Brown Dust Muddy Algae.

[zaitmi]

Helo everybody,

I am from India and new to reef central.

Tank Specn : 8 months old 30 Gallon Sumpless FOWLR, RO Water, Remora Protein Skimmer with china made 1400 L/Hr powerhead., substrate : crushed coral or sand dont know bought in dry form, 1 t5 18 watts light and 1 blue 18 watt aqua coral light 7hrs. a day, covered plastic hood, 2 powerheads one 700lph and one 1200 lph.

Live Animals : 1 Percula, 1 Electric Blue damsel, 1 yellow damsel, 1 clarkii clownfish and 1 mini starfish.

Current Problem : Lots of brown/dust muddy hair type algae on rocks and back glass from last 4 months. Started dosing vodka as per reefkeeping.com last 2 weeks. I heard its cheap and reliable if u dose correctly but 2 weeks have gone without results.

Latest Test Results :

nitrates : 35ppm
phosphate : 2mg/l(increased in last 2 weeks)
calcium : 460ppm
alkalinity: 9 dkh

i sometime use top filter with floss to clean floating dirt on my tank, it increases my tank nitrates though i wash the floss every 24hrs or 48hrs. Still.

okay thanks but cheato is not available in india.

I have bought Merck Iron Oxide Hydroxide(Red) to remove phosphates, i am also dosing vodka from last 2 weeks to remove phosphates. Can i use Merck (Brand) products to remove phosphates.

Here are some pics :

[HighlandReefer]

There are a lot of hobbyists in your same position. Reducing your nitrate and phosphate levels to a zero reading will help in getting rid of many type of algae pests. IME, reducing nitrate and phosphate levels too low can kill or cause problems for many types of coral. Running GAC & GFO will all help in reducing the growth of these type of pests. In many cases they will not eradicate the pest. Vodka dosing will help reduce the nitrate and phosphate levels also, but will not necessarily eradicate the pest either.

A common problem is being able to identify your pest to a category correctly: true algae, cyano, dino, bacteria & other assorted pests that look similar. In many cases a micro look at your pest is best to properly ID it to one of these categories.

IMHO, if you are faced with an algal type pest problem, it is best to implement an algae pest control program strategy:


1) Wet skimming with a good quality skimmer. Clean your skimmer cup at least once per week.

2) Reduce your nitrates and phosphates to a zero reading using the hobby grade test kits. See Randy's articles regarding this:

Phosphate and the Reef Aquarium
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issu...t2003/chem.htm

3) Proper lighting. I find that the higher wavelength bulbs are less conducive to algae growth. I now run 20,000 K bulbs from using 10,000 K bulbs.

4) Proper day length is a good thing also. I would not run your lights for more than 12 hrs total. Keep in mind that light entering from a window nearby is added to this figure.

5) Running GAC is a good practice in my book. It will help reduce the total dissolved organic carbons in your tank water and this is a food source.

6) Proper 30% per month total water changes will help export the DOC as well as some of the pests in the water column. It will help maintain the micro-nutrients as well.

7) Physical removal of the pest by hand, scrubbing and siphoning is important as well. If the amount of pest in your aquarium is overwhelming, perhaps dealing with one section at a time is a better idea.

8) Proper water circulation in your tank to prevent dead zones. When dealing with cyanobacteria pests increasing the flow where it grows seems to help.

9) Use RODI water for all top-off, salt mixing, additive mixes... etc.

10) Dosing iron may have benefits for macro-algae, but if you are experiencing algae pest problems than I would stop dosing it as it can add to the problem in many cases.

11) If you are dosing other supplements such as vitamins, amino acids, or others that contain a mix of supplements other than the basic alk., calcium and magnesium, I would stop these until you gain control of your pest. This includes many of the store bought products with unknown ingredients. Dosing Vodka or sugar to reduce your nitrates and phosphates would be an exception in my opinion.

12) Proper feeding habits. This can be the number one problem when trying to reduce your nitrate and phosphate levels. Use low phosphate fish foods.

13) IMHO, lighted refugiums may be a problem when trying to deal with an algae type pest problem. They are wonderful when it comes to reducing nitrates and phosphates. However, the light over most refugiums is conducive to the microalgae type pests. If the refugium becomes infested with a microalgae pest, I would clean it throughly of all pests as best as possible, remove the macro and turn off the lights until you gain control of your pest. Re-using the same macroalgae later may serve as a source for re-infestation of your pest.

14) Adding fish and other creatures that will eat your algae pest will help.

15) Running a diatom filter which has been suggested by Boomer, makes a lot of sense to me. It will help remove a lot of organic material in your water column.

16) For some additional thoughts regarding switching an algae based system to a bacterial based system see this thread:
(Using a carbon source with appropriate bacterial dosing may possibly help to push your system to where you want it although this is controversial.)

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1781320

17) There are other items that can be added to this list if others care too share and some of the items listed may be disputed.

[zaitmi]

Thanks a lot Mr. Babcock for the help.

I will try to follow the above points to work it out.

[HighlandReefer]

Your welcome.

[zaitmi]

I have bought Merck Iron Oxide Hydroxide(Red) to remove phosphates, i am also dosing vodka from last 2 weeks to remove phosphates. Can i use Merck (Brand) products to remove phosphates.

[bertoni]

Can you provide a link to the exact product? I don't think it's going to be useful, for a variety of reasons, but it might be repackaged Bayer GFO, for all I know. Most iron oxide products won't have enough surface area to do much.

[zaitmi]

yeah sure,

here is the link :
http://www.merck-chemicals.com/india...eq-AddProducts

what info should i look for, in this product?

Shall i give you some details from the container.

[bertoni]

I doubt that's going to be very useful. The GFO products used in the aquarium industry are fairly small chunks or pellets that have been treated to have very high porosity, like activated carbon. Unless that product is intended for water treatment, it's likely not going to help much. If it's a very fine powder, it'll make a mess.

[zaitmi]

thanks.

okay i will try some after washing it in running water in cloth bag and see it for a couple of days.

i will report accordingly.

[zaitmi]

Sure it did started making a mess after 10 mins of running it in top filter, i removed the iron oxide coz it started to make the water red as it was mentioned in the product container iron oxide red, it was powder. i might use "seachem phosban" in near future.

Just cleaned all the rocks today being a holiday(sunday) in replacement water in plastic tub, cleaned the back and side glass with normal white cotton.