Phosban

[FishFanatic]

Im thinking of getting phosban filter media to help eliminate algae, ( along with a new skimmer and rio 2500 powerhead). Does it help?

[paulg]

Are you using RO/DI water? What skimmer are you getting?

[Loverotties]

It removes Phosphate not Algae.

[paulg]

Also what kind of algae is it?

[FishFanatic]

Originally Posted by paulg

Are you using RO/DI water? What skimmer are you getting?

yes i use RO/DI water, see my thread on choosing which skimmer to get, ive narrowed it down to like three.

[FishFanatic]

Originally Posted by Loverotties

It removes Phosphate not Algae.

I know and nutriets such as phosphate contribute to algae growth.

[FishFanatic]

Originally Posted by paulg

Also what kind of algae is it?

cyano bacteria

[motorslave]

What are you doing to keep your rock and substrate clean?

[FishFanatic]

Originally Posted by motorslave

What are you doing to keep your rock and substrate clean?

i am having cyano issues so i ciphen as much as possible off, and im getting a new deltec skimmer to replace my extremely useless seaclone 100, and i also added a rio 2500 powerhead

[DevilBoy]

i may be wrong here, but i think cyano is not caused by a phosphate issue. I always thought it was due to lack of flow within the tank.

[motorslave]

Do you blast the rock? Its a good idea to blast the rock off with a power head or a turkey baster. It blows a lot of detritus out of the rock and its good to do right before a water change as you can remove much of this junk when you pull the old water.

[motorslave]

Originally Posted by DevilBoy

i may be wrong here, but i think cyano is not caused by a phosphate issue. I always thought it was due to lack of flow within the tank.

oops, yup youre right!

[tashier]

My take on those is if your phosphates are off the charts then use it. If they aren't, just clean your tank up a bit and do water changes.

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by motorslave

oops, yup youre right!

Cyanobcterial blooms are pretty much just like any other nuisance algal bloom, the blooms are a reult of an accumulation of nutrients, sufficient lighting, and water. Whether they peak in a particular spot on the substrate or not around the bases of your live rock will depend more on localized accumulations of decomposing detritus that results in localized areas of high concentrations of these nutrients is controlled by circulation eddies and "windfalls" of detritus. In closed systems, nitrate is seldom the rate-limiting nutrient, especially for cyanobacteia, as many spp. of cyanobacteria can capture nitrogen and fix it a nitrate or ammonia molecule that they can use to synthesize nitrogenus compounds (like amino acids). This is often the reaon that cyanobacteria are some of the first algal autotrophs that show up in new systems; they fix nitrogen in an aqueous form that other algae can use to pave the way for successions of other algal species that cannot fix nitrogen in the water. It often becomes phosphate that is the rate-limiter for algal groth in aquaria, and unfortunately, it is easily accumulated in systems as such, because there is no realistic means of easily exporting phosphate (short of resins,GFH, and skimming to remove the precursors before they decompose), especially in systems with calcium-based sand beds, where phosphate becomes adsorbed to the surfaces of calcium-based rock and sand. These calcareous substrates then become sinks for phosphate, but not permanent sinks. Activity by bacteria that drive pH down (locally more acidic) or that release phosphatase enzymes may result in another cause of locallized higher concentration pools of phosphate that would lead to blooms of cyano or other nuisance algal species (remember that bacteria as such have no mouths, and must create an external "soup" that they can bathe in to absorb their nutrients through their cell walls).

So you're smart to use every opportunity to export phosophate in a closed system. Don't forget to blast the rock with current to dislodge detritus from the rock, and to siphon, siphon, siphon to get it out of corners, crevasses, and from under the rocks when possible. A good reason to go BB is to limit the sand as a calcium sink, as well a to make it easier to provide enough curfent in the tank to keep detrital remains suspended in the water column for removal via skimming without whipping up a sand storm and resulting sand dunes on the bottom.


JM2CW, HTH

[FishFanatic]

Originally Posted by tdwyatt

Cyanobcterial blooms are pretty much just like any other nuisance algal bloom, the blooms are a reult of an accumulation of nutrients, sufficient lighting, and water. Whether they peak in a particular spot on the substrate or not around the bases of your live rock will depend more on localized accumulations of decomposing detritus that results in localized areas of high concentrations of these nutrients is controlled by circulation eddies and "windfalls" of detritus. In closed systems, nitrate is seldom the rate-limiting nutrient, especially for cyanobacteia, as many spp. of cyanobacteria can capture nitrogen and fix it a nitrate or ammonia molecule that they can use to synthesize nitrogenus compounds (like amino acids). This is often the reaon that cyanobacteria are some of the first algal autotrophs that show up in new systems; they fix nitrogen in an aqueous form that other algae can use to pave the way for successions of other algal species that cannot fix nitrogen in the water. It often becomes phosphate that is the rate-limiter for algal groth in aquaria, and unfortunately, it is easily accumulated in systems as such, because there is no realistic means of easily exporting phosphate (short of resins,GFH, and skimming to remove the precursors before they decompose), especially in systems with calcium-based sand beds, where phosphate becomes adsorbed to the surfaces of calcium-based rock and sand. These calcareous substrates then become sinks for phosphate, but not permanent sinks. Activity by bacteria that drive pH down (locally more acidic) or that release phosphatase enzymes may result in another cause of locallized higher concentration pools of phosphate that would lead to blooms of cyano or other nuisance algal species (remember that bacteria as such have no mouths, and must create an external "soup" that they can bathe in to absorb their nutrients through their cell walls).

So you're smart to use every opportunity to export phosophate in a closed system. Don't forget to blast the rock with current to dislodge detritus from the rock, and to siphon, siphon, siphon to get it out of corners, crevasses, and from under the rocks when possible. A good reason to go BB is to limit the sand as a calcium sink, as well a to make it easier to provide enough curfent in the tank to keep detrital remains suspended in the water column for removal via skimming without whipping up a sand storm and resulting sand dunes on the bottom.


JM2CW, HTH

thank you for that extremely informative post!!!! Ya i added a powerhead so nothing settles now. im also getting a new skimmer, along with the phosban i think hopefully it should do the trick, along with water changes of course.