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Home      Reply		Viewed: 269 -- Replies: 8
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Posted	algae problem
06-03-2006 19:19 by bigs32	Hi guys I seem to have this brown, black, purple coloured slimey algae appearing on my sand bed. My tank has been established since october. Just after christmas i started to get a green hair algae problem but managed to eliminate this by covering the glass on the side of the tank which was near to a window in my living room, and i also changed my luminaire bulbs, which im told you should do after 6 months as the light spectrum changes and as a result can encourage algae growth. My phosphate reading is zero and i use rowaphos. My nitrates are currently 5. I know the trates should be zero and im working on this but up to 2 months ago they were as high as 20 and i didnt have this algae problem then. The only other thing i have changed recently, but cant think this has caused it, is put another powerhead in directed at the sandbed to eliminate a potential dead spot there. Anysuggestions guys?? Many thanks
06-03-2006 23:57 by andyjh	Its the powerhead you've added its providing oxygen to a spot where theres no compitition for food, when you feed the fish does it all drop into said space?
07-03-2006 07:49 by Alan	I think you are describing diatoms. Remove it by hand if you can and keep on top of it the problem should pass I agree with andy that it may be the power head that has caused this however I do not suggest you remove the power head as it has highlighted a problem area in your tank leave the power head where it is and remove the diatoms by hand and eventually all of the silicates will be used up and the problem will pass. Equally diatoms do not feed on nitrate so do not think the nitrate shift has caused this diatoms as far as I am aware feed directly on silicates and by stiring up this dead spot you have released the silicates into the water column. Diatoms are bacteria by the way not algae although it is often called red slime algae. Nitrates of 5 ppm are fine.
07-03-2006 18:15 by bigs32	Thanks guys....i will attempt to add a photo to this reply and would appreciate if you could look to make sure it is the problem as you describe. Thanks for your knowledge and sound advise...as suggested, ill leave the powerhead where it is, syphon out what i can and see what happens....any further advise once you have seen the picture i would be grateful of. Many thanks James
07-03-2006 18:18 by bigs32	here
07-03-2006 18:29 by bigs32	sorry forgot to ask....other than through regular water changes, what, if anything, should i be doing to reduce the silicates in the tank?....to be honest i have not tested for silicates so will aim to get a test for it...any suggestions on make of test kit? thanks guys
08-03-2006 08:20 by Alan	Its definately diatoms you have remove it by hand and providing you are not adding silicates to the tank it will eventually stop coming back. Providing you use RO water at water changes it will go of its own accord, incidentally how long has the rowaphos been in the tank as it may be exhausted as rowaphos will also absorb silicates although I am not sure how effective it is at dealing with silicates. Do you have any grazers in the tank equally a sand sifting starfish or to may help keep the substrate turned over.
08-03-2006 09:02 by bigs32	Thanks Alan for your comments and sound advice I am currently using a rowaphos rowa sponge which is placed in the bubble diffuser of my skimmer (a hang on thing to the tank which comes with the tmc v2 skim where filter media can be used). This has done well to take my phosphates to zero but i am unsure how effective the sponge is in removing silicates compared to the traditional rowphos resin granules. I have emailed rowaphos to seek advice on this and will use the resin granules instead if needs be. I dont have a sand shifting star fish but will endeavour to get one. I have 37 small blue hermits and 25 small cerith snails. It is a small 180l tank I am doing a minimum 10% water change per week, up to 20% every third week using RO. I am a sceptical bugger and regularly check the quality of the RO from my lfs and am happy that it contains no nitrates and phos in its pure state. I will test it for silicates as soon as my silcate test kit arrives. Thanks again for your help James
08-03-2006 10:02 by Alan	One thing to watch with the blue legs and the ceriths is the blue legs nicking the ceriths shells if it starts happening make a decison about keeping snails or hermits I will only keep turbos with hermits all other snails are small enough to be on the hermits radar for food. If you go for snails you could keep a wide variety of grazers including nassarius snails more ceriths and some of the more unusual but small snails as well as turbos of course.

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