Angel hair algae

[MerLexSum]

Hi there. I have a 125 gallon tank with two damsels, a coral beauty and a neon orange-and-blue striped fish (don't know the name of it, but it's long and thin.) We had cyanobacteria growing in our tank. After treating it with this red slime remover, the cyano left, but then we had long stringy green algae growing all over. Our local aquarium dealer didn't have much to say except that there may have been too much ash in the tank. We cut back on the only source of ash there could have been, Bio-Blend Marine Food pellets and tried clearing out most of it but it only reappears as fast as we can get rid of it. Any suggestions on how to make our tank more liveable so we can introduce other fish? Our ph balance, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels are normal, salinity is around 1.021, SG is 28½ and temp is around 76°. Any advice and/or help we can get would be appreciated.

 

[jhnrb]

Sounds like you have a water quality problem which may be nitrates, phosphates, silicates, or a high co2 and low oxygen level, or, your bulbs may be overdue for a change. here is a link I hope will help.
https://www.livingreefs.com/forums/saltwater-aquarium-articles/580-got-green-hair-algae.html

 

[MerLexSum]

Thanks! This article is really helpful. We've already removed as much of the algae as we possibly could and we performed a water change. The only term I don't know is RO/DI. What does it mean?

 

[CrypticAnimal]

Reverse osmosis, deionisation, type of water purification..Treated water 99 percent cleaner than most tap water.

 

[Bifferwine]

If you are using tap water for your water changes, that might be the source of your problems. RO/DI water is recommended.

 

[MerLexSum]

I use tap water, as it's the only source I have access to as far as I know. I do have TetraAqua AquaSafe, though to treat the water. I take it this isn't enough?

 

[CrypticAnimal]

Right,Your local fish store probably can provide..Or there are units on ebay on sale for 84.oo dollars with a 4gallon press tank.

 

[Bifferwine]

AquaSafe and other water treatments will remove chlorine and chloramine. Some brands will remove heavy metals too. But tap water can have very high nitrate levels which will cause major algae problems. So doing water changes to reduce nitrates won't do any good if you're replacing it with water that already has high nitrate levels.

You said your nitrate levels are normal. What are they at? You might want to buy some new test kits too. You wouldn't believe how unreliable some of them can be, you could easily be getting false readings, especially if they are a little old.

You should do a nitrate and phosphate test on your tap water, if it comes up high then you could switch to buying water from a fish store or like Cryptic said, buy your own RO/DI unit to make your own water at home. If your tap water is fine for nitrates and phosphates, your algae problems are probably coming from somewhere else.

 

[Nu2Reefs]

Just in case you live in a place without a rliable lfs like me, you could always try kroger for your ro/di water. I get mine for $.25 per gal. Just another option. My lfs tests positive for nitrites in thier water. When I mentioned checking their filter he just laughed and said it needed to be replaced a long time ago. ( still hasn't been)

 

[jhnrb]

Distilled water can be used in a pinch, but, I also recommend a RO system.

 

[d.french]

eBay: AQUARIUM (2) 110GPD RO+2DI REVERSE OSMOSIS water FILTER (item 120063510249 end time Dec-17-06 10:30:51 PST)
this is the one i just bought last week