hm.....might be wrong, but I don't feel that a sterilizer will take out phosphates....although activated carbon will. Once an algal mat is formed, all the UV will do is kill waterborne spores. The mat itself, if it propagates by longitudinal spreading, wont be affected until there are less nutrients in the water. I used to use a Ozone sterilizer, but I don't think that'll help with the phosphates either......water changes with RO water? (RO=Reverse Osmosis)
Thanks LW! I do not have algae on the glass or bottom, is that what an algal mat is?, its all waterborne. I wiped some algae spots off the glass when I did the first 90% water change almost 2 weeks ago now, and did another 50% water change about 1 week ago. It's crazy, it seems to be getting worse the more water changes I do. I gave away my RO filter in 2014. It would have taken a week anyway, it was VERY slow I'd rather not sacrafice a 5 gal bottle of drinking water at $12 each...... I have been thinking of why. I will tear apart the canister filter again tomorrow, rinse the floss etc and another min 50% water change. I wondered if there is an algal mat in the canister or the lines that is breeding the airborne stuff, but doubt it as the lines are opaque black and the canister is dark blue, algae needs light, right? Thanks for any other thoughts or input friend! Oh, and someone mentioned "new tank syndrome". I had never heard of it and assumed it was high nitrites. In the same breath, I have never cycled with bottled bacteria before either. Wondering if its not fully cycled, and of course with my massive water changes, all the parameters still test fine.....
A sterilizer won't take out phosphates. Carbon will, and carbon dosing ( aka vodka dosing) will too. I'm a big fan of turf scrubbers/ refugium, fresh or salt on reverse photo period. It let's nature take care of the issue.
I read somewhere that the uv light would kill the waterborne spores, and I could remove the dead ones with water changes and the filter cleaning? Was I taken for a ride? It did not say it would remove phosphates, I was thinking the shampoo should be mostly gone. Is it possible to have phosphates in tap water? Only other possibility I can imagine is old coating in the galvanized steel cistern, maybe some iron in the water? Sigh, I never needed carbon for over 2 decades of fish keeping. I will order some and put a bag of it in the canister filter. Oh, and ask hubby to buy some vodka.
Yeah, a sterilizer will get water borne algae. Carbon will help too. I'd wait on the vodka, unless you do a lot of reading. Or if you plan on drinking it. Yes, check your water supply for phosphate.
I called the water plant before I set it up, he said it was great water... Do you know of a test that does phosphates? My test kit has nitrite/trate, ammonia and ph. I googled vodka every article I could find was marine. The best I could find on phosphates was an additive to remove it, I am not that desperate yet. Tank is ugly but fish look healthy. I really like the idea of a turf scrubber, do they need extra maintenance?
Not really. They just use algae to keep the algae out of your tank. It out competes the algae in the track, and really should keep it out of the display.
dunno, Wild, but the new tank thingy is usually the Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter converting ammonia to nitrites, then nitrate......never heard of that creating algae in the water (tho fish don't like the elevated levels of ammonia, etc)
two questions, one, how does it survive without sunlight (ie, in one of my canister filter baskets), and two, out of the display for aesthetics, or other?
New tank syndrome is usually diatom blooms. But any tank will go through cycles of sorts until it works itself out.
Feel like an idiot, I cannot find one for sale online. I saw one a few months ago when you first mentioned it, it was a plastic case that enclosed the algae, any ideas?
Phew, I figured out how to get pics to my email, so here is tonight. The water looks much greener during the day, this is at night, and I think I see more aerator fizz than green. Orange thing is tipped over castle decor, blue thing is dislogded aerator (recent cleanings and lil one.....) And yes, turned the light off after pics This is a side view, 12x48 old 55 gal rectangle,
Hmm, that's not as bad as it sounds. I think a good filter would clear most of that up. You can't tell from the pic, but is it a green hue?
Wild? how about taking one canister and dedicate it to just clearing the water......fill it with filter media and activated carbon until the water clears.......if youre only using one canister now, you'd need another, as you will still need your biological media in that canister....
Thanks guys Yes, VERY green. I can't believe those pics do not show the color! Here's the same tank 12 hours later in daylight. The sterilizer was delivered today, hoping that will do the trick, I have a feeling I will end up with another canister though.... A dedicated water clearing canister is a great idea! I'd like additional water movement anyway.
lil one had it for bubbles in the bathroom sink. She fell off the stool and knocked the bottle over (pump bottle). She was fine after a short cry, but I did not realize I had left the baby shampoo on the floor still. An hour later my husband saw suds in the aq, she was washing the fishies
ohhh, Im guessing she was working on getting that green water clear again.....an enterprising youth! When I was a kid so many years ago, my brother thought it a good idea to cut the cat's hair......I figured she had been in a fight till he fessed up, that's how bad she looked! not only that, but she wasn't a happy kitty! When I was young, I had no less that three aquariums in my room at one time. One was the home to a large goldfish I had raised for years from "feeder" status...this thing had to be 8" long or so. My older sister, as sisters tend to, decided to torment me one day, and took the goldfish out of the tank......kept it wet by running water over it in the bathroom sink. She didn't realize fish, normally kept at 70 degrees or so, didn't do all that well when dunked in 40 degree well water......oh, the torment of youth! I miss that messy old goldfish.....fed it by hand!
