sandbed

[yote]

Phos-ban is a good product.I use it sometimes.I do like phos-guard better though,mainly because its not as expensive.

 

[cravinmohead22]

im wishing for the best here. im not to happy with this growth. now its starting on the glass really fast. green green green. my water changes are regular and all my test were great. another water change tomorrow when i get home from work. if i dont have enough live rock will that cause some of the fast growth????

 

[yote]

Not having enough rock can hinder how well your tank processes excess nutrients.But I dont see it making that much of a difference.
Heres something to try.
Test your new water before you add it to your tank.Check for nitrates and phosphates.If your using RO water,check it with a TDS meter.
When you do a water change,siphon out as much of the algae and cyano as possible.

 

[cravinmohead22]

my buddy just bought a TDS meter. we share a RO/DI unit. i run the water at my house and give it to him. he tested the water and it was 20. i know its not the best but i was told its ok for a month or so. so i feel now that im on the right way of getting this taken care of. the phosban, how long can it stay in the filter before it gets replaced?

 

[yote]

If you've got a TDS reading of 20,then I think its time to replace the cartridges.If I'm thinking right,the TDS shouldnt be over 10.
I'm betting thats your problem.

 

[cravinmohead22]

can you run carbon and phosban at the same time? this is not getting any better. i vacuumed the sand and after 3 hours i started to see it coming back. that glass needs to be scrapped every night i come home from work.

 

[Piggy]

How old is your tank?

 

[cravinmohead22]

two months old. give or take a few days.

 

[Piggy]

So it's been cycled? What's in your tank?

 

[fatman]

Do not scrape your glass. The nutrients in the algae your scraping off are just going straight back into the water system to be utilized by new algae growth. Use a algae pad. Reach in and wipe from bottom to top and remove from tank and rinse. Repeat over and over again. You must export the nutrients or they must be converted into another form such as fish flesh or coral growth. Phosphate can be dissipated by using Kalkwasser water as your make up water. It would be best to get a DIO filter cartridge as an add on to your RO filter. This will get your total dissolved solids down to around 0.01, yes 99.9 % free of total dissolved solids. The quickest way you can get rid of the problem is using as near perfect water as possible with many frequent water changes (not sevearl large water changes), and using Kalkwasser for makeup water for evaporation. I would go with a 5 percent water change every two or three days until you get it cleared up, but remember if you are importing silicates (for brown algae), phosphates and nitrates in your water and through over feeding you will not be able to get rid of the problem no matter how often or how big the water changes. Once you do get the problem under control and figure out where the problem came from you will either need to make permanent adjustments or consider something like a refugium with macro algae for nutrient export. The only thing your algae scraper should be used for is removing coraline algae from your front glass. And if you continue to have algae problems do not buy a magnet algae scrubber. Remove algae from tank by doing single wipes with a scrub pad (and external rinses in water). Do not scrape or scrub algae back into tank. Also, there is a huge difference between PhosGuard and Phosban. PhosGuard is aluminum based and Phosban is ferric oxide. Ferric Oxide does not leach phosphates back into water when full. PhosGuard does. Ferric oxide is widely accepted as a vast improvement over the old phosphate absorbing materials. Yes it is more expensive, but it twice as effective, longer acting and safer. Phosphate removers should be considered only for emergency and spot usage, not every day use items. Continual use is just poor husbandry.

 

[Piggy]

I can say from experience that small water changes does get rid of red algae. I suctioned out 2 gallon for three days and got what red algae I could and today it's gone. Been gone for a few days so I think I finally beat it.