what am I missing

S

Sea-Horse

Joined
4 Feb 2012
Posts
227
Reaction score
9
Location
Gauteng
Hi Guys,

I am having the same problem repeat itself every two weeks and I am not making any progress solving the problem (see photo below). The tank has been cleaned and restarted but the end result remains the same.

The tank is started using either premixed water, tap water or RO water (I have used all three), the filtration in the tank consists of Matrix active carbon, Matrix Biomedia, Matrix Phosphate remover, a skimmer and filter sock.

The tank is started using Stability and for the first week the tank will cycle just like you would expect it to. It will start developing brown area's in the tank which I clean but then overnight for no reason it will suddenly implode into a massive brown algae bloom.

The tank has an inhabitant to help get the tank going but food is minimal. I am doing something wrong in week two because this is when the tank fails. I have considered a UV light but I have NO experience in them, Can anybody with experience in UV lights possibly help ?

Am I missing something, is there something I can add to this tank. It only happens to this tank. The plants in the tank are fake and I doubt they are leaching Silica because they are added in on day 1 ???

Any good ideas would be welcomed

Thanks
flknds.jpg
 
Normal LED lights that came standard with the aquarium, nothing very bright, also suspected that it could be the lights but they are not strong enough to feed such a strong algae bloom
 
First time I have seen anything like that.
How old is the intank equipment that you have running and do you have any equipment that is rusty?
 
Sea-Horse said:
Normal LED lights that came standard with the aquarium, nothing very bright, also suspected that it could be the lights but they are not strong enough to feed such a strong algae bloom
Click to expand...

Are these LED’s perhaps for freshwater?
 
Try running the tank without any lights. Only ambient natural light.
 
Added to my previous comment.... UV will assist but you need to find the cause of the problem..

Are you running wave makers? From my limited experience with marine, if there is no flow the bacteria can die causing what you are experiencing. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
Last edited:
Hi Guys, problem solved - will write a detailed mail and post the explanation on how I went from horror tank to clean reef in less than a day without changing the water - UV did however play a big role.
 
Hi Guys,

Still working on a reasonable easily understandable article of why my tank turned into the yellow mess it did and will post it here soon. In the interim, I have to say that the solution was an R600 UV light.

I spend hours online trying to find a solution and eventually found one lady who had the same problem and similar frequency to my outbreak. It was the only tank I saw that looked in any way similar in appearance. Luckily as an afterthought, she posted that the problem was solved by purchasing a UV Sterilizer. I had the UV sterilizer in the tank for less than 12 hours and the tank is spotless.

I know a number of aquarium owners has a problem with UV lights, I am going to join the group who add's it to the list that considers it as important as a skimmer. This was a very costly lesson easily solved with a R600 investment. Article to follow
 
Just something worth mentioning.. uv will treat the symptom, you need to find the cause as the organics produced even after killed by the uv will need to go somewhere and could present as another problem further down the line.. eager to hear the cause of this. personally my belief is with no lighting on this bloom cannot occur..
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the update Sea-Horse.

You mentioned that it was a costly lesson. Please tell us more about the effects it had on the system and if you lost any livestock etc ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom