Rowa phos

[martinicu]

Hi everyone

I need some help in regards to the amount of Rowa phos to use in my tank. It is a 12 gallon long Mr. Aqua. I have battled brown/ green hair algae and getting frustrated and no results. So I got phos guard from lfs. And used it for 4 days as I was told and also have a small jar of the Rowa . I'm putting it in a AC 70. How much should I put in the filter bag. I can't understand the directions. I don't think I'm supposed to use all of it at once?

Thanks

[metrokat]

You already have a phosphate reducer with phosguard, adding another one will do more harm than good. What is your level of phosphate? How often do you do water changes and is your water RODI with 0 TDS?

[martinicu]

Thanks Metro Kat

I guess i didnt mention that the LFS said to only use the phosquard for 4 days and then remove it. I use rodi from my lfs as well as his salt water. I honestly believe that its the marco rocks ssshhhh LOL that I started tha tank with. I just bought red sea test kits and Im might have screwd up but the 1st test came out about .16 ?

[holy carp]

Let's see some pics. One of the fastest/best ways to treat hair algae will be hydrogen peroxide. If the algae is well established, you may not detect PO4 since the algae is sucking it all up.

[EDIT: sounds like that's not happening from your last response]

 

+1 on water change questions.

 

Also, how old is the system?

[martinicu]

Hi and thanks. The tank is 1 year old this past month. I change 2 1/2 to 3 gallons per week. I have done the peroxide to the rocks outside or the tank. It works but algae returns slowly and eventually is everywhere. Sand bed also. Any idea how much of the rowa phos I should try in the mesh bag? I might as well use it I got .

[metrokat]

Are you sure it's not bryopsis? Pics would help.

[martinicu]

Thanks I just got home I will try to post picture. I could be wrong but I don't think it is bryopsis

[martinicu]

I have my photos on photobucket that I just took how do I get them here to post.

[martinicu]

Ok I'll try

Another

More

[martinicu]

Hello again so here are the pictures any ideas?

[holy carp]

Do you vacuum the sand when you do your water changes? It looks like you may have a buildup of detritus in the sand fueling the algae as well. You can probably vacuum most of that algae out. I'd still go with spot treating the rocks (outside the tank) with h2o2.

 

I can't identify what type of algae it is, though.

[Mariaface]

From what I can see on the sand, it looks like a hair algae type? Unfortunately, it also looks like it's grabbing onto the rocks/sand because of nutrient buildup there. Either the rocks are still leaching phosphate, or you're getting detritus buildup that breaks down into additional nutrients? Or maybe it's overfeeding, death of an organism, etc without the right filtration.

 

Make sure flow is adequate, vacuum a portion of the sandbed with each water change, remove the rocks to scrub off algae with a (new) toothbrush and rinse in old tank water. Corals will be fine for a few minutes out of the water. Then make sure you've got adequate filtration and grazers (careful not to add too many) so that further algae will be discouraged, and eaten if/when it grows back. Once the strands are too long, nothing's really interested anymore.

 

If you remove the rocks from the tank, you can drip some H2O2 onto the algae-ridden portions while avoiding corals. That'll burn out plant cells hiding, or at least most of them. Always rinse the rock in some saltwater after the H2O2, before putting it back in the tank.

 

There will probably be a base dosage for GFO in the instructions. You'll want to start with a quarter of that amount so that you don't suck nutrients out of the water too quickly and upset corals. If after a day nothing is upset, ride it out and check algae growth through the week. If corals begin to recede or look otherwise pissed off, try reducing the amount of GFO. If algae growth doesn't slow down and corals aren't pissed, add a little more once a week or so.

[martinicu]

Thanks to both of you. I just performed a red sea phosphate test ( purchased last Tuesday) . First time I didn't do it right this time I did . Phosphates are about .04. I think I see that's a good range on here. I have a AC70 with the just added Rowas. After 4 days of phos guard as per LFS The phos guard is out now. Also have hydor 240 and an AC 30 which I was using before the 70

 

So as you can see why I am frustrated. I think this Sunday I will do h2o2 again as your recommendations. I also bought the Ca and Mg still need to test those. One last thing do I need a special tool for vacuuming the sand be? I usually try to use the siphon tube but the algae covered sand gets away?

Thanks once again.

[Mariaface]

A gravel 'vacuum' just ends in a wider tube (slows flow of water through the tube, sand falls and detritus is light enough to still be sucked up). You can just move the end of the tube to the sand covered in algae, right? Pinching the tube will help slow the flow so you don't suck out all the sand, just the important bits.

[martinicu]

Thanks Maria. I have a kind of silly question . If I take out a little gravel at a time with algae on it and rinsed it in h2o2. Will it harm the bacteria?

[holy carp]

In all likelihood it will kill most bacteria on the sand, so if you go that route, just don't do all the sand at once.

 

Another option for the sand is to suck out much of the sand where there's algae using a siphon. Separate the sand from the algae. Give the sand a quick rinse for a minute in room temp tap water to remove built up detritus. Then put it back in the tank. (the sand, not the tap water) That shouldn't kill off your beneficial bacteria. It will probably take more repetitions, though.

 

When I had a cyano problem on the sand, I got pretty aggressive with vacuuming it. Much of the sand just got a rinse and went back in. After a half dozen weekly water changes with a sand vac, the cyano was pretty much all gone.

 

Either way, it wouldn't be a bad idea to supplement with a bit of good bacteria - I'm using Seachem Stability right now, but I'm sure any of them would work.

[Mariaface]

Thanks Maria. I have a kind of silly question . If I take out a little gravel at a time with algae on it and rinsed it in h2o2. Will it harm the bacteria?

 

Yehp, that'll do some damage. Like carp said, don't do too much sand at once. But if it'll just be the sand with algae on it, and you rinse it afterwards to avoid putting H2O2 back in the tank, you should be fine.

 

On the note of bacterial supplements: It's generally a good idea. Even if you don't have a skimmer for full export, it's still good for a temporary nutrient drop (they'll lock up some phosphate in their bodies). The bacteria will repopulate the clean sand and rocks, surfaces, mechanical filtration, etc, and at least drum up a little competition against the algae.

[martinicu]

Sounds like a plan!