# Using RO water and I Still Have Algae!



## cheaman (Jan 22, 2009)

What type of algae? 
How much CO2 do you have in the tank (do you have a drop checker?)?
What are you dosing and how much?

My guess is that you don't have enough fertilizer or CO2 for the amount of light your pushing. RO or tap water won't make any difference at all.


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## bat_billy (Jun 2, 2011)

I have some green algae on the glass an gravel. On the plants it is a dark brown almost black and covers the plants in a slimy coating. 

I dose every other week with flourish Excel. I do not have a drop checker but I feel confident that the aquarium is getting co2 because I use the 2 bubbles per second rule and run it through a glass and ceramic diffuser.

I am planning on dipping my plants in a weak 19 parts water to 1 part bleach solution for 2 minutes to see if I can kill the algae.


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## Rockhoe14er (Jan 19, 2011)

2 bps of co2 on a 75 gallon tank is wayyyy tooo low ime. I run 2.5 bps in my 29 gallon tank. You really need a drop checker in your tank to give you some sort of ball park on how much co2 you have. Also do you dose fertilizers?


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## tuffgong (Apr 13, 2010)

You have a really insanely high amount of light over that tank. How far are they from the water surface? Unless it's 3" or greater I would reduce the amount of light by at least 50%. IME it's nearly impossible to get CO2 and ferts dialed in enough to avoid algae with that much light. You might have to do a black out or some serious hydrogen peroxide spot treatments to get rid of existing algae. I wouldn't use bleach unless there was nothing else available.


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## cheaman (Jan 22, 2009)

Look at some of the algae identifications on this site and others. There are a few around that idintify the algae and list a root cause. 

Green/brown/blue/red slime is generally caused by low nitrates. Green spot on glass - low phosphate.

Definately sounds like you need more CO2 and a balanced fertilizer (N-P-K and micro)


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## cggorman (May 9, 2009)

Rockhoe14er said:


> 2 bps of co2 on a 75 gallon tank is wayyyy tooo low ime. I run 2.5 bps in my 29 gallon tank. You really need a drop checker in your tank to give you some sort of ball park on how much co2 you have. Also do you dose fertilizers?


 
I disagree about the rate. There are too many variables to ballpark bubble rate without a fair amount of extra detail. My 70 is around 2bps and is darn near Dutch.

This was months ago...the plant mass is easily double that now.










As far as the algae is concerned, I avoid adding nutrients to the water column and I have a healthy crew of SAEs, Otos, Amano shrimp, and Nerite snails. The algae level is so low that the crew sustains itself on the Christmas moss.

Oh...200 watts of power compact (50/50; 6500k/10000k) for about 10 hours a day...No Ferts (except about 1 tbs of marine salt with each 50% water change)...60/40 MTS/Eco-Complete...~2bps CO2 into inline reactor...~700 gpm flow...75°F...topped off daily with RO


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## bat_billy (Jun 2, 2011)

The lights are Hung pendant style 6-7 inches over the tank. I just purchased a drop checker so I can check my co2. What type of ferts should I be dosing? I was told with the eco complete gravel dosing wasnt required so I have only been doing it every other week. I thought the problem might be that there was too much fertilizer in the aquarium causing the algae outbreak.


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## AoxomoxoA (Apr 22, 2010)

You need to adjust co2 output as your plant mass grows. What worked to start with will usually not work after plants have grown in.

If you aren't using ferts, you will have algae with that much light.

You must balance co2/ferts to your light output.

Don't look for a quick fix like dipping, be patient & you will learn  Look up EI dosing, it's my personal favorite. There are others too, PPMD, etc...


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## Rockhoe14er (Jan 19, 2011)

cggorman said:


> I disagree about the rate. There are too many variables to ballpark bubble rate without a fair amount of extra detail. My 70 is around 2bps and is darn near Dutch.
> 
> This was months ago...the plant mass is easily double that now.
> 
> ...


I agree that the bps is kind of pointless that's why i suggest to get a drop checker to at last give you some kind of ball park on your co2. 

However i disagree with not using fertz because it's important. Plants require macronutrients such as Sodium Potassium and Nitrogen and micro nutrients in order to fully utilize all the co2 added to the system. CO2, fertilizers and light are all connected and limiting one limits the others. Algae usually comes up when there isn't good plant growth. Focus on growing healthy plants and in time algae will go away. 

I have zero algae eating fish or shrimp in my 29 gallon tank and don't have any algae and dose my fertz nice and high using the EI dosing schedule.


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## bat_billy (Jun 2, 2011)

I am sold on the RO dozing method. I have been reaserching it for the last 20 minutes. Does anyone know where I can buy the ferts in bulk?


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## Rockhoe14er (Jan 19, 2011)

bat_billy said:


> I am sold on the RO dozing method. I have been reaserching it for the last 20 minutes. Does anyone know where I can buy the ferts in bulk?


do you mean EI? Aquariumfertilizer.com sells it also some people on this site sell it too. I would go with fellow members first and if you can't find it then go to aquariumfertilizer.com


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## SuperWen (Mar 24, 2011)

RO water can't prevent algae. All you need is balance in lights, CO2, nutrients, and plants needed


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## OverStocked (May 26, 2007)

RO water has essentially nothing do with your algae problem. Algae is caused by too much light, too little co2, and too little nutrients. When one of those is wrong, it is bad. When two are wrong, it is reallllly bad. 


I bet your lighting is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too high. Your cow is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too low. And your nutrients are pob low too. 


Reduce your lighting(intensity, photoperiod, etc), increase your co2(use 4dkh solution in your drop checker. It is pointless otherwise), and look into dosing EI or PPS Pro, or dose the full line of ROotMedic, Seachem, or Pfertz. NOT dosing is certainly causing your GSA.

THe algae on the plants is likely more from too much light and not enough co2.


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## bat_billy (Jun 2, 2011)

I have reduced the photo period and also moved the lights a few extra inches away from the water surface. I also have purchased all of the dry chemicals to begin EI fertilization as well as a drop checker. 

My final question is should I still be using sea chem equilibrium water conditioner with all of the other EI ferts? Or will the EI ferts be enough to restore the water balance?


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## wakewalking (Jan 18, 2010)

I'd check your kh, gh, and signs of plant deficiency before adding too many ferts. I use RO and eco complete. If you aren't capping eco complete you won't need ferts for at least 3 months, you will have too many nutrients in the water column at first.When I added potassium nitrate and kh2po4 to water with high tech systems with fresh eco complete I would get cyanobacteria within the next few days.


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## Sharkfood (May 2, 2010)

> Your cow is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy too low


How high should your cow level be?

Sorry. I couldn't resist.:hihi:


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