Water Tests to high

[LovnChely]

I've been battling algea for the last two weeks. I ordered a few things from BRS which included test kits. I've done the test that I have read have a direct effect on algea. Reading are high...

PO4 1.0
ALk 7.4
CA 490
Nitrate 10ppm
Salt 1.020 ( I know thats low, I've been topping off with saltwater to raise it slowly)

Tank have been up for close to year now and was up for the same before I bought it LR and all. I did a 20% water change two weeks ago, at that time had hardly any algea. (water change with RODI water, brand new filters installed by Marc less than 4 months ago) I did add some bonded filter media to the sump at that time to stop some of my bubble coming into my display. (I will be changing that out with a filter sock this weekend) Could that be what has caused this algea problem?

Also, any recommendations on what I should do to take care of this quickly..

Thanks
Steph

 

[LovnChely]

I have caulerpa in my fuge. Should I add cheato?

Help me out what is GFO?

I am using a hydrometer. Tried to order the refractometer from BRS last week, but it's backordered.

 

[LovnChely]

Thank you!

 

[washingtond]

@LovnChely wrote:

Caulerpa is better for removing nutrients from the water. I would stick with it.

 

[Guest]

Might try liquid phoshate remover you add it to your skimmer and it can lower phosphates overnight i went fron .50 to .03 using brightwells liquid phosphate remover.

 

[LovnChely]

So I paid a visit to Perc to get something to help memoir with the phosphates being high. Seems to have worked but not completely. (and nitrates are still high)

Going to do a water change this weekend. Tested RODI water and it tests for 0 phosphates. I had a rather sudden burst of algea and that's what brought on the testing. My bulbs are old and need to be changed but within the month I'll have LEDs so I won't buy bulbs. Will this also be the cause of the high nitrates and phosphates? I would like to find the source so that I can eliminate it and avoid it later.
Testing was done tonight...
Looking for thoughts....

Thanks

Phosphates. 1.0 to .25
Dkh. 7.4 to 8.6
Calcium 490 holding
Nitrates 10 to 5ppm
Nitrites 0
Ph 8.0
Ammonia 0

 

[txbj]

In my experience, old bulbs & algae bursts go hand in hand. Are you using phos ban or something similar. Keep up those water changes!

 

[LovnChely]

Something similar. It has worked dropped it from 1.0 to .25.

Ordering LEDs and should have them by the end of the month. Guess I'll bump up water changes to every week will then.

Steph

 

[starscream]

Water changes are unneccesary if your PO4 is already down to 0.25 and your nitrates were already in the low 10pm range from the beginning. Note that each 10% water change only reduce the phos from 0.25 to 0.225. Since your larger water changes have sufficiently reduced your nutrient levels, you should rely on a properly tuned skimmer, efficient macro like chaeto or chemical means such as phos ban to reduce and maintain a near zero nutrient level. No matter how old your lights are, with an undetectable nutrient level, you will not see noticeable nuisance algae growth.