Kalkwasser and algea

[JJGeisler]

I thought I would toss this into the tidal pools and make a few ripples.....

I started doing Kalk dosing a couple of weeks ago. I average two out of three days doing a 1000ml+ drip. For those that remember the earlier threads with the IV bags etc there was a picture of the MJ powerhead with the Kalk drip tube attached. Below is the same tube two weeks later:

The Kalk drip injects into the tank on the left side through the PH nozzel. The left side of the tank is getting pretty furry with heavy hair algea growth. The right side of the tank has a little algea but only a fraction of what's on the left side. The PH on the right side is clean.

The Kalk is Kent Kalkwasser Mix and is mixed with pure RO. N,N&A=0 CA=500 Alk=3.3-4.0 meg/L. Salt is CoraLife. Has anyone else run into this before?

[FishDaddy]

Hey JJ,
That's incredible!! I have never heard of kalkwasser contributing to algae growth, if anything, it usually has the opposite effect by binding phosphates for export via the skimmer!
The only time I ever had excessive algae growth in one part of the tank over the rest was early in my tank's life I noticed one end was getting a lot more algae than the other. I realized a table lamp was next to the tank on that end and feeding the algae with the low end spectrum of light from the bulb!
BTW, that looks like some kind of Xenia or polyps covering the powerhead output.
Dick

[ 05-22-2001: Message edited by: FishDaddy ]

[JJGeisler]

Wow....good catch Dick! I got out the magnifying glass and took a closer look...does look like polyps of some kind, no idea what kind. Close up shots are below:

The white pice in the top photo is the 1/4" intake line for the Kalk drip. What ever they are , they like the Kalk!