Algae Algae Everywhere

No that's the only piece. Some of it's aged a bit more and has gotten some color, the stuff to the left is newer and hasn't been colonized yet.

 

OK, pH is 8.3 Ammonia is 0, Nitrates 0, Nitrites 0, gravity 1.023

 

Your water quality seems pretty good. As you may know, algae problems are usually caused by aquarium water with excess nutrients like phosphate, nitrates etc. Have you tried increasing the flow in your tank? What is your photo period? It doesnt seem like you have much of a clean up crew from your photo...a good CUC will probably help control the algae, maybe a small tang too???

There are some commercial dry foods also contain excess nutrients and other undesirable things like nitrates, phosphates etc so I strain/rinse my fresh/frozen foods before feeding my tank. You can add a phosphate remover and increasing flow in your tan. Also using RO/DI water and a high quality salt with minimal NO3, phosphates etc like Tropic Marin will really help too.

 

My phosphates are about 1.0 right now which I'm guessing is the main culprit in my problem.

Other stuff
Ammonia not detectable
Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
Ph 8.3
calcium 420

I did about a 15% water change earlier in the week. is it too soon to do another?

 

Here are my Algae Notes.

In a fish only tank, I would suggest there are three issues to discuss. 1) Algae disrupting the nitrogen cycle and gas exchange as Matt discussed. 2) The root problem of where are the nutrients coming from. and 3) Why suddenly NOW?

I would want to understand the root cause and why this was suddenly occurring. Most notably because a tank being "stressed" like this is more susceptible to disease, etc.


M

 

Very good read. Two water changes ago I took out more water than I had RO to replace so I had to put a few gallons of tap in to level the tank out looking back that seems to be about the time my system went nuckin futs. Since then after the last change which was 100% RO the algae has decreased but it still present.

considering the amount of water i'm buying a RO system would probably pay for itself in six months.

What is a good starter level system to pick up for a 29 gallon tank?

 

here is an updated pic. You can see the decrease in algae from earlier, but it's definitely still there. Sorry about the cloudiness just did some redesign on the rock today.

 

I highly recommend SpectraPure for RO/DI units. Great quality... AWESOME customer service... Fair prices.... 3Reef Sponsor.

M

 

+1 to that.

 

Is there a rule of thumb for the GPD relative to the size of your tank?

In your experience how much of the actual cost of the product is the media filters?

Is this a system like buying a printer where the years ink costs twice as much as the printer itself?