I'm loosing the war with GHA, help?! - Page 4

michika · #31 08-17-2007, 10:45 PM

I respectfully disagree about your comment regarding my sandbed. All my reading has informed me otherwise. I'm actually quite happy with my sandbed, and am not really interested at looking at removing it at the moment. First I want to look into higher magnesium levels, and possibly switching out rock.

Der_Iron_Chef · #32 08-17-2007, 10:58 PM

I was under the impression that, for a sandbed to truly be effective, it needed to be deeper than that. Maybe I'm wrong.

Would you remove the sandbed if you knew it would fix the hair algae problem?

Johnny Reefer · #33 08-17-2007, 11:18 PM

I am of the belief that a shallow sandbed (ie: 1"-2") is easier to maintain and keep clean, as opposed to a DSB. I'm the opposite re: nutrient sink. I think a DSB would be more prone to that. JMO.

Edit: In an attempt to be more constructive toward the thread topic....I too am battling hair algae right now in my reef tank. The system is 8 months on now, after a move, so still relatively new. I'm also inclined to believe that the time of year factors into it, what with the longer days and increased duration of ambient daylight entering the room. I had hair algae growing like mad 1 to 2 months ago, but now it is showing signs of a decreasing growth rate. I'm just biding time with it and removing most manually before doing anything drastic....hoping tank maturity and shorter days will help.
I see your system is still relatively new also, and I'm curious to know what kind of daylight enters your tank room. Is it bright? (Not necessarily direct sunlight. Just daylight, period).

michika · #34 08-17-2007, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Der_Iron_Chef

Would you remove the sandbed if you knew it would fix the hair algae problem?

Yes I would, but only if I knew for sure it was feeding/causing the algae.

Quagmire · #35 08-18-2007, 12:11 AM

Catherine sorry I just noticed your parameters in your first post,if I had of seen your Alk was 9-10 I wouldn't have brought it up.I used 10-12 as a target because the higher the better for battling algea,but I feel any higher than that and your getting too high.As far as I know there is nothing wrong with where your alk is at.As I was righting this,it occurred to me to ask about your ro/di.Could it be ready for a change?Sorry if that seems a condescending question,but at least we can scratch it off the list if it still putting out clean water.

michika · #36 08-18-2007, 12:22 AM

RO/DI is shiney and new, hasn't even been in use for more then two months! I recently borrowed a TDS meter from a friend at a lab on campus, and my TDS read 0 from the RO/DI system, and a crazy 30 straight from the tap.

I'm so glad I don't drink the tap water in this building...

andrewsk · #37 08-18-2007, 05:14 AM

Catherine,

If you have never been there, go to Wetwebmedia.com and do some research on Deep Sand Beds vs Shallow Sand beds.

Everything I have read says that sandbeds between 1/2" and 3" are just nutrient sinks and require constant cleaning.

Once you go past 3" you get the low oxygen Bacteria that remove the Nitrates.

From everything you have posted, I would bet you a fair amount of $ that your problem is your sand bed.

Regardless. Good Luck and I hope you can win the battle.

This is from Anthony Calfo:

The killing blow to a flawed application with course substrates in weakly circulated aquarium is the unfortunately popular employment of intermediate depths of sand at 1"-3" (25-75mm). In this mid range, the sand is often too deep to be wholly aerobic and yet not deep enough for efficient denitrifying faculties. As such, the two dominant (and desired!) biological populations are restricted if not excluded at large and the sand bed may become a dead zone... a nutrient sink. However, intermediate sand depths can be maintained successfully (often, in fact!), but require due diligence with regular sifting naturally or mechanically (by the aquarist or by creatures in the aquarium), strong water flow in the tank, realistic bio-loads, etc.

One more from Wet Web

<Well, one thing that I feel pretty strongly about is that you need to go 1/2 inch or less, or 3 inches or more. My thinking is that 1 inch is too shallow to foster denitrification, but too deep to be fully aerobic, which is a potential recipe for long term problems. If you're inclined to go this route, better to use a sprinkling of sand in the display, and a 3 inch plus bed in the sump...Modified Plan "D">

Now I will leave you alone

andrewsk · #38 08-18-2007, 05:15 AM

I agree that direct sunlight could cause the problem, but what is the algae feeding on to make it grow?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Reefer

I am of the belief that a shallow sandbed (ie: 1"-2") is easier to maintain and keep clean, as opposed to a DSB. I'm the opposite re: nutrient sink. I think a DSB would be more prone to that. JMO.

Edit: In an attempt to be more constructive toward the thread topic....I too am battling hair algae right now in my reef tank. The system is 8 months on now, after a move, so still relatively new. I'm also inclined to believe that the time of year factors into it, what with the longer days and increased duration of ambient daylight entering the room. I had hair algae growing like mad 1 to 2 months ago, but now it is showing signs of a decreasing growth rate. I'm just biding time with it and removing most manually before doing anything drastic....hoping tank maturity and shorter days will help.
I see your system is still relatively new also, and I'm curious to know what kind of daylight enters your tank room. Is it bright? (Not necessarily direct sunlight. Just daylight, period).

marie · #39 08-18-2007, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by andrewsk

I agree that direct sunlight could cause the problem, but what is the algae feeding on to make it grow?

She has a fair number of fish in the tank and once a pest algae gets a hold it needs very little in the way of nutrients to thrive.
I have always had shallow sand beds that I never disturb and I have never had problems relating to them

marie · #40 08-18-2007, 05:51 AM

As an example of how an algae can take over in a low nutrient enviroment. this is my tank last year just after i transfered everything over. I had left it fishless for 8 weeks, no food added to the tank at all, new sand bed, 100% new ro/di water (didn't use my old tank water), all the rocks were rinsed very well in the old tank water before moving (so there was no detritus). And still, this brown macro algae that I didn't even know I had, took over my tank. This pic was actually taken after the fish had been in there for a few weeks grazing on the macro. It looked even worse before