the phosphates will leach from the rock for several weeks.!

Huh? The rocks are not the source of phosphate. Source water or food are the usual suspects.

 

[johnmaloney]

get some ceriths and be done with diatoms for ever, and still use the cheap water...kurt already busted you