Phosphate Problem

[shelaghfishface]

can anyone help me clear up what ive been advised is a phosphate problem
the live rock and coral are over run with tuff green grassy stuff
ill get a photo in the morning , but in the mean time any advice would be great thanks.

 

[TigerIssey]

Wow Shelagh, did not know you had gone marine.

Are you using phosphate remover, most of us use it all the time to keep phosphates down.

How long has the tank been set up, is there a sump, what circulation do you have??

A bit more info and that photo would be great.

 

[Luketendo]

If the tank has been newly set up and is cycling this is common.

 

[AK77]

Just to rule out other possible causes, have you tested your nitrate levels, if so, what do they read and what make of testing kit is it?

If it is indeed phosphates and not nitrates causing the hair algae bloom, then there are a few things you can do. As Tina says, many people run phosban in a reactor. This is usually a granular ferric oxide (Iron III oxide) which absorbs the phosphates from the water. Its quite expensive and requires changing when the granuals have absorbed their limit.

Another option, and one I favour as its cheap and gets more efficient as time goes on, is growing chaetomorpha macro algae in your sump/refugium/tank. It will also feed on the nitrates in the water too. Its not the best looking algae in the world (kind of looks like Keith Harris emptied Orville's hairbrush lol), but its great for keeping nitrates and phosphates at near 0ppm. I know I struggled with my levels until I got some chaeto.

You could also try upping your water change routine.

Just a closing thought, what does your CUC consist of? I'm wondering if you have enough algae eating hermits in your tank?

Cheers,

AK

 

[shelaghfishface]

thanks, the tank has been running for 3 yrs.. i just got it today tho, previous owners admitted neglect and basically defeat ive tried hard to pick a lot of but im not jokin this is tuff stuff
so anyway here it is, hope you can see the problem, no phospahte remover....so what do i need to buy/do?
think ive taken on a labour of love its stinking but i got it from quite far away and got home late so didnt want to casue the fish anymore stress than need be

ps there isnt a CUC i have only spotted some centipede looking worms, a star fish and lots of tiny ones

 

[AK77]

Mmmm, after seeing your pictures, I'm kind of dubious that its phosphates that are the problem. The reason being is that your rocks appear to have a decent amount of coralline on them as does the back of the tank. If you have high phosphate levels in your water, it will impede the calcification of coralline algae.

If I was a betting man, I'd say nitrates were a more likely problem.

*edit* Just saw your edit lol. Get some algae eating hermit crabs. They will work their way through this lot in no time

 

[shelaghfishface]

ok well il test it in the morning now as its only been running a few hours with only about 40L of the original water

lol consider it done

 

[three-fingers]

What equipment did the tank come with? All I can spot is a Hydor Prime external in the cabinet...I cant see any powerheads or anything else.

 

[Luketendo]

Right want you want to do is get some phosphate remover and place it in the filter in a filter bag. Also what is in the canister filter because biological filtration in a filter can cause nitrate problems.

You want to test the water levels and post them here basically pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and Phosphate.

If the levels are good enough you probably want to start adding cuc.

Finally you should make a journal is it would allow us to get an overview of your system and in the future see your fishy pics

- As stated above we also need a list of inhabitants and equipment to check suitability.

 

[owlbassboy]

yeh leading from aks point about nitrates and 3fingers point about equipment, if you dont have enough flow around you rock you will get high nitrates. is that the really tough algae you can hardly break with your hand??? my hermits or mithrax dont touch it but an urchin may touch it if your lucky.

a list of equipment would help. and just keep up with the water changes and it will level out soon as it will upset from moving it

 

[shelaghfishface]

right okies ill get that in the morning and let you have the results,( have the testing kit just havent read it) and will open the filter and have a nosey
have power heads and skimmer, but ran out of salt so couldnt fill it up and stay within a safe salinity level ( there fore skimmer isnt working as intake pipe wont reach into the water. power heads are in the garage drying as i dropped the plugs in the tank trying to pass the cable over ( trying to rush!!) oh and theres a spinning hydrometer,heater wasnt working so i put a spare one in.

 

[mixmaster jay]

this is for salt water
How to Reduce High Toxic Nitrates Quickly & Efficiently
Many people try to reduce their nitrate levels by performing a series of partial (20%) water changes. This will reduce your nitrate (or any other chemical substance) levels, but it is rather inefficient if ...

...the object is to reduce the levels to near zero in the shortest period of time as possible, with the least amount of water. On the other hand, if you reduce the level of water in the tank to 20% of normal and then refill the tank to a 40% level, you have already reduced your nitrate levels by half.
If you then refill the tank to the 100% level, your nitrate levels will be 20% of the original level that you started out at. If, on the other hand, you reduce the 40% water level once more to 20% and then refill the tank, you will end up with a nitrate level of 10% of what you started with. Perform the 40% to 20% reduction once more, and you will end up with a nitrate level of 5% of what you started with. Just think about it for a minute. If you started out with a nitrate level of 100 ppm and used this method, your 100 ppm nitrates would be reduced, in a short period of time, to 5 ppm, which is considered, by most, to be an acceptable level even for corals.

or


http/saltaquarium.about.com/cs/algaecontrol/a/aa070403.htm

 

[Luketendo]

Hydrometers aren't too accurate so you'll want to get a refractometer. You'll also want to get powerheads running asap and will the tank up and add skimmer when you can.

Also you'll want to try and find out what models your pieces of equipment are to see if they are adequate for the tank.

 

[TigerIssey]

That looks like Bryosis to me.

It is a pain in the **** to shift, I have some. I have tried a fair few things but the only way to get completely rid is to raise Magnesium levels to 1500 till its dead. Buddyboy did this for his.

You need to test obviously to keep mag at this level.

 

[Buddyboy67]

Just jump in at the end here..that is cheato algae and as a tang keeper i'd kill for it,lol...deffo not a bad algae bloom and is easily contolled by emerald crabs, they love that stuff, or hermitss as suggested. Good luck with your new venture and welcome to the salty side