# Brown Algea - Purigen on the way, should I mix RO w/ Tap??



## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

I am going throught the same cr*p with my 40 gallon, so if you solve this mystery, please let me know. As far as purigen removing silicates, I just posed that question to Seachem where they are a sponsor on another forum and they told me that Purigen will not remove silicates from water. For that you have to get Seachem PhosGuard. The problem is that this will also eliminate phosphates and it has already been established by notable plant gurus like Tom Barr that eliminating or limiting phosphates may cause more harm than good as far as plant growth and health is concerned, so you may be addressing one imbalance(excess silicates), only to create another imbalance(lack of phosphates).

It seems this is a catch 22. All resins designed to remove silicates, will also remove phosphates. The only solution may be to switch to RO water for water changes and ensure appropriate fertilization. For, me conversion from tap water to RO water is not worth the trouble, so I will just wait it out and pray and hope that patience combined with the otos, SAE, and bristlnose 
pleco will help to eliminate most of the diatom and keep it from overtaking the tank.

If not, then major tear down and scratch from start.


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## susankat (Oct 14, 2007)

How long has the tank been set up? This is normal for a new tank, and will go away on its own in a couple of months after all the silicates are used up. Till then the best thing to do is just clean it off manually.


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

susankat said:


> How long has the tank been set up? This is normal for a new tank, and will go away on its own in a couple of months after all the silicates are used up. Till then the best thing to do is just clean it off manually.


I don't know about MadEmperor, but my tank has been up and running for 9 years. And this is different than anything I have ever seen. With tanks that I set up in the past, diatom algae would begin appearing in the final stage of cycling when nitrates were high. However, I never had it go after plant leaves(with the exception of perhaps a few odd plant leaves, mostly it targeted the glass) in planted tanks where I got it, so this is too weird. Usually, it would go away on its own in a month or so. Right now, I am going into 2 months and it still continues to thrive and smother leaves. It would be so bad if it just picked on old leaves as I can always prune those off, but it is targeting any/all new plant growth and if it is diatoms, this is the most persistent PITA form I have come across. I usally let the water that I use for water changes sit in buckets and get stale for a week or so before I use it. I always notice the same brown slime forming on the inside of the water bucket, which leads me to suspect that the tap water may be high in silicates which may be contributing to the problem.

It is kind of creepy. Almost like some alien algae


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## susankat (Oct 14, 2007)

Have you asked the water company if they are adding anything to the water. You should be able to get a readout of the water from their website or directly from the company. This time of the year here, we have a couple of weeks were our water is different due to the lake is churned up (lacking a better word for it) Its similar to what some people call red sea. During that time I can't change the water without a huge algae outbreak.


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## Homer_Simpson (May 10, 2007)

susankat said:


> Have you asked the water company if they are adding anything to the water. You should be able to get a readout of the water from their website or directly from the company. This time of the year here, we have a couple of weeks were our water is different due to the lake is churned up (lacking a better word for it) Its similar to what some people call red sea. During that time I can't change the water without a huge algae outbreak.



Been there and done that when I was tweaking my fert dosing.
http://winnipeg.ca/waterandwaste/water/testResults/Winnipeg.stm

If the city has been adding something different to the tap water, I am not seeing it in my signature tanks where I am using the same tap water for water changes. That is what makes this stuff so creepy. You would think that with the same tap water being used for water changes in all the tanks and the other ones have been up even for a shorter period of time that diatoms would appear, but they have not. In fact the algae repulsion tank(as per my signature) that has been up and running since July 2007 has yet to show any signs of diatom algae, with the same tap water being used for water changes. Go figure.


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