hey guys i just got some new metal halides for my 55 gallon. ive been getting really bad brown and purple algae spikes in my tank. ive tried this algae remover and it doesnt seem to be working. any advice on getting rid of it?
brown and prurple algae
hey guys i just got some new metal halides for my 55 gallon. ive been getting really bad brown and purple algae spikes in my tank. ive tried this algae remover and it doesnt seem to be working. any advice on getting rid of it?
Re: brown and prurple algae
Hi Brendan,
how old is your tank?
what are your water parms?
Are you using tap or RODI water?
What type of filtration and what do you have in the tank?
Lights/bulbs and photo period?
I know, lots of questions with no answers, but these will help us try and figure out whats going on in your tank.
Re: brown and prurple algae
my tank is going on 2 yrs now. i have well water.i got a 7 gallon sump. with a reef octopus skimmer rated for 100 gallons, with mag 9 for return. 2 koralia # 2's. my lights are 2 250 watt 14 hamilton bulbs. and i have it time at 5 hrs a day.ill get back to u on my perimeters.
Re: brown and prurple algae
JMHO, but it sounds like the brown algae is from your water. Are you using your well water? The problem with well water, while it's great for human consumption, it hates a tank. It's living water and has way to many minerals that can't be removed by standard filters before going into our homes. If you're not running it through an RODI system before adding it to your tank, chances are, that's where your problems coming from. Think sun on the edge of a small lake/pond bed.
Also, I just noticed that you're in Palm Bay. I'm just down the road in Jupiter. S. FLorida has notoriously horrible ground water. JMHO.
Re: brown and prurple algae
Shea+1.
Id start doing water changes with RO water or even distilled for a few months and see if that doesnt clear it up. Id also test your well water with a TDS meter just for the heck of it. Seems like a lot of work until you consider the time and money we put into these tanks.
Re: brown and prurple algae
Greetings All !
Upgrading lighting in a system oftentimes stimulates a bloom of photosynthetic microorganisms. Microorganism populations that were "in balance" with the available energy within the system (light energy + available nutrients within the system's water column & sequestered inside materials within the aquarium) begin to grow exponentially in response to the additional energy provided by the new lights.Originally Posted by wessendorf15
Brown populations are oftentimes not actually algae (although sometimes they are), and a purple bloom is almost always representative of cyanobacteria. So the ineffectiveness of an algae remover is not surprising, indeed, it's partial confirmation that there's a strong possibility that what you're looking at isn't an algae. Knowing the general classification of what organisms are blooming is critical to formulating a husbandry response. "General" classification correlations to color are:
Green --> Microalgae
Green --> Macroalgae
Brown --> Brown algae
Brown --> Diatoms
Brown --> Dinoflagellates
Dark Red --> Cyanobacteria
Purple --> Cyanobacteria
It is also perhaps worth noting that microorganism blooms in marine aquaria are rarely a "pure culture", i.e., what appears to be a single type of organism may actually be a diverse community of organisms ... which may require a succession of husbandry responses (as opposed to a single "fix").
If it's a brown algae: In addition to continuing your favorite "algae remover" (personally, I'm not comfortable with adding an algicide to my system although such chemicals can be effective), you can increase the frequency of water changes to knock down the available nutrients in the water column, and you can physically remove the algae as part of the water change process (siphoning).
If it's a diatom: You need to discover the source of the silicon that's driving the diatoms' growth. This may well be your ground water source, so you may need to run it through an RODI unit (as has already been suggested), or you may have to use another water source for mixing your water ... and for topping off evaporation loss.
If it's a dinoflagellate: You'll need to lower the available PO4 (phosphate) that's driving the dinoflagellate bloom. Increasing the frequency of water changes may help with this, but you may also need to incorporate a chemical phosphate binder into your filtration system.
If it's a cyanobacteria: You'll need to lower the available nutrients from the water column (water changes), and you'll need to consider increasing the water flow/turbulence across the surfaces within the tank. Other strategies include carbon dosing (lowering available nutrients by increasing the metabolic acitivity of competing microorganisms) and bacterial inoculation (increasing the biomass of a primary competitor) ... but these last two ought be applied ONLY after you've addressed husbandry and system design issues.
Conceptually ... invasive algae, diatoms, dinoflagellates, and cyanobacteria are ubitquitous ... they're always present within your system, so there's no killing them off (... which is what an algicide is intended to do). Rather than trying to erradicate the microorganisms themselves, what's most useful is focusing on controlling the available nutrients that are driving the blooms. If you can address the excess nutrient issue(s) the blooms will burn themselves out.
JMO ... HTH
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
- Hunter S. Thompson
Re: brown and prurple algae
Very well put Gary.
Current Tanks: 325 Gal Reef system, 20 gal frag tank, 10 Gal FW, 6 Gal FW
Re: brown and prurple algae
thx u guys ill think ill start going to the local water store and get alot of ro water.ill post some pics up of the algae.
Re: brown and prurple algae
Nice write-up Gary.
Sounds like the well water to me, I'm curious about the TDS test results on this one.
Re: brown and prurple algae
Greetings All !
Upgrading lighting in a system oftentimes stimulates a bloom of photosynthetic microorganisms. Microorganism populations that were "in balance" with the available energy within the system (light energy + available nutrients within the system's water column & sequestered inside materials within the aquarium) begin to grow exponentially in response to the additional energy provided by the new lights.
Brown populations are oftentimes not actually algae (although sometimes they are), and a purple bloom is almost always representative of cyanobacteria. So the ineffectiveness of an algae remover is not surprising, indeed, it's partial confirmation that there's a strong possibility that what you're looking at isn't an algae. Knowing the general classification of what organisms are blooming is critical to formulating a husbandry response. "General" classification correlations to color are:
Green --> Microalgae
Green --> Macroalgae
Brown --> Brown algae
Brown --> Diatoms
Brown --> Dinoflagellates
Dark Red --> Cyanobacteria
Purple --> Cyanobacteria
It is also perhaps worth noting that microorganism blooms in marine aquaria are rarely a "pure culture", i.e., what appears to be a single type of organism may actually be a diverse community of organisms ... which may require a succession of husbandry responses (as opposed to a single "fix").
If it's a brown algae: In addition to continuing your favorite "algae remover" (personally, I'm not comfortable with adding an algicide to my system although such chemicals can be effective), you can increase the frequency of water changes to knock down the available nutrients in the water column, and you can physically remove the algae as part of the water change process (siphoning).
If it's a diatom: You need to discover the source of the silicon that's driving the diatoms' growth. This may well be your ground water source, so you may need to run it through an RODI unit (as has already been suggested), or you may have to use another water source for mixing your water ... and for topping off evaporation loss.
If it's a dinoflagellate: You'll need to lower the available PO4 (phosphate) that's driving the dinoflagellate bloom. Increasing the frequency of water changes may help with this, but you may also need to incorporate a chemical phosphate binder into your filtration system.
If it's a cyanobacteria: You'll need to lower the available nutrients from the water column (water changes), and you'll need to consider increasing the water flow/turbulence across the surfaces within the tank. Other strategies include carbon dosing (lowering available nutrients by increasing the metabolic acitivity of competing microorganisms) and bacterial inoculation (increasing the biomass of a primary competitor) ... but these last two ought be applied ONLY after you've addressed husbandry and system design issues.
Conceptually ... invasive algae, diatoms, dinoflagellates, and cyanobacteria are ubitquitous ... they're always present within your system, so there's no killing them off (... which is what an algicide is intended to do). Rather than trying to erradicate the microorganisms themselves, what's most useful is focusing on controlling the available nutrients that are driving the blooms. If you can address the excess nutrient issue(s) the blooms will burn themselves out.
JMO ... HTH
What About Red Algae? How to control it?
Re: brown and prurple algae
You can get a decent RO/DI system for 110 shipped.
Re: brown and prurple algae
What about getting CO2 into it? Does it effect the red algae growthg?Could it stress the fish?Got an evidence?
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