Hair Algea Saga...Continued!

[cbianco]

This is a new chapter in my battle to reclaim my tank from hair algea. The first chapter can be found HERE!

I have tested for all basic nutrients in my tank and have found the following to be true: ammonia~0, nitrite~0, nitrate~0, ph~8.4. My tank is normally at these levels and does not flucuate. I am very persistant when it comes to my water changes.

A while back I had my water tested for phosphate and it tested at .2. Because of this I have bought a phosphate sponge. The phosphate sponge I bought is made by HBH and can be found at their website (hbhnet.com) under aquapure. I do not know if the sponge is working since I do not currently have a phosphate test kit.

I am also doing a bit of an experiment myself. I have the lights in my tank turned off. I kept them off yesterday (10/11) all day. I will also keep them off today (10/12). I did notice that much of the hair algea is comming loose from the sand and rock then floating into my filter.

Since the algea is coming loose with the lights off, does anyone think that my lights may be the culprit?

Or is it just that the algea feed off of the light and I am tanking their resorces away?

Does anyone have any additional advice for me?

Thanks for any help that you can provide me!

Christopher

[demodiki]

The information may be in the older post but...how old are the lights? Have you considered a phosban reactor?

[cbianco]

Sorry forgot the age of the lights. They have been in use since January of 2005. Is there any research that lights deteriorate while they are in storage?

Phosban reactor is a overkill and too expensive for my lil old 24 gallon NC.

Christopher

[demodiki]

The phosban reactor by two little fishes is actually around $35.00.

[Shark_Bait]

bring the water to be checked again. Once the phospate sponge absorbs it's max it let's it back into the tank.

[cbianco]

I belive that the packaging states that the sponge will not leech phosphates back into the water once they are absorbed. I could be wrong though.

Christopher

[cbianco]

I was just doing some research on the net about my problem. I compared pictures that have been taken at multiple websites and I found out that I do not have a hair algea problem.

The algea in my tank is cyanobacteria (red slime?). This sucks, anyone want a frag of cyano?

Christopher

[Richard]

It's all about phosphate in your case. A reading of .2 ppm with a hobbyist grade test kit is WAY high. Phosphate should be below .03 ppm which for all practical purposes means they would be undetectable with a hobbyist grade test kit.

First you need to figure out where all of the phosphate is coming from. Are you adding it to the tank via food (overfeeding) or make up water (tapwater), etc.? Is it coming from your liverock (often the case with newly setup tanks)? Do you have some other type of nutrient sink such as a non functional sandbed, gunk built up in your filters,back corners of your tank, etc.?

You might consider picking up a good phosphate kit (I like seachem's), using an iron based phosphate remover like phosban either in a reactor or just in a canister filter, and doing a thorough cleaning on the tank. By cleaning I don't mean water change but rather siphoning off detritus from the holes in the liverock, back corners of the tank, sump/filters, etc.

I don't know about Red Sea salt but personally I would stick with IO. Lighting really doesn't have much impact on cyanobacteria, it's all about nutrients and flow.

[Richard]

Red Sea salt is made from drying natural saltwater outdoors, I've always wondered how much seagull poop is in it :unsure