active carbon and tips for algae

[afernandez]

can "active carbon"get rid of algae (red slime and hair algae?)..... my po4 levels are low (0.03ppm) i dont have a fuge which i am goign to invest in buit just need some tips on getting rid of red algae as well as green hair

[kc9dre]

As others will state on hear, the algae will feed on the PO4 and give you a false reading as it will feed on it as it comes available. I learned this the hard way recently...

The fix is lots of water changes. hand harvesting if you have to for the GHA, and suckin up the red.

How long has it been setup?

I am workin on gettin a fuge going once I get back from FL this weekend... Hope to have it running soon.

[palmerc]

For the cyanobacteria, running carbon and changing/increasing water flow patterns in the tank will help.

Hair algae requires manual harvesting, control of phosphate inputs, and regular water changes.. Possibly you may need to run a phosphate remover like ROWAphos or Phosban.

[bertoni]

Carbon can't remove enough nutrients from the water to help with algal or cyanobacterial problems.

0.03 ppm is not low for phosphate. It's borderline, and could be a problem for stony corals. Its presence indicates the tank has a nutrient problem, most likely from overfeeding. Other nutrient sources can include topoff water and the live rock.

This article might help:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php

[afernandez]

i do run a po4 reactor (w/ phoseban) and i have read the article lol. i been reading alot my gurlfirend is kinda mad at me for reading so much on this lol but this algae is driving me crazy .. just looking for any thing that can help and like i sayd i am getting a fuge in a few weeks or so... question wat u guys think of a hang on fuge? keep in mind is a 55g .

[bertoni]

It might be big enough to do some useful filtration, if it's lit well.

[cloak]

I don't think carbon and algae have anything in common.

JMO.

[palmerc]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11539756#post11539756 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cloak
I don't think carbon and algae have anything in common.

JMO.

Not for regular hair algae but it does help for cyanobacteria (blue-green algae = red slime) as growth of cyano is fuelled by DOC's which are removed when running activated carbon

[calyx]

First step should be to get rid of PO4.
just make it zero rapidly. everything changes in 3 days..
good luck.

[ReefWreak]

Definitely remove the PO4, but to get rid of the cyano, and if you' want to run carbon anyway, consider trying Boyd's Chemi-pure Elite, which has carbon, GFO (phosban essentially), and some red-slime algae remover all in the same bag. I've been using chemi-pure for a while (not the elite because I don't have red-slime problems, and run a seperate GFO reactor) and I'm a big fan. Water is clearer, and algae is very slightly less than it was before, but there are so many different sources and things that effect algae, I can't say chemi-pure will fix all of that. It's just a nice supplementation to normal algae preventative measures.

[cloak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11548399#post11548399 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by palmerc
Not for regular hair algae but it does help for cyanobacteria (blue-green algae = red slime) as growth of cyano is fuelled by DOC's which are removed when running activated carbon

You can still have algae with or without the carbon. Think you need to get to the heart of it first. Water changes and efficient skimming would be your best bet. I've never used carbon and am not seeing anything that would lead me to do so this far. Freshwater & salt.

JMO.

[Aquarist007]

I would run to phosban reactors--one with phosban for removing phosphates and one with carbon--it does help with absorbing some dissolved organics.
Many reefers including myself have had a great reduction in algae from this system

[bertoni]

I agree that carbon can remove DOC, but I am not convinced that the quantity that it can absorb will make it practical for reducing microbial growth.

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11556385#post11556385 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bertoni
I agree that carbon can remove DOC, but I am not convinced that the quantity that it can absorb will make it practical for reducing microbial growth.

agreed---but the phosban will