Dead Clam and algae issues

[shyland83]

So the last few weeks i've suddenly had hair algae issues. I replaced the rowaphos in my reactor and it hasn't seemed to make a difference. In the last week the Maxima clam i've had for over a year started to open less and less then it died. I don't know if these things are related or not.

I plan on bringing a water sample to the meeting to test the phosphate to hopefully rule that out. Can i also test my RO water for phosphates?

The only thing i changed recently is my lighting schedule. I was running my halides 7 hours a day all summer and i slowly increased it to 10 hours. Could this cause either of these problems? Thanks for any advice.

 

[teen]

the increased photoperiod could be the culprit of the algae. how old are the bulbs?

clam could have died from the GFO. its important to add it slowly to the tank and you should try and run carbon along with it. GFO is believed to be a cause of PM in clams. PM is hard to cure and normally results in death of the clam. thats why im scared to start running a P04 reactor in my tank.

im pretty sure you can test RO water in the colorimiter. you have a TDS meter?

 

[shyland83]

I have an inline tds meter that i'm told isn't that accurate, but it read zero. I've been using gfo in the system since june i find it hard to believe it suddenly made a difference. The bulbs are 8 months old.

I think i'll decreas the photo period to 9 hours for now and see what happens.

 

[teen]

if you just changed out the GFO for new, it could have set something off.

 

[cdamiano]

Whenever changing out the GFO you should make sure you run it with the return going into a bucket or sink until the water runs clear before running it into your tank. I have been using it for a while now and never have had any problems with my clam or other inhabitants.

Regarding the hair algae, try checking your Magnesium level and other water parameters. I was battling some bryopsis hair algae for a while and increasing the Magnesium seemed to help, along with the GFO and a few tuxedo urchins.......and a lot of pulling it out by hand. I only have a few small patches left now and it hasn't been growing back much.

You should definitely bring a water sample to the meeting to test for phosphates. The test kits for this are not reliable.