Green algae on glass...

[JC_UF_ITK]

Just about every day there's some green algae on my glass. I use the mag float to get most of it off, but it just clouds up my tank for awhile until it filters through. I'm only feeding a small bit of food every other day for my goby. Does anyone know how to cut down on the algae a little? Thanks.

[Sk8r]

Reduce exposure to sunlight and use ro/di water. It thrives on phosphates, which come in via inadequately filtered water, dry fish food, etc. And new tanks just get a lot of it because it's a strong competitor and the tank hasn't got much that can outcompete it for a niche. When your tank builds up a good invertebrate base of snails, worms, featherdusters, sponges, etc, this pest will die out and a new pest algae [bubble] will move in. Reaching the state of pristine whiteness again is the work of months and months of good reefkeeping, a strong skimmer [2x the rating for your tank's size, is what I recommend], regular water testing, proper lighting, not letting your bulbs get old, and of course keeping your ro/di filter in good operating order.

[drummereef]

Reducing nutrients is the only way of completely getting rid of it. Most likely you are introducing phosphate and nitrate from the water source. I can't recommend RO/DI enough. ;)

How old is the tank?
What are your nitrates and phosphates reading?
Do you use RO/DI or Tap?

[Aquarist007]

can I suggest you buy a phosban reactor----between 30-50 dollars--this will reduce the phosphates and you will see a noticable difference in days

[JC_UF_ITK]

The tank is about 2 months old. I have been using distilled water instead of tap. The tank is in my office so having a ro/di unit is out of the question.

[kuoka]

Can you buy and store RO/DI at the office?

[JC_UF_ITK]

Where would I buy it? I have a large u-shaped desk with plenty of storage underneath it.

[paulallen]

Most grocery stores have ro/di water for sale. Around here anyway. Always tested 001 ppm.

[JC_UF_ITK]

I've been buying distilled water from the store, but haven't seen ro/di water. Is it usually in the bottled water section?

[rhudd26]

Do they sell HOB phosphate reactors?

[Sk8r]

There's usually a machine somewhere in the store that dispenses it, and it's not in the bottled water: ask at the front desk if they have a water machine. Get a TDS meter---that way you can test the bottles so that you never use one that's on the waning side of their filter effectiveness. THe distilling process can potentially let all sorts of nastiness drip back into the water off surfaces in the distilling apparatus---we found this was the case with one company whose water we were using. TDS of good ro/di is 0. If it's more than 3, I wouldn't use it.b

[Reefbox]

I totally agree with drummerreef.......Test your source water with a TDS meter. This test alone can tell u much about what you r putting in your tank.

Walmart has a RO/DI water dispenser right by the milk section here. Although i did test it the other day and it was at .007.

[kuoka]

I used to by mine at the LFS for $.50 a gallon then I bought a RO/DI unit for the house. You might look into units online (I've seen some real good deals that RC posters have mentioned) and make your own. But do yourself a favor by calculating your ROI before. Just my $.02 worth anyway.

[spinninmidwater]

i'm sorry but can anyone tell me why bottled distilled water isn't good enough? thanks

[kuoka]

IMO If the tank is a reef, then distilled is potentially bad because most or all distilled water is stored in metal containers or drums. So while the evaporative process results in pure water, the metal storage container contaminates it. Inverts are much more sensitive to metals than we are; which could be bad for them.

[spinninmidwater]

thanks kuoka
i am a bad reef keeper - i use de-chlorinated tap water for weekly water change and distilled water for topup, thinking that i could save a penny
this hobby is draining my blood... i mean money
guess i should really consider ro/di unit then
no wonder i too have been fighting the "green" on my glass but for the time being, my hardworking turbo and trochus snails are helping me a lot. and i noticed significant improvement after using phosguard

[Reefbox]

Spinnin
I used tap water for years (when i never tested tds) and the corraline algae never really took over until i went with the ro/di water. Test that tap water w/ a tds meter and u will find out the quality. My tap water has a tds of 150.

The biggest improvement and best investment i made was an ro/di unit, but now I'm soon to be b ditching the ro/di unit and going with a Kati Ani water purification unit, that i can recharge the di resin over and over, to eliminate waste water expenses.

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10304976#post10304976 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kuoka
IMO If the tank is a reef, then distilled is potentially bad because most or all distilled water is stored in metal containers or drums. So while the evaporative process results in pure water, the metal storage container contaminates it. Inverts are much more sensitive to metals than we are; which could be bad for them.

Distilled water is boiled leaving the impurties behind. Smaller molecules can still get through this process so there can be a residual.

R/O water is run through a number of membranes increasingly smaller in particle size they let through so it is more effecient at getting everything.

not the greatest eg but salt creep demonstrates that salt particles can still evaporate with the water when it is heated.

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10305511#post10305511 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Reefbox
Spinnin
I used tap water for years (when i never tested tds) and the corraline algae never really took over until i went with the ro/di water. Test that tap water w/ a tds meter and u will find out the quality. My tap water has a tds of 150.

The biggest improvement and best investment i made was an ro/di unit, but now I'm soon to be b ditching the ro/di unit and going with a Kati Ani water purification unit, that i can recharge the di resin over and over, to eliminate waste water expenses.

I like this idea esp conserving teh waste water--do you have a link where I can read more?

[Reefbox]

capn,

Anthony Calfo & Steven Pro have been using this method only for years and I know those 2 do this professionally. I know it will save money on water usage over time.




Kati Ani thread (http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic67495-13-1.aspx)