Brown Algae, Diatoms Maybe?

unclejed I have tried to raise my dkh, using baking powder, i get it up to 7 and next day its back down to 6, dont know what i'm doing wrong...

Steve, i only rinse out the stuff in the filter if i do a 25% water change about once a month, must admit it does get a bit sandy dirty in there,
I know the sachets are nowhere near as good as a reactor, but having no sump i dont like the idea of having one, have heard some stories about the lounge getting flooded cause the top of reactor broke or something else.

Po4 sachet is literally 1 week old and i changed my bulbs too so they are 2 weeks old 2x150watt 20k.

The problem i have with the powerheads is unless i position them through just space, no rock or coral, everything anywhere in the tank gets blown about like mad...

 

Ok, got my water tests confirmed today at the lfs,
PH-6.0-6.5 Low i know, whats the best way to keep it at 8.0 constantly...
Nitrate-0
Nitrite-0
Ammonia-0
Phosphate-0-and i still get horrible brown algae :-(
Temp-78f-80f
Salinity-1.025
Alk-6.5
mag 1350
calcium-410

Could the low alk and ph be causeing my problem?

 

IMO - Yes those 2 low numbers will be creating a better enviroment for the cyno/ algae

your PH is low becuase your Alk is low - you dont have adequate buffering capacity
your PH could be low also due to C02 - if you have an air pump and air stone try this

( Borrowed from Rhandy Holmes Farley)
take a cup of your tank water - and measure PH
add air stone air pump combo and bubble the water for 1 hour , test again
if second reading is higher than 1st - you have excess CO2 in your tank and thats lowering your PH
If second reading is same as 1st
do the air pump air stone routine again but outside your house , bubble for 1 hour
if this reading is then higher than previous 2 - you have excess CO2 in your home and thats affecting your tanks PH

If its a CO2 problem with just the tank - increased water movement, surface agitation should help increase the PH
if its a CO2 problem in your home- you need to look at venting (I know your in UK and opening windows at this time of year is foolish as its freezing)

Alk - did you mean 6.5 degrees DKH ? Im using Sea Chems reef builder to maintain my DKH at 9 so its an easy fix , but you can only raise the DKH by 1 degree per day (some say 0.7 degrees per day) so you need to calculate how much you need using the 3 reef calculator and then divide the amount required over 3 or 4 days until you get to 8 or 9

there are more complicated methods , but I dont have any experience of them, so Ill leave that to someone who does

Steve

 

At the moment i have the return spray bar agitateing the surface and 2 powerheads, then i have my tmc v2 protein skimmer on, and have been using a airstone in the tank for months, as i personnally find without a surface skimmer this works great for keeping the scum from resting on the top, so i think i have enough oxygen in the tank..

Have never used anything else other then the cheap method of bakeing soda to raise ph and alk, by alk i mean 6.0 DKH sorry, my alk is 2.17.

Will carry on using the bakeing soda method for now but will buy some reef builder when i can, does this stuff effect any other params?

Thanks so far, u been a great help...

 

well if your confident its not a CO2 issue then buffering capacity is probably the reason for low PH

Reef builder raises alkalinity without any immediate effect on PH but there will be a tendency to stabilise at 8.3 (yes I did go to the cabinet under the tank and read this on the packaging)

I believe you already understand the relationship between magnesium, calcium and alkalinity and SG

but to sum up
if your SG is not high enough to support all the dissolved ions you want in solution
and if your magnesium is not high enough to support the additional carbonates

for every 1 degree of DKH you increase - your calcium can drop by 20ppm

so check your calc after adding the baking soda and if its dropped, it means your magnesium was not high enough to support the additional ions

Steve

 

Will give it a go and report back in a few days, thanks....

 

Steve is this the stuff u are refering to, and if u treat the tank twice a week how long does the buffer last then 3 days?

SEACHEM Reef BUILDER 600g raises Alkalinity . on eBay (end time 23-Feb-10 10:48:33 GMT)

 

yeah thats the stuff Im using , someone may tell me its baking soda in a fancy pack LOL

the reason I like Seachem is because they give 3 different sets of instructions on the pack

beginner - 1/2 teaspoon per X amount of litres twice per week
advanced - work out use and adjust your usage accordingly ( so add, check and then check 48 hours later and if its dropped, below where it was before increase dose next time (but no more than X amount of grammes per day)
experienced - set up a manual drip based on usage

Im still in the very low demand category with only a dozen SPS frags
so a teaspoon a week in 2 halves combined with 5% water changes and Im staying at 9 DKH
if it starts to drop, then Ill increase the amount or better still look at the way Im using it

Steve

 

You say low demand cause you have few sps i have none mostly softies, and 2 small lps frogspawn and candy cane, but i still need my dkh raiseing