Can't get rid of the Algae

I am having an algae problem and have had for a very long time. Here are my water tests:
Ammonia 0
Ph 8.2
Nitrate 0
nitrite 0
Phosphate .5 to 1 (can't tell for sure, color is close)

Don't have a GH/KH kit right now.

I am doing lots of water changes with R/O water (Ph 6.4)

I have redone the aquarium (80G) and haven't added any fish but reused my live rock (stored properly till I was ready for it).

What do you all suggest?

Scrub your rocks, etc. with a tooth brush and keep up with water changes.

With R/O water or Saltwater?

Oh jeez, I completely looked over the fact you were using only RO for water changes.

Whenever you do a water change you need to use saltwater. Use RO to "top off" your water level. Your pH should be around 8.2.

Yes, I am doing the Water changes with saltwater made with R/O water, not just R/O water. I was talking about when I clean the live rock. What should I do to get the Ph down?

You want the pH to be up, that is much too low for a saltwater tank. You need your pH to be around 8

little_fish said:

You want the pH to be up, that is much too low for a saltwater tank. You need your pH to be around 8

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If you are looking at the 6.4 that is the R/O water, not the saltwater in the tank, it's 8.2 to 8.4.

oh good, but then i dont see why you want to bring it down either. That is a perfect pH for your tank

What kind of algae is it?

I suffer the same thing, if yours is a green hair algae, scrub the rocks with the toothbrush, just not in the tank.

As Lil fish said your param are fine, try lowering hours of yours lights as well.

Slimkasey said:

if yours is a green hair algae, scrub the rocks with the toothbrush, just not in the tank.

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Yes, it's the green hair stuff and the red velvet.

what do you have for water flow in your tank?

Fluval 404 canister filter plus 2 power heads internal to move water.

you should ditch the canister and get a good skimmer and a refugium

Why is that better than the canister? What about a sump, does that do the same job as a refugium? I have a 20G long tank I was planning to use as a sump once I got everything right and if it's not tempered glass.

a canister filter catched detritus and pushes water through it making nitrates build, a refugium uses a macro algea to remove phosphate, nitrate, and other toxins from the water. and yes you could make a sump/ refugium.

Well I have to say the first page of this thread is full of fail and misread replys....

Only thing you need to do is get your phosphate under control. In your situation I would look into getting a sump set up with a big ball of Chateo. That would prolly solve a lot of problems.

I ran my tank with a canister filter for a long time. You just have to keep up with cleaning it out monthly and replacing the carbon.

I would look into replacing it in the future with a good Octopus Skimmer.

And if Macro Algae can't keep your phosphates at 0 then I would look into getting a phosphate reactor as well.

Ulta said:

In your situation I would look into getting a sump set up with a big ball of Chateo. That would prolly solve a lot of problems.

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Could you go into more detail?

I have a Redsea skimmer already, is the one you suggest something special that is going to out preform my Redsea by 500%? Also... I was under the impression a skimmer was to remove organic waste (proteins) produced by the fish. Since at this point I have no fish in the tank what is the value in having the skimmer running? Will it aid in reducing the PO4?

My plan is to do a sump but right now the fish are in the tank I plan to use for the sump so till i get my big tank right I can't do the sump.

Thanks for the input.

P.S. I do have a big ball of Chateo Algae. Put it in about a week ago. It was a 1lb. ball from F&S, is that enough do you think?

As for the skimmer, your correct. It is just to remove organic waste in the water column before the bacteria get a chance to break it down. And it won't help your Phosphate problems much.

So the Chateo is in the Display Tank (DT)? then yes I would say that is fine untill you get the sump made.

If I were you I would just continue doing water changes regularly. Maybe even throw some Phosban in a filter sock to help suck up some of the phosphates (someone correct me if this wouldnt work for some reason.) Maybe even double check with a LFS or some1 else who has a phosphate test kit to make sure you are really high phosphates...

Make sure you are using RO/DI water.

If you really do have a phosphate problem then it is getting leeched into your water column by something, I would try to figure out what it is. Especially because you have no fish and are not feeding!

Your Algae problem is most likely caused by your phosphates and once your water clears up it should starve out. You can pull it out by hand (or suck it out during water change), it wont hurt.
Algae will actually remove Nitrates and Phosphates from your water which is good, but most of us dont want it in our DT.

Sometimes certian types of Rock (lava rock has been know to particularly) will leach phosphates into the water.

If you used these rocks before successfully, and had no phosphate issues I would dismiss this issue.