should i be worried about this algae?

Hey guys I've had my tank setup for a bit now. This is part of the massive algae bloom I had about a week ago. I lessened my lighting a bit and it seems to have subsided a bit. Just wanna know if you can ID it and let me know if its something I should worry about. Will it clear out on its own as the tank matures?

This pic below is off the back panel of the tank.

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it's really hard to tell with these pics, it looks like you have some hair algae in there so get to pinchin'. You said that the tank has been setup for a bit now, that doesn't help... exactly how long? and post your water params along with it.
 
Its been setup since March 18, 2009. That's when I put in the LR. I tested my water yesterday before I did a 5g water change so that should have helped my values a little.

temp - 78F
pH - 8.4
ammonia - 0
nitrate - 2.5
nitrite - 0.1

I should note that I think I lost a few snails a bit back and that caused my ammonia to spike back up for a bit. I also filled my tank with tap water that I treated with Tetra AquaSafe. I had been using the tap water for about 2 weeks. I recently got my RO unit fixed so I've been using that now.
 
Two of the should not's or you are going to probably get algae

big number one --don't use tap water

number 2-----don't add you inverts when cycling your tank until your nitrates are zero

nitrates and phosphates are the fuel for nuisance algae growth
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14814402#post14814402 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by capn_hylinur
Two of the should not's or you are going to probably get algae

big number one --don't use tap water

number 2-----don't add you inverts when cycling your tank until your nitrates are zero

nitrates and phosphates are the fuel for nuisance algae growth

What's the best way to fix this? Should I just continue to do water changes with my RO water?
 
Ideally it would be RO/DI water, but as long as you're getting 0 TDS you should be fine. Yes continue water changes, the NO3 is reasonably low already, my money is on PO4 and other materials in the tap water which can fuel algae. Running a well-lit fuge with macroalgae will help, and running GFO is a good idea.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14814774#post14814774 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mat167
Ideally it would be RO/DI water, but as long as you're getting 0 TDS you should be fine. Yes continue water changes, the NO3 is reasonably low already, my money is on PO4 and other materials in the tap water which can fuel algae. Running a well-lit fuge with macroalgae will help, and running GFO is a good idea.

Well I've been using the RO water for a few weeks now, so hopefully things will improve. Should I just continue my 5g changes once a week, or increase that frequency?

I actually modded my old AC to be a mini fuge but never got around to actually finishing it. Mostly I didn't know what kind of lighting I'd need and the thought of having a bright light in my room at night isn't so pleasing... :eek:
 
You can do them more frequently, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Siphon out the cyano at the same time. The fuge light doesn't have to be anything spectacular. I use a CF bulb mounted in a clamp lamp. As for the light bothering you at night, just put it on a timer. Chaeto doesn't need 24 hour lighting, so you can just set it to the same time as your DT lights.

Also, RO water might not be giving you 0 PPM of TDS, so you want to be sure you have the purest water possible.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14814977#post14814977 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mat167
You can do them more frequently, maybe 2 or 3 times a week. Siphon out the cyano at the same time. The fuge light doesn't have to be anything spectacular. I use a CF bulb mounted in a clamp lamp. As for the light bothering you at night, just put it on a timer. Chaeto doesn't need 24 hour lighting, so you can just set it to the same time as your DT lights.

Also, RO water might not be giving you 0 PPM of TDS, so you want to be sure you have the purest water possible.

Alright this is my spring break this week so I'll do another one Tuesday and then again Thursday or Friday. My DIY AC fuge shouldn't give me any micro bubbles, right? The best thing for me to put back there is some LR rubble and chaeto, right? If I can just use a regular CF bulb then maybe I'll set this up sometime this week. The chaeto is pretty cheap too, for being so beneficial.

Yeah the RO water should be much better than the tap water I used in the beginning.
 
I wouldn't even put Lr rubble, it might let detritus build up. I would just run chaeto. The fuge shouldn't give microbubbles, even if it somehow does a bubble trap is easy enough to DIY.
 
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