Water Question

[NeedBiggerTank]

For about 8 months now, we've been using RO/DI and pre-mixed salt water from a LFS. There has been no real change in our hair algae situation. At this point, I can only assume that our previous water source was not what was causing the hair algae to grow.

My question is, is it really necessary to continue w/ the purchased water?

 

[Dowtish]

My question is, is it really necessary to continue w/ the purchased water?

As opposed to what? Using tap?

 

[SmyrnaReefer]

Other than water changes... What have you done to eliminate the hair algae?

 

[Bishop]

what other source of water are we talking about? If you are wanting to use tap water then test the nitrates and phosphates. It would also be a good idea to goto the water company and get a copy of what all is in the water. If you have your own RO/DI unit then this is your best option.

 

[NeedBiggerTank]

Dowtish - yes, the question is why not go back to our tap water if using the purchased RO/DI has made no change in the hair algae.

Jay - we've tried:

1) reducing the light cycle
2) replacing our T5 bulbs
3) upgraded our skimmer
4) added a sump (stopped using the Eheim 2217)
5) stopped using liquid foods
6) reduced feedings overall
7) increased our clean-up crew
8) dosed Vodka
9) dosed AZ-NO
10) increased ciculation
11) Added a refugium (has chaeto and other macro algae)
12) changed our salt mix
13) chaned to RO/DI and pre-mixed salt water purchased at LFS
14) added DiNitrate media to Eheim (now sump)
15) switched from carbon to Renew
16) tried both vacuuming the sand bed and leaving it alone
17) Added more live rock
18) Added phosguard (not using right now)
19) Tried Chemi-Pure Elite (running this now)
20) Bout some algae fix but have been scared to use it
21) probably other things I'm forgetting about!

Not necessarily in that order.

PS we don't have city water - well, we do but not at the house. We have well water - 0 nitrates, 0 phosphates, limestone aquafer, no agriculture within drainage area to well.

 

[Troylee]

Well most likely if you were using tap water in the beginning your rocks became bound with po4 causing it to leach over time it will eventually burn out... If you use tap water it will never go away fwiw... hth

 

[New Wave]

Try adding a cole tang... Those buggers are awesome algae eaters... But I agree... You have a po4 source somewhere... If it is leaching... Cole tang will buy your time... Keep with rodi... Test for po4... The club has a VERY accurate test for you to use

-mel

 

[New Wave]

Also... Didn't see GFO on your list... GFO in a liquified reactor is awesome at removing po4... Some argue a little too aggressively... Or others might suggest echobak... (sp)?

 

[poolkeeper1]

Buying Water anywhere is risky as to how often they service their RODI in the course of making water! If it is not serviced as needed you may be wasting your money, Buying a RODI is a solid investment and then you know when it's serviced and the quality of the water your using.
Sometime their is so much Po4 that it takes more than just time to remove it from your rock, It may require Cooking the Rock to remove the source of Po4 more quickly. If not this can take a long time to run it's course naturally. JMO
Bill

 

[commonstranger]

After I read the statemetns of the cures youve tried with no success I thought it was probably what original rock you started with. After reading everyone elses statement Id say we are right. Id really buy a RODI unit and make sure you have a TDS Meter (Total Dissolved Solvents) when it starts reading anything over 0 on the out line I would replace my fliters. I would also add a second DI chamber when you get one. Best of luck !

 

[mixer911]

I second what Troylee and commonstranger say. It has to be P04 leaching from your rock, that why the Hair algae is growing on it. Where did the rock come from. It is was LR, how was it cured?

Also what is ment by "At this point, I can only assume that our previous water source was not what was causing the hair algae to grow." what was your previous water source?

 

[VegasRick]

In addition to what was said above about phosphates bonding with the rock, if you are using a ca carb based sand it is probably bound up in your sand as well.
I don't know of any place that has tap water that is low enough in nutrients and toxins that I would consider reef tank usable. On top of that if you buy your water you are at the mercy of who ever maintains their rodi system.
Are there any corals left alive in your system?
1) Invest in a rodi unit
2) Buy a large container of gfo and use half of what is recommended in a reactor and change it out every 2-3 days.
3) you can speed up the process by removing and throwing away your sand. Once you get levels back where you want them, you can add new sand back.
4) Remove the algae covered rocks and scrub them with a tooth brush in a 5gallon bucket

Follow those 4 simple steps and will see major improvement in 4 weeks, skip just one and you will increase the time to see results by 2-10x

 

[rcmike]

This tank was done with well water.

 

[poolkeeper1]

This tank was done with well water.

Your water is the exception not the rule in as far as Quality water from other than RODI JMO Others do not have the same quality well water you do and can turn a tank into an algae farm with tap water.
Bill

 

[NeedBiggerTank]

• all rock came from AC - some base rock, some Caribbean Live rock. The Carribean rock isn't "cured". Its taken directly from the ocean, packed in salt water from the ocean, shipped to AC and put directly into a saltwater tank. There was no die-off when I bought these rocks. Base rock (from the base rock salt water tank, not dry rock) was clean (no gray dieing stuff, good smell), but as someone pointed out to me recently, could have come from anywhere.
• all purchasd pre-mixed salt water and RO/DI also comes from AC
• all sand was "new", live sand. CarrabSea brand I believe.
• I'm on a well, not city water. Well water tests 0 for nitrate, phosphate, nitrate, amonia & copper (using SeaChem/Salafert tests). I will take a sample to have it tested next week for all substances. Its VERY hard water. Worked great with my Tanganykian Cichlid tank - never had any issues.
• RO/DI isn't possible on our well water, as it would go through resin/filters at a rate that would be extremely costly. I have a TDS meter. TDS reading of our well water is too high, due to the dissolved calcium, minerals, etc. No need for me to say how high it is - lets just say I hold the current club record for a TDS reading! LOL
• uhm - all my corals are alive. LOL Here is a recent pic of my Eagle Eye colony:

What doesn't make sense to me is, if we started with the same sand and most of the rock at the beginning (Oct 1, 2009), why did the algae not show up until last summer? If the rocks were already saturated with phosphates, why wouldn't the algea have shown up sooner? If my well water tests 0 for phosphates (with three different test kits), how could the rock get saturated with phosphates from the well water? Could just some bad base rock be the cause?

Likewise, if we scrub all the algae off the rocks, rinse them in salt water, put them back (so there isn't any algae in the display at all), why doesn't the phosphate level go up prior to the algae's reappearance? We've done this three times... phosphate levels never climb. Club hanna checker tested phosphorus at .13 ppb = which is right in line with my Seachem test that says my phosphate is .35ppm - .50ppm. The instructions on the hanna checker say to triple the reading to get the phosphate reading from the phosphorus reading the checker displays.

The only tank parameter that we have not been able to get under control is the nitrate reading, which is currently 20ppm. We are using Chemipure Elite, which has ferric oxide in it, instead of running Phosgaurd. I had come to the conclusion that we'd have to tear the entire tank down and throw away all the rock and sand and start over. We don't have the funds to do this right now. Like I have said, I've gotten so accustomed to it - it looks ugly, but it doesn't hurt anything (and no, its not so bad that its killing my corals). I have no other types of nucience algaes - no diatoms, no brown algae, no red slime - nada. Actually I'm more worried about the nitrate reading refusing to budge - we need to address that.

Thanks for all the suggestions though. I will have our water tested. If the test comes back with nothing harmful/undesireable, we'll go back to the well water. Then we can use the money we save not buying water to replace all the rock/sand.

 

[gmoney243]

You could use an algae turf scrubber.. many people have had success removing all algae from system along with nitrates which is feeding ur algae

 

[VegasRick]

I am on well water too. Local water here is 500 plus tds, well is only 115ish. There is a way to get ro/di system to work even with high co2 in the well. If you really want to know about it pm me
You algae problem doesn't look as bad as some I've seen. Has the situation improved with all the changes or just stayed the same?
Phosphates will bond with the ca carb in the rock and sand. It eventually reaches an equilibrium with the surrounding water. When phosphates are higher in the water it soaks it up, when the level in the water is lower it releases. Works just like gfo only the bond is weaker. It probably just accumulated it for the first year and eventually reached levels that would sustain hair algae growth

 

[poolkeeper1]

A Algae Turf Scrubber is very easy to make and are effective at removing the algae from the display to the scrubber as it makes a desirable enviorment for the Algae to grow. Thus freeing your tank of this problem and moving it to the scrubber. It like any solution will take time but it just may solve the problem.
Bill