CA reactor/low ph & diatoms

[fastjunkie]

Will a low ph swing encourage unwanted algae growth(diatoms)? I recently added a ca reactor, dialed everything in and all was good. About a week later I came home from a weekend trip to find diatoms and some slime algae. Checked water params and the only thing off was Ph. Went from 8.2 down to 7.8 as I keep my reactor @ 6.5. I'm using a used reactor with used media which could possibly be leeching phosphates back into my tank but also read low Ph could in fact cause an algae outbreak.....any thoughts?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Excess CO2 can possibly encourage photosynthetic organisms of various sorts, although connecting diatoms to a CaCO3/CO2 reactors is not a common thread that I've seen.

What sort of media were you using?

 

[fastjunkie]

Randy.....meant cyanide not diatoms.....sorry

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I presume you mean cyano?

 

[fastjunkie]

Yes....cyano. Damn spell check!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

:lol:

Yes, it is possible that low pH/high CO2 might contribute to such issues, but more often, nutrients of various sorts (including organics) are the primary drivers that you can adjust. The media in the reactor may also be supplying phosphate.

 

[fastjunkie]

Randy....upon further investigation I believe I'm dealing with dino's. Any connection between them and low ph?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Maybe:

Problem Dinoflagellates and pH
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php