Cant Keep Reef Clean

[dpenta13]

Hey everyone

I have a 55 gal with about 50-60lbs of live rock,
live sand, An AC110 for mechanical filter and some
bio media. A BAK PAK skimmer that has been running
for a few weeks. Two Maxi Jet 1200s and one 1150gph
Korelia. And a decent size cleaner crew with snails and
hermits.

I keep getting red (carpet?) algae all over my sand
and rocks. Comes right back after manual removal.

Was going to do a full tank cleaning and partial water change
with distilled water instead of tap water and conditioner.

Any other tips? Is that enough water movemnt?

 

[sc50964]

Sounds like cyno bacterial problem. Usually the result of excessive organic waste and phosphate. There are ways to treat it by dosing meds, just such meds could pose harm to your livestock as it uses up quite a bit of the dissolved oxygen in the water. IMO and own exp, increase WC, flow, and adding GFO will solve the issue. Not immediate, but will cure the root cause.

 

[saltwater2999]

Look into red slime algae. How old is the tank.

 

[dpenta13]

Tank has been running for about a year.

I went in reef cleaners an ID it as cyanobacteria.

What is a GFO and what does it cost roughly.

 

[username in use]

Well if you have been using tap water then changing that would be in order before applying any GFO. Look into an R/O unit, or somewhere that you can purchase RO water. Your tap water is feeding the cyano.

Once you locate some RO, you are going to want to do a series of large water changes, like 50% every 3 or 4 days for 4 or 5 changes. Vacuum out as much of the cyano as you can each time. Im willing to bet that the water source is your problem, and it's better to treat the problem then the symptom

 

[thebanker]

GFO is granular ferric oxide, it's basically bits of iron rust in the form of a coarse sand like material, and it chemically absorbs phosphate from the water. It really helps.

 

[dpenta13]

Ok i will start doing that as soon as i can get some RO water.

Is it ok to do some water changes temporarily with distilled water?

 

[username in use]

Distilled is fine, but the cheapest method long term will be to get yourself an RO/DI filter.

 

[Cymonous]

I wouldn't bother if it is distilled water. You would be just wasting salt. You can always get RODI water from a LFS.

 

[dpenta13]

Ok i will do that, whats a decent RODI filter thats not too expensive?
I will do some research on it just want an idea were to start looking

 

[dkeller_nc]

You'll have to define what "expensive" means for us. The very cheapest RO/DI set up is probably the Aquatic Life RO Buddie with auxillary DI cartridge installed.

More typical is $150 - $200, from a ton of different vendors. Very few hobbyist systems are more than $225.

Bulk Reef Supply sells a lot of RO/DI units in various combinations for hobbyists. The Filter Guys are forum sponsors that sell a lot of units as well.

 

[username in use]

I wouldn't bother if it is distilled water. You would be just wasting salt. You can always get RODI water from a LFS.

Can you explain your reasoning here? From what he is describing, some water changes with distilled should put him on the course to correcting things while he figures out the RO/DI situation.

 

[thebanker]

Distilled water is fine as long as it tests low on TDS. Get a TDS meter.

 

[dpenta13]

Ok i will look into some RODI filters.

Thanks for everyones help.

 

[Cymonous]

Can you explain your reasoning here? From what he is describing, some water changes with distilled should put him on the course to correcting things while he figures out the RO/DI situation.

Distilled water is going to have some amount of TDS. If he is willing to get a RODI unit to produce 0 tds, why waste salt and time by still adding more dissolved solids to your tank? I've used distilled water and had hair aglae and cyano problems with my previous tank. I went straight to RODI with my current tank and have not had any hair algae or cyano issues since.

 

[username in use]

Sure, but the point is, if he isn't going to get an RO immediately, and is going to do water changes anyway, then the distilled is worlds ahead of standard tap water.

 

[HornetMech242]

+1 on the distilled water over tap. Not everyone has the money to drop on aquarium equipment at the drop of a hat. He would be doing way better with distilled if he is using tap.

 

[Cymonous]

Sure, but the point is, if he isn't going to get an RO immediately, and is going to do water changes anyway, then the distilled is worlds ahead of standard tap water.

But, we don't know what the TDS is of his tap water. We also don't know the TDS of the distilled water he is going to buy. I have heard some reefers' tap water having a low TDS, but still had algae problems. Both sources have some amount of TDS. We don't know what those dissolved solids are. This is why everyone recommends RODI water.

Unless he can get a portable TDS meter to test and compare both sources, I would not recommend even going with distilled. I say this from personal experience.

 

[username in use]

I have heard some reefers' tap water having a low TDS, but still had algae problems.

But you have to realize that that is completely anecdotal. I have heard of people getting shot in the head and being perfectly fine. Does that mean I can take a bullet to the head? It's an extreme example but my point is you cant take one or two cases and extrapolate out to say "this always". We also don't know all the other contributing factors of those other reefers. What was their feeding like? What was their water change schedule like (maybe they were lazy about it). What was their filtration like? What was their stocking like etc. etc. . .

You need to address each case as they come and on their own merits. 99% of the time, tap water is going to have a higher TDS then distilled water will. Therefore if he can't access or is not able to purchase RO/DI in the immediate future, he would be better served to try distilled for his next couple water changes while he figures out a better solution.

 

[Cymonous]

99% of the time, tap water is going to have a higher TDS then distilled water will.

And this is not anecdotal?

I am giving my opinion and so are you. We are both giving our opinions based on personal experience and not completely factual information. So, don't try to say I am the only one being completely anecdotal.