How Often Do You Need To Wipe The Glass Clean

[Principal_P]

I've been using Culligan RO water for about the last 6-7 months for changes & top offs for my tank. The past few weeks I have been using my own RODI water. And have done two 25 gallon changes recently. I only feed what my tomato, 2 PJ cardinals, and 2 damsel can consume in about 30-40 seconds once per day. I've been running GFO & Carbon since Christmas. Nothing I have done has resulted in a change...I can't go more than a day or two without having to wipe the front glass of my 75 gallon tank clean. I've cut down on my led lighting too...no change. I am battling a hair algae problem and pick out as much as I can. I've taken three rocks out one at a time and bleached them clean. Yet, weeks later I find them totally covered in baby hair algae sprouts. I hear a lot of people talk about cleaning the glass every week to 10 days or so and if they have to clean it more frequently, that's a sign to change their GFO. I've changed my GFO & carbon about every 6 weeks. Like I said, I have to clean the glass every other day. I'm sure I'm providing a breading ground for these little buggers. I'm running out of ideas! I will tell you that I do not have a refugium and use the bio-ball trickle filters. I've gone to the "finance department" (ie: the mrs.) so many times with "this will fix it I'm sure"...my credibility is shot. Quite frankly, I'm getting tired of going to the mrs. with another plan that ends up not working. I appreciate some direction...will I see results with a refugium or am I screwing something else up that needs fixing first?

[jminick2]

its pretty normal to have to wipe your glass down every couple days. Nothing you can do about it.

[DaveRaz]

Every few days. I thought it was a pain until I had to start scrapping the coralline. Not fun.

[smedlin]

I am battling a hair algae problem and pick out as much as I can. I've taken three rocks out one at a time and bleached them clean. Yet, weeks later I find them totally covered in baby hair algae sprouts.

have you tested your water? You may have something out of wack.

[Kidd Reef]

Every couple days, only wipe the front down though, sides and back i just pick up a few snails and placem on the glass

[Principal_P]

So, in spite of others talking about going as long as a week or so having to wipe it down ever couple of days is normal??? That's good to know...thanks.

Maybe this should be it's own thread, but what about the rock I blasted about 4-6 weeks ago that now has all of this hair algae sprouting EVERYWHERE? I've been taking "aggressive" measures to get rid of my extra nutrients, so why am going backwards?

[smedlin]

You checked for Phosphorous, yes?

How old is your tank btw?

[Principal_P]

I have not checked for phosphorous...I didn't realize that there was a difference between phosphorous & phosphate, and I've just assumed that if my hair algae is flourishing I've got plenty of it.

My tank age is sorta complicated...I've had the tank for several (about 7) years...tore it down for a move about 4 years ago. Always seemed to have a hair algae & diatom issue. Last year it got way outta hand and I was just going to let it devolve and get out of the hobby all together. But then last fall decided better of it and have been making a conscience effort to do better. I have had some success since Christmas, but seeing that rock covered in hair algae sprouts has me totally discouraged again.

[Spar]

generally, more water changes will help significantly with the algae issue. you need to export out the build-up of nutrients from over feeding and fish poop. you seem to have a low bioload at least.

are you using RO/DI water, confirmed at 0 TDS? what salt are you using?

as for cleaning the glass, i 'need' to by every 5th day or so. probably 'should' every 3 days. i can get away with a little over a week but my wife starts giving me the stink-eye. water quality really doesn't seem to play a whole lot on this... just have to no matter what.

[Principal_P]

Yes, according to the TDS meter...it reads 0. I did a 25G change with Red Sea Pro on Mar 22 and another one on Mar 29, and I still have to wipe the front glass every day. Is this too soon to see an improvement on the glass? Am I not being patient enough?

[Spar]

Yes, according to the TDS meter...it reads 0. I did a 25G change with Red Sea Pro on Mar 22 and another one on Mar 29, and I still have to wipe the front glass every day. Is this too soon to see an improvement on the glass? Am I not being patient enough?

to clarify, your front glass will need to be cleaned frequently no matter what, clean water or not. there is a layer of gunk that is naturally going to form on it.

the water changes are going to help with your hair algae problem. when siphoning out water make sure you are getting any piled up crud at the bottom of the tank along with it, and/or run the siphon along rocks, etc.

keep an eye on NO3 and PO4 as you do this, hopefully you will start to get a reading on these rather than zero, which you likely will have right now (algae is consuming it all).

[bertoni]

The measuring kits we commonly use all detect orthophosphate, whether they are labeled "phosphorus" or phosphate. There are some total phosphorus kits available, but they are complicated to use, and I don't know of anyone who's tried one.

Personally, I would get a phosphate kit and see whether the GFO reactor can handle the algae issue. If the phosphate level is high, the media might need to be changed daily for some period of time. The GFO approach works in quite a few cases, and is easy to try. Also, the tank might be getting too much food for its filtration system. Better skimming and a reduction in feeding can help a lot. How much live rock is in the system, and what is the feeding rate?

[Principal_P]

I had no idea that GFO could exhaust so rapidly. I'll get a phosphate kit and check that angle. I have about 80# of rock in the tank now, and I only feed once a day. Most days I'll use pellets, but on occassion (maybe 1-2 per week) I'll feed mysis. I have found that if I don't keep my tomato clown happy, he'll dig all over the tank. Looks like I'll try and see how much less food I can get away with and still keep him happy.

[Rbei312]

Along the lines of phosphate. I'm running a 75 gallon reef tank with an20 gallon sump. I have a mixture of lps and sps and a few softies. I run a skimmer and I dose calc and alk and I'm running a GFO reactor. As far as parameters go my alk runs 9.5, calc is 450 to 500. 0 nitrates. I was checking phosphates with a Red Sea kit and was getting around .04. I just got a Hanna UL phosphorus test and I'm getting 0. I tested it twice with the same reading. I shut down my gfo, what kind of detrimental effects can 0 phosphates have. My tank is about 3.5 yrs old.