Algae in my tubing/ATO

[SalinFL]

I got an IM ato and set it up about four months ago. I'm using a 5 gal container that I got from my lfs to hold the water (unsightly, but until I find something better...). I love the ato, it gives me great peace of mind. But my peace of mind went out the window tonight when I went to replenish the water and saw dark black/green algae in the tubing within the container and a pinkish hue in other parts of the tubing outside of the container. Anyone else have this problem? Is it preventable? Is there a specific type of tubing that I should have used? What I'm using comes from home depot.

Also, it this going to negatively affect my tank? If so, what should I do? I just did a water change yesterday.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Fin]

I use black air line tubing with an AquaLifter pump on mine. You can get it at PetSmart or PetCo. One of the few things I have ever bought from there.

 

[SalinFL]

Thanks Fin. Is the hose actually black? If so, how do you know if you don't have algae in it?

 

[Fin]

The hose is black, so no light gets in it. Been running for 5 years and it isn't stopped up, so likely no algae in it.

 

[SalinFL]

Mine isn't stopped up either, no flow disruption that I'm aware of. My thought was, algae anywhere else isn't good (of that color) so how could it be good in my replenish water tubing?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

You actually might want to figure out how stuff got into it. IE dirty water container or backwash from the tank made the tube into a petri dish, and yea black will stop the photosynthesis.

 

[SalinFL]

The holding tank is not clear plastic and it doesn't get sunlight. I'm going to replace the tube with something else and see what happens.