Green on powerhead

I got some type of green algae on my powerhead and heater. It hasn't really spread to anywhere else but I want to stop it before it does.. I scraped it off and did a fresh water dip but it still came back. What should I do?

 

Found out what's leaking phosphate. It's green hair algae.

 

any other opinions?

 

It looks like gha to me as well.

 

If it's only there, I wouldn't worry too much about it. That PH is really clean, like new.

Mine are covered in corrailline, I clean every 6+ months the impeller, and use a tooth brush and scrub the slots out pretty often.

Is this a new system?

 

4-5 months. Its on my other powerhead and heater. It doesnt look like gha to me though.

 

+1

If your nitrates and phosphates are zero, the algae won't spread; like anything else, it can't outgrow it's food supply. FWIW, I've had a patch of film algae on my back glass for several months, now.

My methods and reasoning may be foreign to most, but I prefer to keep a little algae going in my tank. It keeps the water clean of nutrients, provides a healthy, natural food supply for my CuC and herbivores, and it's an excellent indicator that something might have gone awry on me should it start to spread.

 

Ok. Its spreading on my powerhead but its very very slow. I don't see it going on my rocks or sand. I have purple coralline growing on my rock so i figure that it can't be too bad. I guess i will scrape my powerheads off and dip them in fresh water. And do a water change.

 

Judging by all the brown algae in the background as well, I'd say your tank just simply isn't cycled out yet.

 

I find algae grows fatser on powerheads and plastic heater covers than elsewhere in the tank. I think it ataches easier to the plastic than the glass and other surfacesand gets a direct soruce of silicates along with good flow and the highest amount of light when the powerheads are near the surface. I use my hand to rub em off onceevery couple weeks and clean them with vinager every few months to help with the coralline.

Im with Mr Bill. As long as it doesnt take over the tank I like the idea of having some algae growth over a sterile system. Makes it more natural with a good food source and a great source of nutrient export