Hello - Good to be finally here

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Pugsly

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Hi all!

Good to be finally here.

I am sure with time I will become as knowligable as you all are. Have a tank that is around a year and a half old (running) I love it, and live for it. Love doing odd changes to it now and then as sure you all do to. (Plumbing changes, lights, new equpiment etc.

Now at this point it is making me go grey, pull my hair out and scream!!!!

In about the last 3 months now I have been getting more and more and more and more!!!!!!!! (Allot more than that) Green "soft looking" hairy algea growing on my live rock, glass drop out box etc. and its getting longer and longer as each week passes.

What have I done you may ask? Well I moved the tank that was far to close to windows etc to a area that is well shielded from windows etc. I too did a 50% water change when I moved it. (Tap water that was treated and correct salt added) Tank was clean when it was refilled. Lights were cleaned, sump was cleaned. After the move of the tank was complete I installed a UV steriliser, and removed a crappy JEBO skimmer and replaced it with a Fantastic Reef octopus T2.

I have always done weekly water changes of 80l but since the problem has cropped up I do bi-weekly water changes of 80l and this is RO water I am purchasing with salt added, and the problem is not changing. Algea stays the same.

All paremeters seem good, and don't detect phosphate at all.

How now???? Where to and what to do now?

I am having an additional custome sump built to see if this will help (More water volume)

Please can you advise.

Regards,

and thanks again for having me here
 
welcome to masa


welcometomasa
 
Hello Pugsly:)

welcome to MASA its great to have established tanks come up, but better to have pasionate reefers:)

sounds like the GHA (green hair algae) is really getting to you, and it can be a real pain. I think thats what it is, but it might also be briopsis, so get us a pic and post it up here so that we can get a positive ID for you and give you the correct advice of how to create weapons of mass destruction and get that tank back to where you want it.

Why not start a tank thread under memebers tanks and post a few pics, the specs etc and then we can answer the algae question better in there.

but its great that you joined and have you posting already :)

just note that as a think tank MASA has incredible collective knowledge and we have no finacial incentive to give you advice that would be to our pocket. Thats where we differe drastically from your LFS (local fish store) as they will tell and sell you stuff that is to their advantage. So before you do any corrective measures, double check with MASA first and we can make sure that you are on the correct track:)

welcome and happy postings :)
 
Welcome Pugsly

Please post pic's of you current filtration setup, dimension of you current setup and current live stock. Maybe we can help out there. Also what salt does the LFS use in the water that you purchasing. The reason I ask this is that most LFS would use the cheapest salt and this might contain a number of nasties.
 
welcome to masa.

pics please:thumbup:
 
Thanks for the replies.
Crispin - Googled briopsis and checked out the photos of it and the green haired algea and it is without a doubt it is green haired algea. What to to now? I need that weapon of mass destruction.
I give my LFS the salt - I use SERA - have a connection with a mate of mine and get it at a great price thus I use it. So basically just pay for the RO water - tested the water I get from them to and don't get phosphate readings from it either.

I have even added some type of granular phosphate remover from KENT in the sump a month ago but nothing has changed
 
what size tank do you have, what type of skimmer? do you have a deep sand bed? etc...
 
ok here goes - tank parameters.
tank size - 2000x600x650
approx. 30kg LR
Crushed coral substrate approx. 30mm deep
Sump - 80x80x80
ReefOctopus T2 (700l)
UV steriliser
resun chiller 600l
eheim pro3e canister filter that has bio-balls, filter wool (to seperate everything) course sponge, and sera siporax and phosguard that I put in a month ago.

Having a 2nd custom sump built that will have a DSB that I will hopefully install around wednesday / thursday

Have a few mushroom corals that seem to be doing very well they open very well and have a couple of leather corals. Fish I have 3 yellow tangs, 1 velvet damsel, 3 clowns, 4 yellow tail damsels.

When I test water - PH = 8.0, water temp 24c, others like phosphate, nitrate ammonia etc is less than 0.5, so I don't know what else to do.
 
Pugsly said:
What have I done you may ask? Well I moved the tank that was far to close to windows etc to a area that is well shielded from windows etc. I too did a 50% water change when I moved it. (Tap water that was treated and correct salt added) Tank was clean when it was refilled. Lights were cleaned, sump was cleaned.
Click to expand...


Hi Pugsly, and welcome to MASA !

If I understand you correctly , you used tap water (not RO ) for the 50% waterchange.:nono:
This will certainly contribute to the problem with GHA which you are having.
Even if you "treat" the tap water to remove chloramines etc. you are still leaving behind phosphates , silicates and other nasties.
The only way to ensure "pure" water is to use RO Water .

The fact that you are not picking up phosphates when testing the water , is due to the fact that the GHA is locking in the phosphates before it has time to leach into the water. This will take some time to resolve, but basically you should do the following:

1. Continue with your bi-weekly waterchanges , making sure that the water & salt mix you are using is not adding any phosphates , nitrates or silicates to the system.

2. Manually weed the GHA from the tank , remembering to siphon off the strands. Any strands left floating in the tank will only re-attach somewhere else and keep on growing.

3. Keep your skimmer running 24/7 and clean the cup regularly.

4. Make sure that you have sufficient flow in your tank to avoid any dead-spots where detritus can settle .

5. Give your LR a good blast with a powerhead or turkeybaster every two days or so. You may be surprised by the amount of muck that has settled on your rock.

6. Invest in some good Phosphate removing compound, if you have not already done so.

7. You don't mention what type of substrate you have. Basically the finer the substrate the better. Coarse substrate can trap a considerable amount of detritus and this will not do you any favours in your war against the algae.


If you can post some pics of your setup , it would be very helpful .
 
Welcome to MASA!!
 
:welcometomasa1:Hey welcom and good luck GHA is a pain!!!
 
my substrate is crushed coral - rather coarse now that you mention it. Should I remove as much of it as possible and replace it with someting finer? That may be rather costly - any other ideas regarding the substrate problem - I do use a gravel cleaner once a week when I do the water changes.

with the flow - for my tank how much flow should I have in it? I am currently using 3 via-aqua pumps that do 2000l/hour. Any sugestions here what I should be getting? price wise what pumps or other equipment should I have in this department and that won't kill the cr. card!?!?!?!

I am getting the feeling now that many LFS has been selling me things just for the sake of it.
 
Pugsly said:
my substrate is crushed coral - rather coarse now that you mention it. Should I remove as much of it as possible and replace it with someting finer? That may be rather costly - any other ideas regarding the substrate problem - I do use a gravel cleaner once a week when I do the water changes.

with the flow - for my tank how much flow should I have in it? I am currently using 3 via-aqua pumps that do 2000l/hour. Any sugestions here what I should be getting? price wise what pumps or other equipment should I have in this department and that won't kill the cr. card!?!?!?!

I am getting the feeling now that many LFS has been selling me things just for the sake of it.
Click to expand...


Pugsly,

The crushed coral substrate may cause you some problems in the long run.
I say it may , because there are some members that do use a fairly coarse substrate with no apparent ill effects. My advice though would be to systematically start converting the crushed coral substrate to a finer substrate such as Aragonite or playsand.
Do this slowly in small steps, and it will ease the pain felt by the wallet ;)

Insofar flow is concerned , you should aim for at least 30 times water turnover in your system. Water turnover is the sum of the flow generated by the return pump (adjusted for head loss ) plus the flow from pumps in your display tank , divided by the total system volume ( Take 80% of the total system volume to account for LR displacement). Hope this makes sense :p

Like Crispin has already said : Rather check everythin with the guys on the forum. We have nothing to gain financially and you will receive unbiased advice and support.

BTW: Your phosphate readings should be undetectable by the test kit you use. Normally a reading below 0.05 is acceptable. (Scale depends on the test kit you use)
 
Pugsly said:
my substrate is crushed coral - rather coarse now that you mention it. Should I remove as much of it as possible and replace it with someting finer? That may be rather costly - any other ideas regarding the substrate problem - I do use a gravel cleaner once a week when I do the water changes.

with the flow - for my tank how much flow should I have in it? I am currently using 3 via-aqua pumps that do 2000l/hour. Any sugestions here what I should be getting? price wise what pumps or other equipment should I have in this department and that won't kill the cr. card!?!?!?!

I am getting the feeling now that many LFS has been selling me things just for the sake of it.
Click to expand...


Pugsly, I also battled until I changes substrate to playsand....just do it slowly, not all at once, theis will give the Good bacteria a chance to catch up. Reggies playsand is MUCH more affordable than crushed coral.

Aim for at least 30 x your tank volume wrt flow & try and place your powerheads to create random flow patters

Seio pumps are good value for money IMHO
 
Thanks for the speedy reply - so with my tank that has 900l volume - take away the live rock etc as you said that leaves 720l - i should be turning the water 30x so that will give me 21600l per hour? that sounds way off or do I have a calculation problem here? if not then i really don't have enought circulation in this tank. By the way where would be the best place to place the pumps in the tank? (eg. behind rocks, of on the back glass facing front of tank ect.?)

and yes, my phosphate measures 0.
Thanks again for the help
 
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