Tap water and algae question.

JRistau81 · 06/07/2006, 05:09 PM

Ok well I admit it, I DO use tap water. But I am testing everything tonight (as in all the faucets) to find which tap to use for the best water. Now I am shocked and a little confused here. I do have "some" algae problems, mostly green hair algae. I assumed my tap water was loaded with phosphate and nitrate and that was what was causing my algae woes. WRONG! 0 phosphate and 0 nitrate in ALL faucets in my house. I am not making this up! ZERO! I may still get a RODI unit, but now I mainly want to discern why this algae is popping up. By the way my house does not have copper pipes so copper leaching is not a concern. Now I have had no problems with tap for 2 years at this point.

Here are the parameters of the tank (veiw my sig for info on the tank itself)
pH 8.1 (this is low due to the tap I was using but I will switch to a different one with a pH of 8.3)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium 480
Alk - normal
phosphate 0
SG 1.025
Temp 81.7
Strontium 8ppm
I am currently running a 12/12 photoperiod and will reduce it.
I do not have a fuge w/ macroalgaes but I may put some caulerpa behind one of my rock islands in the tank.

Any advice will be appreciated!

Equalizer · 06/07/2006, 05:13 PM

How often do you do water changes?

JRistau81 · 06/07/2006, 05:16 PM

Not as often as I should. It always seemed that when I did I caused more problems. By I caused them thats exactly what I mean. I sometimes knock my aquascape and spill all over the floor. In my 150 I typically do water changes about once every 2-3 months.

JRistau81 · 06/07/2006, 05:20 PM

oh and those aren't small ones. I prefer to do at least 30-40%

JRistau81 · 06/07/2006, 07:01 PM

Come on SOMEBODY has to have SOME advice!

rayjay · 06/07/2006, 07:48 PM

I use tap water and of ten systems, only one has hair algae. It's not because of the tap water, it's because of the nutrient I add to the tank and my lack of sufficient husbandry for the conditions in the tank.
I also know a lot of hobbyists who use RO DI exclusively, and a number of those have hair algae problems also.
My conclusion is that hair algae cannot be automatically blamed on using tap water, but more likely due to insufficient attention to tank conditions.
However, I also believe that many have tap water that MUST be purified before using because it is just too loaded with nutrient or contaminants of one kind or another.
You have to determine if the algae is there now because of a slow build up because your husbandry was slightly insufficient, or, have you changed something from what you used to do , that allowed present conditions to get out of hand.
You will also have to do a lot of water changes to get conditions back to the way they were before the hair appeared.
Do you feed more now than before? What additions have you made that may have increased the bioload on the tank?
Do you still do the same cleaning/water changes?
Years ago, I found that I was doing the same cleaning in each tank that I had been doing for years, even after adding more fish to the tank without thinking that in my closed systems, adding more fish meant that there would be higher demands on my biological filtration with resultant higher detritus build up (most of my sytems are bare bottom) that required a little larger or more frequent water changes than I was doing. The gradual build up meant that I had some hair problems and some cyano problems that took a lot of work to remedy.

Equalizer · 06/07/2006, 08:20 PM

You have to many nutrients in the aquarium. I think some macro algea might help.

JRistau81 · 06/07/2006, 09:16 PM

I will definitely add some macroalgae. And thanks for the post RayJay. My bioload is currently pretty light for a 150. Only four fish, two of which are less than 2" in length (Bangaii and some sort of dottyback) and an Imperator angel and a purple tang. I don't overfeed, for sure. Usually I only feed every other day and usually everything is eaten. Will definitely increase the water change frequency.

SECTER1 · 06/07/2006, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by JRistau81
Ok well I admit it, I DO use tap water. But I am testing everything tonight (as in all the faucets) to find which tap to use for the best water. Now I am shocked and a little confused here. I do have "some" algae problems, mostly green hair algae. I assumed my tap water was loaded with phosphate and nitrate and that was what was causing my algae woes. WRONG! 0 phosphate and 0 nitrate in ALL faucets in my house. I am not making this up! ZERO! I may still get a RODI unit, but now I mainly want to discern why this algae is popping up. By the way my house does not have copper pipes so copper leaching is not a concern. Now I have had no problems with tap for 2 years at this point.

Here are the parameters of the tank (veiw my sig for info on the tank itself)
pH 8.1 (this is low due to the tap I was using but I will switch to a different one with a pH of 8.3)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium 480
Alk - normal
phosphate 0
SG 1.025
Temp 81.7
Strontium 8ppm
I am currently running a 12/12 photoperiod and will reduce it.
I do not have a fuge w/ macroalgaes but I may put some caulerpa behind one of my rock islands in the tank.

Any advice will be appreciated!

What kind of clean up crew do you have?

vanmo92 · 06/07/2006, 09:47 PM

I would get a clean up crew (if you dont have one). I also recomend the RO DI unit because there might be other things in your tap water. Do you have a TDS meter, if so what dose your tap read at, if not get one, you might be surprised by the reading that you get.

AZDesertRat · 06/08/2006, 09:04 AM

The biggest reason to use RO or RO/DI water is consistency. That is your number one concern. Tap water quality can and does change daily. If it comes from a surface water treatment plant changes in raw water quality due to storm events, different source blends, lakes or impoundments turning over and other things bring about different treatment techniques and chemical additions. If its ground water ther are usually multiple wells in a common distribution system and each one is different.
With RO/DI you take changing water quality out of the equation. If you have algae problems or other concerns you can look at other things in most cases because you know your water is good. Now that is only true if you service your RO/DI regularly and buy and use a handheld TDS or conductivity meter, if not all bets are off. Don't depend on an inline meter if you cannot disassemble, clean and calibrate it on a schedule. They are only a guide that tells you when you need to check things with a calibrated meter.

rayjay · 06/08/2006, 03:05 PM

I'm not sure how much a clean up crew will help, or even that it is necessary.
I've not used a clean up crew for over 12 years, use tap water, and can control things without them.
I'm not saying they might help or not, I just don't have any proof that way but suspect the nutrients are still there after the snails/hermits eat whatever they eat, and defecate the waste, leaving that to be assimilated into the water column and provide food for the micro life forms that process it further.
It's not like harvesting macro where you are physically removing nutrient that has been uptaken by the macro.

Proffugazi · 10/28/2014, 10:51 AM

one note on oceanside ca tap water(as i use it too,well..after using a RO/DI unit) they use chloramines as a disinfected. Normal ways of removing chlorine(i.e letting it air out) will not work.

Dan_P · 10/28/2014, 06:52 PM

All aquariums with animals produce ammonia. Ammonia is either oxidized to nitrate or consumed to produce algae and bacteria mass. The hair algae is part of your biofilter and is consuming a share of the ammonia to grow.

You could hypothesize that the algae is consuming nitrates but ammonia is more likely to be the preferred nitrogen source (don't need to spend energy reducing it to ammonia to use it).

You probably need to reduce ammonia production in the system (less feeding, reduced bioload), or add macro algae, and physically remove the algae (you or some sort of animal).

06/07/2006, 05:09 PM	#1
JRistau81 Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Springfield, Illinois Posts: 264	Tap water and algae question. Ok well I admit it, I DO use tap water. But I am testing everything tonight (as in all the faucets) to find which tap to use for the best water. Now I am shocked and a little confused here. I do have "some" algae problems, mostly green hair algae. I assumed my tap water was loaded with phosphate and nitrate and that was what was causing my algae woes. WRONG! 0 phosphate and 0 nitrate in ALL faucets in my house. I am not making this up! ZERO! I may still get a RODI unit, but now I mainly want to discern why this algae is popping up. By the way my house does not have copper pipes so copper leaching is not a concern. Now I have had no problems with tap for 2 years at this point. Here are the parameters of the tank (veiw my sig for info on the tank itself) pH 8.1 (this is low due to the tap I was using but I will switch to a different one with a pH of 8.3) Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 Nitrate 0 Calcium 480 Alk - normal phosphate 0 SG 1.025 Temp 81.7 Strontium 8ppm I am currently running a 12/12 photoperiod and will reduce it. I do not have a fuge w/ macroalgaes but I may put some caulerpa behind one of my rock islands in the tank. Any advice will be appreciated! __________________ I like pigs. Dogs look up to us; cats look down on us, but pigs treat us as equals. - Winston Churchill Current Tank Info: 150 gallon, 2 Hamilton 400w 14K Metal halide, Red Sea Berlin Skimmer (Don't scoff, it works well), 150-200 lbs LR, 50 lbs LS, 100 lbs Southdown...anything else?

06/07/2006, 05:16 PM	#3
JRistau81 Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Springfield, Illinois Posts: 264	Not as often as I should. It always seemed that when I did I caused more problems. By I caused them thats exactly what I mean. I sometimes knock my aquascape and spill all over the floor. In my 150 I typically do water changes about once every 2-3 months. __________________ I like pigs. Dogs look up to us; cats look down on us, but pigs treat us as equals. - Winston Churchill Current Tank Info: 150 gallon, 2 Hamilton 400w 14K Metal halide, Red Sea Berlin Skimmer (Don't scoff, it works well), 150-200 lbs LR, 50 lbs LS, 100 lbs Southdown...anything else?

06/07/2006, 05:20 PM	#4
JRistau81 Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Springfield, Illinois Posts: 264	oh and those aren't small ones. I prefer to do at least 30-40% __________________ I like pigs. Dogs look up to us; cats look down on us, but pigs treat us as equals. - Winston Churchill Current Tank Info: 150 gallon, 2 Hamilton 400w 14K Metal halide, Red Sea Berlin Skimmer (Don't scoff, it works well), 150-200 lbs LR, 50 lbs LS, 100 lbs Southdown...anything else?

06/07/2006, 07:01 PM	#5
JRistau81 Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Springfield, Illinois Posts: 264	Come on SOMEBODY has to have SOME advice! __________________ I like pigs. Dogs look up to us; cats look down on us, but pigs treat us as equals. - Winston Churchill Current Tank Info: 150 gallon, 2 Hamilton 400w 14K Metal halide, Red Sea Berlin Skimmer (Don't scoff, it works well), 150-200 lbs LR, 50 lbs LS, 100 lbs Southdown...anything else?

06/07/2006, 07:48 PM	#6
rayjay Registered Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 3,969	I use tap water and of ten systems, only one has hair algae. It's not because of the tap water, it's because of the nutrient I add to the tank and my lack of sufficient husbandry for the conditions in the tank. I also know a lot of hobbyists who use RO DI exclusively, and a number of those have hair algae problems also. My conclusion is that hair algae cannot be automatically blamed on using tap water, but more likely due to insufficient attention to tank conditions. However, I also believe that many have tap water that MUST be purified before using because it is just too loaded with nutrient or contaminants of one kind or another. You have to determine if the algae is there now because of a slow build up because your husbandry was slightly insufficient, or, have you changed something from what you used to do , that allowed present conditions to get out of hand. You will also have to do a lot of water changes to get conditions back to the way they were before the hair appeared. Do you feed more now than before? What additions have you made that may have increased the bioload on the tank? Do you still do the same cleaning/water changes? Years ago, I found that I was doing the same cleaning in each tank that I had been doing for years, even after adding more fish to the tank without thinking that in my closed systems, adding more fish meant that there would be higher demands on my biological filtration with resultant higher detritus build up (most of my sytems are bare bottom) that required a little larger or more frequent water changes than I was doing. The gradual build up meant that I had some hair problems and some cyano problems that took a lot of work to remedy. __________________ Seahorses. Culture nanno, rotifers and brine shrimp. Current Tank Info: Seahorses

06/07/2006, 05:13 PM	#2
Equalizer Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Pittsboro, IN Posts: 423	How often do you do water changes?

06/07/2006, 08:20 PM	#7
Equalizer Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Pittsboro, IN Posts: 423	You have to many nutrients in the aquarium. I think some macro algea might help.

06/07/2006, 09:16 PM	#8
JRistau81 Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Springfield, Illinois Posts: 264	I will definitely add some macroalgae. And thanks for the post RayJay. My bioload is currently pretty light for a 150. Only four fish, two of which are less than 2" in length (Bangaii and some sort of dottyback) and an Imperator angel and a purple tang. I don't overfeed, for sure. Usually I only feed every other day and usually everything is eaten. Will definitely increase the water change frequency. __________________ I like pigs. Dogs look up to us; cats look down on us, but pigs treat us as equals. - Winston Churchill Current Tank Info: 150 gallon, 2 Hamilton 400w 14K Metal halide, Red Sea Berlin Skimmer (Don't scoff, it works well), 150-200 lbs LR, 50 lbs LS, 100 lbs Southdown...anything else?

06/07/2006, 09:47 PM	#10
vanmo92 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Silverthorne, CO. Posts: 2,045	I would get a clean up crew (if you dont have one). I also recomend the RO DI unit because there might be other things in your tap water. Do you have a TDS meter, if so what dose your tap read at, if not get one, you might be surprised by the reading that you get. __________________ PBITAWA Current Tank Info: 72 gallon bow Mixed Reef 1 fw tank

06/08/2006, 09:04 AM	#11
AZDesertRat Moved On Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: NW Phoenix Posts: 16,621	The biggest reason to use RO or RO/DI water is consistency. That is your number one concern. Tap water quality can and does change daily. If it comes from a surface water treatment plant changes in raw water quality due to storm events, different source blends, lakes or impoundments turning over and other things bring about different treatment techniques and chemical additions. If its ground water ther are usually multiple wells in a common distribution system and each one is different. With RO/DI you take changing water quality out of the equation. If you have algae problems or other concerns you can look at other things in most cases because you know your water is good. Now that is only true if you service your RO/DI regularly and buy and use a handheld TDS or conductivity meter, if not all bets are off. Don't depend on an inline meter if you cannot disassemble, clean and calibrate it on a schedule. They are only a guide that tells you when you need to check things with a calibrated meter.

06/08/2006, 03:05 PM	#12
rayjay Registered Member Join Date: Oct 1999 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 3,969	I'm not sure how much a clean up crew will help, or even that it is necessary. I've not used a clean up crew for over 12 years, use tap water, and can control things without them. I'm not saying they might help or not, I just don't have any proof that way but suspect the nutrients are still there after the snails/hermits eat whatever they eat, and defecate the waste, leaving that to be assimilated into the water column and provide food for the micro life forms that process it further. It's not like harvesting macro where you are physically removing nutrient that has been uptaken by the macro. __________________ Seahorses. Culture nanno, rotifers and brine shrimp. Current Tank Info: Seahorses

10/28/2014, 10:51 AM	#13
Proffugazi Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 25	one note on oceanside ca tap water(as i use it too,well..after using a RO/DI unit) they use chloramines as a disinfected. Normal ways of removing chlorine(i.e letting it air out) will not work.

10/28/2014, 06:52 PM	#14
Dan_P Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Posts: 1,432	All aquariums with animals produce ammonia. Ammonia is either oxidized to nitrate or consumed to produce algae and bacteria mass. The hair algae is part of your biofilter and is consuming a share of the ammonia to grow. You could hypothesize that the algae is consuming nitrates but ammonia is more likely to be the preferred nitrogen source (don't need to spend energy reducing it to ammonia to use it). You probably need to reduce ammonia production in the system (less feeding, reduced bioload), or add macro algae, and physically remove the algae (you or some sort of animal).