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New Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 8/7/2008 9:45:14 PM
Posts: 57,
Visits: 81
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| i have an algae issue in my tank that has gotten better with bi-weekly water changes and phosphate removers. i cut back on feedings and hrs of light per day, but despite my best efforts the tank continues to grow a soft brown flat algae on the glass and it requires constant cleaning. twice daily! i have some reef safe fish and a few soft corals. i recently installed a cryptic tube fuge and sectioned off a portion of my sump and created a small fuge there as well. I'm planning to create another 10 or 20 gal fuge next to the tank. my cousin has a fowlr and has a UV sterilizer in her sump and swears by it for curing trouble algae. is this just masking a larger problem or is this a reasonable application for my situation? my concern is that is will kill off everything that is needed to keep a healthy fuge and coral. I'm sure it wouldn't be too detrimental if i turned it off during feedings, but again I'm not 100% sure.
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Junior Member
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Yesterday @ 5:38:35 PM
Posts: 287,
Visits: 396
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| A UV sterilizer kills micro organisms in the water column that pass thru it. It doesn't distinguish between plant or animal/good or bad. In a fish only system, that's not such a concern. The benefit of killing of free floating problem algae spores and parasites out weighs the loss of planktonic organisms. However in a reef, (especially one that your establishing a refugium in) these micro organisms are food for your filter feeding inverts. I personally would not run a UV sterilizer on a reef tank. As for your algae problem, it sounds like you're experiencing a diatom bloom. If your tank is six months old or less, this is a normal stage in it's maturing. The critical element in controlling diatoms is silicate. Diatoms are kinda like brown glass balls. They use silicates to build their glass shell. Once the surpluss of silicates is used up, the diatoms will just go away. If this is a newer tank, the best thing to do is just let it run it's course, it WILL go away. If it's a older tank, then you may be introducing silicates in your water when you do water changes. More changes, more silicates. There are resins available that will strip silicates out of the water. They are employed the same way you would use activated carbon.
So many species, so little money!
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