btkrausen
Fish Hoarder
Correct, thats exactly the theory of it. Not sure if it holds water, but it sounds legit
Algae what really causes it
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Correct, thats exactly the theory of it. Not sure if it holds water, but it sounds legit
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Tab28
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I believe my RO filter has one but not sure it is a 6 chamber unit. 3 larger verticle clear, 1 horizontal white and 2 horizontal clear with little opaque brown looking crystals.
swannyson7
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The ones with opaque colored crystals are your DI. How old is the DI?
btkrausen
Fish Hoarder
Since you don't know what the cartridges are....it makes me feel like you haven't been replacing them often. When is the last time you replaced all your filters?
Were are you getting your light penetration info from? I'm growing SPS on the bottom of my 24" deep tank, lit by only t5s.
btkrausen
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Gotcha. With color changing DI, if its brown, that means its exhausted already. Usually its blue or green, and then turns to brown when its done for.
swannyson7
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5 months isn't bad for the filters (assuming you bought the unit brand new). Did the manufacturer say that you had color changing DI? Not all DI has the color change to let you know when it's exhausted. If you just read about it somewhere and assumed that yours was the same, you should check into it.
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Tab28
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My LFS I was told my (4) 39 watt bulbs. Would not be enough to keep clams or high light sps. I do know if I have a sps piece break off and lands on sand bed it dies off even with 250 mh. Now some lower light sps like birds nest and montis will grow but not my acros.
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btkrausen
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FWIW, I change my filters very often. You want to spend the $30 on the pre filters to help keep your membrane cleaner. Its much cheaper to replace the pre filters than it is the membrane.
swannyson7
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+1 The stuff I have from BRS goes from blue to brown
swannyson7
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It really depends on your water quality. AS BTKrausen recommended... it's a good practice to replace your prefilters more regularly to get a longer lifespan out of your DI. I have pretty good water quality, but I still replace my prefilters every 4-5 months and my DI lasted 8 months last time I had to swap it out.
btkrausen
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Yup, I replace mine way more often than I really could, but my philosophy is that I'd rather spend $30 for replacements that have to worry about algae and other stuff that might be caused by bad water.
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Tab28
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Well the new Hanna Phos kit came in yesterday and I tested my water. My water measured 0.03. The test is much easier since there is no guessing and slight blue hues. Anyway I also switched to Rawaphos in my chamber I should check the out flow of that. If it is like my denitrator it should read 0.00.
How long of running Rawaphos in the chamber should the existing algae start to die off?
I want to test my RO will Phos test for salt water work on fresh water?
How long of running Rawaphos in the chamber should the existing algae start to die off?
I want to test my RO will Phos test for salt water work on fresh water?
Phosphate tests are next to useless. Don't waste any more time or money on them.
It sounds like its been building up in your system for quite some time.
You have been given good advise. First deal with your RODI. I change my prefilters every 6 months or sooner if they look dirty. DI I change every 3. I think your resins are way exhausted I have never heard of red resin only the blue color. Until you do you are just pouring gasoline on the fire. The length of time between changing your resins will depend on how much water you use and the quality of water you start with and will vary for everyone.
Get some GFO. As much problem algae as you have in your tank it will need to be changed out often, probably once a week.
Manually remove all that you can, pull rocks out and scrub them in a 5 gallon bucket if possible. Use a turkey baster and blow the detritus out of the cracks and out of the algae. The natural design of hair algae catches detritus and uses it for a food source.
You might consider Algae Fix. It will kill off the algae, but be aware it will be releasing all the nutrients back into the system. Its what you want but be prepared with fresh media, you can then get the nutrients removed via skimmer/gfo/carbon
The only way to succeed is to do all these things, not just one. And dont expect a quick fix, it will take many months to get it under control
It sounds like its been building up in your system for quite some time.
You have been given good advise. First deal with your RODI. I change my prefilters every 6 months or sooner if they look dirty. DI I change every 3. I think your resins are way exhausted I have never heard of red resin only the blue color. Until you do you are just pouring gasoline on the fire. The length of time between changing your resins will depend on how much water you use and the quality of water you start with and will vary for everyone.
Get some GFO. As much problem algae as you have in your tank it will need to be changed out often, probably once a week.
Manually remove all that you can, pull rocks out and scrub them in a 5 gallon bucket if possible. Use a turkey baster and blow the detritus out of the cracks and out of the algae. The natural design of hair algae catches detritus and uses it for a food source.
You might consider Algae Fix. It will kill off the algae, but be aware it will be releasing all the nutrients back into the system. Its what you want but be prepared with fresh media, you can then get the nutrients removed via skimmer/gfo/carbon
The only way to succeed is to do all these things, not just one. And dont expect a quick fix, it will take many months to get it under control
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Tab28
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Actually I read my RO manual and my DI is green and turns dark brown. But to me the green is grass it is more like tan-green to me looks more tan than green. I'm guessing the reddish are the ones on way to being dark brown they are more at the top of the (2) chambers which sit horizontal. I did buy new DI from the same company and compared colors. I also took a reading from the outlet and the Phos were at 0. I used both a freshwater tester and the Hanna tester since I am not sure if they are interchangable. But I still changed the DI anyway. The filters are still clean. Or at least the sediment one since it is white the other 2 are charcoal so you can not tell with them but my psi is still at the minimum recommened. I can get those filters at home depot maybe even the DI but I wanted to compare colors to what I know I had.
All my Algae is growing on frag plugs and the frag racks that hold them. All my live rock has various corals growing on it and where you can see the rock there is no algae, just on the frag plugs and the racks. It is like these plugs contain algae causing material.
All my Algae is growing on frag plugs and the frag racks that hold them. All my live rock has various corals growing on it and where you can see the rock there is no algae, just on the frag plugs and the racks. It is like these plugs contain algae causing material.
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