Green Hair Algae and Feeding Schedule

[tdyrkacz]

I am using rodi although the last 2 water changes i had tds of about 5. I changed the water many times during the curing stage and phosphates were very high .8ppm or so. Even after i started the aquarium up it was about .6ppm but as soon as i started using GFO it dropped to zero or near zero.

 

[Harold Green]

Five is pretty high if that's out of a di resin. You should be able to get that out of your membrane before it goes through the di filters. A good ro with di should produce around zero if it's working well. The problem with that 5tds is you don't know what it is that's actually giving you that reading. You need to get the ro down to 0 if you can before you add anymore water to the tank otherwise you may be adding nitrates and phosphates or some type of toxic materials to the tank with each top up or water change. This may not fix your problem but it will improve the overall water quality in your tank. The reason I asked about the phosphate levels during curing is it will often indicate when you need to flush the rock with multiple water changes before putting it in the tank if it is leeching out a lot of phosphates.

 

[tdyrkacz]

Five is pretty high if that's out of a di resin. You should be able to get that out of your membrane before it goes through the di filters. A good ro with di should produce around zero if it's working well. The problem with that 5tds is you don't know what it is that's actually giving you that reading. You need to get the ro down to 0 if you can before you add anymore water to the tank otherwise you may be adding nitrates and phosphates or some type of toxic materials to the tank with each top up or water change. This may not fix your problem but it will improve the overall water quality in your tank. The reason I asked about the phosphate levels during curing is it will often indicate when you need to flush the rock with multiple water changes before putting it in the tank if it is leeching out a lot of phosphates.

Thanks. I do have a question regarding this. Could I be getting high tds readings because of too high a flow? I installed an inline flush valve a little while ago and I am thinking it may be a little too fast even in the closed position. I changed the resin recently and all the filters have been changed about 500 gallon ago.

 

[tdyrkacz]

So here is what I did.

I shut the lights off between 11 am and 2 pm for the last 4 days or so. I got 2 emerald crabs and six more turbo snails. I also have been running gfo & carbon 24/7

It looks like I am starting to win the battle. The algae is beginning to disappear. I don't know how much the crabs had to do with it, but they seem to eat non stop. They look like they're at the buffet.

 

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Dave

 

[JakeK]

Your tank is still really new. I went through a GHA outbreak after 2.5 months. It was really nasty. It is just part of the ugly tank phase. Eventually it will go away. You can expedite it a little with the GFO, manual removal, CUC, cutting lights, reducing feedings, more frequent water changes, but I think almost all new tanks go through it. Here's a picture when my GHA was at its worst.

 

[tdyrkacz]

Not a trace of Hair Algae left.