Couple of issues with new 90G setup

[Fun $ Pit]

First of all - Hello all! I've been a forums troll for a while now, but now I need some advice.

I have a 90G tank with 29G sump and I have a couple of issues recently. The main one I am concerned with is a bryopsis (hair algae?) outbreak. I believe my problem is lack of RO/DI water - feel free to flog me, I know, I know. I have been using one of those single stage resin tap water filters, but I doubt it's been good enough. I don't have a TDS meter yet so I couldn't even guess how bad the water is. Now, I just setup a phos reactor a couple of days ago and it seems the hair algae has exploded in growth. It was a brownish color, but now is green and growing worse than ever. Is this the "gets worse before getting better part?" I have been feeding 2 Tsp of frozen food and a strip of greens daily to my 5 fish and cutting down to feeding frozen every other day for a while. Lights (6 light T5) are cut down to actinics from 10a.m. to 11 p.m. and brights from 4p.m. to 6p.m. to our ric and shrooms get some light. The water params are good with 0 Trates, 0 Trites, 0 Amm, 8.4 PH, 1.023 Sal, 320 Calc, 1500 Mag (just raised via Epson salts), water temp @ 78 degrees.

My other issue is the amount of evap I am having lately. Seems like it has increased in the last couple of days from maybe a half gallon to maybe 2 gallons. What can cause this?

Thanks in advance for any feedback and advice you can give.

Larry and Mandi

[acro-wrasse]

Originally posted by Fun $ Pit

The main one I am concerned with is a bryopsis (hair algae?) outbreak. I believe my problem is lack of RO/DI water - feel free to flog me, I know, I know.

Larry and Mandi

Looks like you already know the cause. Consider yourself flogged!

1. Obviously, you need to start using RO/DI water immediately.
2. Try using silicate and phosphate removers to clean up the water already in the tank.
3. Remove as much of the hair algae as you can by hand/brush/dynamite.
4. Do you have a clean up crew?? Turbo snails are great for this job, but get astrea snails as well. I have also used lots of hermits to mow the algae down. Tangs are also good for browsing algae, but in a 90 gal space for more than a couple tangs is limited.
5. Don't wait for it to get better, it rarely does. If you want to see improvement soon, act today!

Just about everyone has fought hair algae at some point, don't give up!! Good luck

Kevin

[teena]

i live in collierville, i can give you some RO water to do a water change, and we can test your water with my tds meter,

[sperry]

Teena did you get one of the free TDS meters? I hadn't heard anyone say theirs came in and what they thought of it.

Sounds like the algae issue has been covered pretty well.

As far as the increase in evaporation, have you turned up the heat in your house recently? Anything that would dry the air out in the house or increase the air flow over the tank would cause it.

[Doris M]

I have a 75g with a 20g sump and I have to add at least a gallon every day. Sounds normal to me. I ran well water in my tank before I got my ro unit and my tank did well.

[teena]

cathey got me one, i guess she ordered them from the same place, i got mine about 3 weeks ago,

[Fun $ Pit]

I had a feeling that by not making an RO one of my first purchases I was essentially shooting myself in the foot. My problem at the moment is this: I'm out of the state from now until the 31st. My poor creatures are being tended to by someone I know, but is only doing the feeding, checking, and top offs. (with my awesome polluted water none the less.) It appears that I will have to mow the grass in the tank when I return. I was told today that I even have hairy snails. Not sure whether to laugh or cry at that statement. Oh I wish I was home right now to resolve this problem. I just hate wondering what kind of mess I'll be having to tend to when I return. I am in the process of ordering an RO/DI unit that I will install when I get home.

[Fun $ Pit]

Originally posted by teena
i live in collierville, i can give you some RO water to do a water change, and we can test your water with my tds meter,

Thank you - very kind and I really appreciate the offer, but it might have to wait unfortunately until I return home on the 30th or 31st. Believe me.. at this time I wish I were home replacing my water tonight.

[crpeck]

I only have experience with a couple of tanks, but both my main tanks went through a hair algae stage, the second even worse than the first and I have always used RODI water. In both cases it gradually went away on its own by just my staying diligent with water changes, manually plucking it, staying stocked with algae clean up critters, and keeping the rocks clean.

All of the advice above is great. The only thing I can add is to use a pump or turkey baster to blow all the crud off of your rock every time you do a water change if not more often. The hair algae grows where there is detritus build up. As you keep the rocks clear and give them a chance to grow coralline, the algae will recede.

The algae eating fish like Tangs, Lawnmower Blennies, etc do great nipping the shoots and keeping it from growing back, but the thick coarse clumps have pretty well got to be removed by hand.

I still have some hair algae in my 24g but its all to the back and one side now. Personally, I don't really mind it because its full of pods, mysids, and those little mini starfish. I also have a couple of snails with big green hairdos. If they ever run out of stuff to eat, they can all clean each other's shells. :-)

Don't stress. If your tank has been up anything less than a year I think it is a normal stage.

Cathy

[willember]

1.use RODI
2.get phosphate remover! (in a reactor)
3.Grow Cheato in refugium
4.boost magnesium to 1500-1600
5.KEEP pH @ 3.2!!! <- not any less

don't worry about reducing lighting. it will only hurt the stuff competing with the bryopsis.
Elysia crispata will reliably eat it, but keeping them out of pumps and powerheads is challenging.

1 - 3 are generally good habits.
4 help a lot
5 is essential.

You will never 'win'. It will never be gone.
you can do the above things to keep it from being problematic, maybe even keep it from being visible. But as soon as you slack up for a sec. it will quickly remind you that it is just biding its time, waiting for you to go on vacation or get lazy.
no, im not bitter about everything, just bryopsis...

[acro-wrasse]

Except for some corals, hair algae does not kill anything in your tank. It just makes your tank look nasty.

[keaton]

Well i hate to admit this buttttt..... I have had my 55 gallon for two years (one as a reef) and have never used RO water..... Only strait up tap water dosed with prime. I have had no prolonged outbursts of hair algae. I had one outbreak that lasted for about 3 weeks.

[crpeck]

Also ... there is a difference between common hair algae and bryopsis. The bryopsis is the stuff that looks like little feathers and the hair algae is the furry stuff.

[keaton]

O, then I dont think I have ever had bryopsis.

[dzones]

Well i hate to admit this buttttt..... I have had my 55 gallon for two years (one as a reef) and have never used RO water.....

You have to take into consideration the source of your water. It will be different from city to town and even house to house.

For example it is not unusual for a larger city to have 300ppm straight from the tap, whereas here in Humboldt I pour 30ppm from mine. We have excellent water quality which is more typical of a smaller township in most cases.

Knowing how water can be treated with several things to make it drinkable for us humans, I think it would be wise to always use RO/DI to be on the safer side. Seems a shame to risk so much of your tank's health on what is really a small investment for what you KNOW to be better quality.

just my 2 cents worth...

[acro-wrasse]

Using tap water does not assure you of getting algae issues, but it does greatly increase your chances.

The reverse is just as true. Using RO/DI does not prevent you from getting algae issues.

How much you feed
How often you do water changes
How many gallons you do each change
Use of chemical resins
Setup design (water flow, skimming, etc)
Brand of salt you use for makeup
Karma

Basically everything you do impacts the water quality.

[crpeck]

Here is kind of an interesting thread. They're experimenting with increasing Magnesium levels to kill off bryopsis. There also are some good pictures of what bryopsis looks like vs hair algae.

I was thinking about trying it, but have finally eradicated the bryosis on my own and was a little afraid to try something so drastic.

Here's the link:

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forum...0#post11438500

[Fun $ Pit]

Well, we're back home from traveling! Got back on Sunday actually. I've been busy cleaning up the mess of my tank/sump that went nuts from all the algae die-off while I was gone. I totally dismantled sump and cleaned it all out as well as the equipment. Lemme tell you how much I like having a sump now - it still kept the display in nominal shape as the sump was a total mess.

My phos reactor has done a great job killing the hair algae off so far. I'd say within another week or so it should be a distant bad memory. My RO/DI unit should be here by Saturday so I can start the water change regiment to get my aquarium water changed out.

Now for the really bad news. I came back to 4 dead snails and my beloved bi-color blenny (Bennie) had perished. The rest of my fish have developed a bad case of ick as well. Lost my male clown yesterday too. Pretty sure it was advanced ick looking back at how he was acting the day we got back (swimming in current almost all night) He seemed fine, then within hours turned white and perished. Words do not describe how sad we are - not been a good New Year so far. My sailfin and kole tangs have ick, but are strong at this time and the female clown was moved to quarantine yesterday. That's where the male perished.

We are now just waiting for a certain lfs to open so we can rush over and pick up some copper and an aquaclear filter. I will be running two quarantine tanks through this. The female clown will be in 10 gallon and the tangs will be in my actual quarantine tank of 29 gallons while I treat.

That's all I have for an update so far - wish us luck while we treat the fish we have left at this point.

[teena]

let me know if you need RO water i can bring some to you,