Phosphates and filtration

J

joecas

Member
Hi,

I have a RSM S400, new, about 2 months, and the green hair algae seems out of control. I've added around 70 snails, hermit crabs, etc. and it seems to be getting worse. I've been doing some reading and it seems some use a PhosBan Reactor.

1. The C-Slim 1800 isn't really producing bubbles. What adjustments can I make to fix this?
2. Does anyone use the carbon bags that comes with the S400, if so, how often to you clean them and/or change them? If not, what do you use instead?
3. Is there any dosing I should be doing? Any product recommendations and frequency would be appreciated.
4. Should I manually pull out the hair algae or be patient and let the CUC do its job?
5. Has anyone used Phosphate RX to kill the algae? Recommended? Alternatives?

I just ordered a phosphate tester so I don't know the exact measurement yet, but going by the algae growth in the tank, I assume it will be off the charts high.

Any recommendations, questions or comments would be greatly welcomed.

Thanks!
Joe
 
Adrienne

Adrienne

Well-Known Member
Still relatively new to marines myself - I have the Red Sea C-250 and eight months down the track am still battling hair algae. I started using Nopox about 10 days ago and so far no noticeable difference. With reference to testing for nitrate and phosphate I understand that quite often, if you have bad hair algae, the tests will show 0 as the algae is sucking it all up, and that is why it is growing so well. My tests show 0 for both.

My CUC has never made a noticeable difference but here in NZ we are very limited as to what is available. I manually remove the hair algae when I can.

I change my carbon monthly.
 
M

Marvilis

Member
Hey guys I own a RSM 250 and I will comment on the Green Hair Algae. I just came out of a 3 months battle with it. The clean crew is an absolute need but it is not the only answer. Phosband Reactor helps with the battle as well. Keeping up with your tank husbandry is key! I was doing 15% every week but the turning point for me was when I started to take a toothbrush to the rocks and removing the algae from them while making sure that I siphon all the floating algae that came off the rocks. It took about three weeks for me to get rid of the algae after brushing it off the rocks.

1. Keep up tank husbandry
2. Manual removal (repeat this until gone)

Now I can finally say I'm algae free.

Hope this helps
 
M

mike1970

Active Member
some guys do the Kent marine magnesium way. They raise the magnesium to 1600ppm over the course of 1-2 and they say this works check out this video
 
DianaKay

DianaKay

Princess Diana
RS STAFF
It will be interesting to see what reading you get when you test for phosphate.
I've dealt with nearly every kind of algae there is I think :tumbleweed:
Please post pictures of your problem algae. It will help you get the advice you need if we can see what you are dealing with.
A two month old tank will go through phases of algae & it does require CUC and lots of patience.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
DianaKay said:
It will be interesting to see what reading you get with you test for phosphate.
I've dealt with nearly every kind of algae there is I think :tumbleweed:
Please post pictures of your problem algae. It will help you get the advice you need if we can see what you are dealing with.
A two month old tank will go through phases of algae & it does require CUC and lots of patience.
Click to expand...

You have dealt with every kind there is!

Green Hair Algae really doesn't bother me much as it can be got under control and in a new tank it may even just be a phase.

When I got GHA in a mature tank I:
Swapped out my Chemical media (2xchemi pure elite, 1 Purigen)
Got rid of my sponges in rsm 250
Switched from 10% weekly water changes to 20%
Added seachem phosnet to my media rack (GFO-possibly overkill with CPE)
Changed my filter floss twice a week (well do that anyway)

A few weeks later, it was all gone.
 
Joeys Tank

Joeys Tank

Well-Known Member
I had high levels of nutrients in my tank early on (nitrates = 40 ppm, phosphates = 1.81 ppm). However, I didn't have algae outbreaks aside from diatomes and cyano. I started using NO3PO4-x and nitrates dropped off quickly with PO4 slowly coming down to around 0.4ppm. During this time, I had a few patches of GHA and the dosing seemed to make it retreat. I finished up the 1 Liter bottle about a month ago and have seen a slow increase in GHA growth again. Nitrates are near zero but phosphates have creeped up to 0.8ppm. I may just pick up another bottle and give it a go :)
 
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