Its official!

i finally finally figured out why i appreciate (now) my old saltwater tanks. Although i barely even made an effort towards the health of the tanks because i had no idea what i was doing, they were algae free. I figured out why my tank has so much hair algae and my old tanks didnt have an ounce of algae a little after cycling. Before, i filled and topped of my aquariums with pre-made saltwater from petco, processed and im assuming tds free, i forget what it was called, and obviously i didnt know that topping off with saltwater would destroy my salinity. Anyways the point is, it was made 100% sure that it is my tap water causing this tank to be so algae infested. I know anyone could have guessed that but that really narrowed it down. I really dont know what to do now that i have narrowed it down. I really really wanna go back to being algae free like all my old tanks but i dont know how... I could buy rodi for top off and do salt changes with the petco stuff... Heck idk. Anyways, i just wanted to vent. Ive always wondered why i wanted to go back to one of my old tanks! now i remember why!

thanks for reading,
ryan

 

U could buy a ro system

 

glad you found out your problem. I buy ro/di freshwater from the lfs, as well as ro saltwater from lfs, or like most suggest, just buy your own ro/di unit

 

i know this tank looks really stupid now that i look back at it but this is a 5 month old 20 gallon. Look! not one spec of algae. And i dont remember EVER cleaning off algae off the rocks (let alone taking all of them out and brushing them) I do remember glass algae a little but nothing major at all... As stupid as the equipment and the rocks and the aquascape looks, its still algae free and it looks awsome.

 

after looking at those pictures and looking at my tank and remembering all the times i took all my rock out just to scrub the algae off (my current tank), im seriously considering taking all the rock out, nuking it, emptying all the water, buying 20 gallons of petco water, fill the tank with that, and top off with rodi from now on.

in essence, starting over

 

Ok, so let me get this straight, you did top offs with salt water and not fresh? What did your salinity get up to and how did you keep fish alive in that?

Can you post some pics of your current tank? And you don't have to go through nuking everything if you don't have too. I had a real bad algae problem and I'm starting to get it under control now with some PhosGuard and RO water. It's definitely possible to get rid of all of it, just takes time. I would say to try something similar and not to resort to starting all over. You will appreciate your success a lot more than if you just start over. Just my 2c though.

 

i completely agree... And i have no idea how i kept it down... honestly, i dont know. My refractometer read an appropriate salinity every time... Maybe the saltwater wasnt as salty as i thought... idk. Anyways, if you look at my soyft thread, you will want to cuss me out and ask me what the hell im talking about. I take all those pictures after i took all the rock out and cleaned the tank spotless... Right now, of coarse, its already in the process of growing back the 4" hair algae that once was...

 

Yeah, I saw that thread awhile ago. Don't scrap the whole tank just yet. Find yourself some phosphate remover and figure out what's causing your outbreak: overfeeding, tap water, etc. Then just go from there. Good luck with it all.

 

well for my birthday im getting a visa gift card and im ordering a phosphate reactor and if i have enough left over, ill buy a ro-di. Thanks

 

careful with that visa and not spending a whole lot it's easy to get in debt with it, pretty soon you will regret getting one

oh..visa gift card, thought it was visa credit card