a little help

[harrisagogetter]

I went through yesterday made a 5 gal water change. i have done this every week for the past 3 months. Soon after (within 2 days there is green algea growing on the glass on 3 walls of the cube? What gives

ph 8.2
am 0
nit 0
trate 0
temp is 77.4

I just ordered a tds meter so that may be one of the problems, but the ro/di is less than a year old. In the tank there two small clowns(maybe 1" long), a couple of softies, and two acros. There is about 40lbs of live sand, 35lbs of rock. I have a ccs65 that pulls great skim.

It also may be that the tank is still young( less than a year old)

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
Aaron

 

[harrisagogetter]

soory forgot the other pic

http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e286/harrisagogetter/DSCN0725.jpg

 

[myakkareef]

I believe that the diatoms on the glass are really nothing more then a hassle. I go thru spells where sometimes they appear and then others they taper off for awhile. Do you run any carbon? If not you might give it a try. I have started running carbon 24/7 and have been very pleased with the results. I believe this is pretty normal and why all the companys sell magnet cleaners now...

 

[Agu]

Yeah, I get diatoms that need to be cleaned off the glass every couple of days too. I think of it as releasing phyto when I scrape the glass with a magnet cleaner .


As Scott pointed out using carbon may help some.

Also, although I admire your diligence, you may want to back off a bit on the waterchanges. With a skimmer and small bioload I don't see that you need to change that much water that often. It could be that your tank can never acheive equilibrium because of too much water being changed. Try going down to a couple of gallons/week and see if that makes any difference ?

 

[harrisagogetter]

oh great more maintance!!!!!

 

[harrisagogetter]

BTW would an ozone generator help in this situation? I was planning on getting one. then i will have to run carbon reguardless.

 

[myakkareef]

I really think AGU was talking less maintenance with less water changes. Carbon is pretty easy, stuff a bag full any where water flows. I have been using a old phosphate reactor running carbon and it is basically effortless....
Trust me I hate maintenance and thats what gets me in trouble with my equipment. Oiling pumps, fans and such is alot more then just doing a water change. 5 gal water change takes about 5 minutes at the most. And that includes starting a new batch of water for the next one..I think once you get a system down things get easier. Then again it is easier not to do any but thats when things start falling to pieces...

 

[Agu]

I went through yesterday made a 5 gal water change. i have done this every week for the past 3 months.

I'm recommending doing smaller waterchanges and allowing the system to become more stable.


As far as reducing algae growth using ozone the jury is still out on that one,

Ozone and the Reef Aquarium, Part 1: