Help

[coralhead]

Hello everyone, Havnt been on this site for a very long time. Tried various methods of help with my tank but have found all 3 of my LFS cant retain any employees that have much knowledge of reef keeping. So once again I turn to the real experts of trial and error ,YOU GUYS. I recently changed out my lights to metal halide (400 w) since then massive hair algae growth. Water chemistry is good, my concerns turn to lack of O2. after a little research I came across a product called algae majic by Weiss to controll algae and oxgenation. Has anyone used this if so please let me know. your suggestions have always been the best help....... Thanks, Coralhead

 

[dustin_P74]

instead of buying products to put in the tank that could do anything good or bad, since this is just an algae problem buy some extra snails and they will keep the problem under control at all times

 

[ccCapt]

What are your water parameters...exactly? Not good or real good, some hard #'s. What is your nitrate and phosphate specifically?
I don't recommend using any chemicals to mask the problem. Hair algae is cause by high nutrients...nitrate and phosphate. The new lighting won't cause the algae, but it is additional fuel.
Do you use RO/DI water for top offs and water changes? How often do you do them and how much do you change?

 

[coralhead]

Thanks for the quicl response, but I dont think there is enough snails or bluelegs in Indiana to eat all this!

 

[coralhead]

0 to .5 on all tests and ro/di water is made with TDS of 09

 

[coralhead]

55 gallon tank with 30 gallon sump. I change out every three weeks, usually 40 ga. at a time

 

[ccCapt]

Recommended phosphate level is 0.05. If you are reading any phosphate at all, assuming you are using a hobby grade test kit and not a colorimeter, it's too high. If you are at .5, you are at 10x the recommended level.

Why is the TDS so high? What is it out of the tap? After the RO? It's 9 after the DI? When was the last time you replaced the DI resin and RO membrane?

 

[dustin_P74]

0 to .5 of what, ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates

 

[yote]

You've got to figure out where the nutrients for the algae are coming from.
What kind of foods (flakes,frozen,pellets)are you using,how much,and how often?
Whats your bio-load?How many fish,what kind,and how big?
That Mark Wiess algae magic is a money skam.The ONLY product I've found to help anykind of algae is Marine S.A.T. from TLC.Its a live bacteria that will out compete the algae for nutrients.But,as the algae dies,it releases the stored nutrients right back into your water

 

[messiah023]

How long are you running your lights?
You went from 285w T5s to a 400w MH.
This is almost double the output (light & heat).

What does your water temp look like?
Just offering another suggestion.

 

[Bifferwine]

The algae is feeding off of something. That would be nitrates and phosphates. Often times, algae will take up the nutrients out of the water as quickly as they are added. Because the nutrients aren't hanging around in the water, they don't show up on test kits. But I can guarantee you, that if you have algae, you have nitrate and/or phosphate problems, because algae can't live without those two things.