Time for change?

[Todd]

So my 6x2x2 tang setup has been up and running for a little over a year now, and it has been great. But due to using bore water, I have a ridiculous algae problem that according to a local water expert that used to keep fish himself and personally knows the type of water im using, I will never be rid of it. So that has left me three options that I can see. 1: I just try to ignore the algae and try to keep on top of it (which is difficult to say the least) 2: I buy a ro/di unit and buffer the water up from that 3: I use rain water (or ro/di) and try another setup. So im sortof looking through my options at the moment, and Im starting to lean to the later. I can't honestly say that my tank is where I had imagined it to be by this point, and I don't know how much more money I can pour into it to try to achieve what i had envisioned. So Im wondering what I can do. I have been thinking for a while now about turning it into a South American setup with eartheaters of some description for the centerpiece and other smaller cichlids from that area to fill in the niches. So what should do? Does anyone have any examples of such a tank?

Todd

[Link2Hell]

Todd

first things first water are the parameters of your bore water pH and hardness

what fish are you keeping ATM as being a Tang set up bore water will suit them

if your only problem is algae then you need to look at how much light the tank receives

the other think is to test for phosphate levels that could be accelerating the algae growth

I don't think running an RO unit for water will change your problem but it will change the water

parameters to where you would need to add buffing agents to build it up to Tang parameters

options for control are possibly using a UV unit

not Tangs but some bristlenose cats

a good magnetic algae scraper unless it's a black beard algae growing on the substrate and rocks

Poly filter will remove phosphates if it is being caused by high phosphate levels

go any pics you can post

[Rod54]

Another option is to store water used for water changes in an open tank with duckweed.....duckweed will use the nutrients in the water....leaving less for the algae

I'd bet your water is hard alkaline....great for tangs

If you want to go for Eartheaters then soft water is the go (rainwater not bore water )

[Joel1985]

I had a big problem with algae in my 90 gallon then got 3 bristle nose catfish and now have no algae. They are great workers and get along with most fish

[AzFish]

Is the algae coming from high nitrates, high phospates or both? what have these been tested at, both at the source and in the tank?

A UV filter will do nothing if the aglae is on the rocks/glass etc, it will only kill off waterbourne algae, IE green water.

For high nitrates, you could try a DIY coil denitrator, pretty inexpensive to set up and for phosphates you could try pool starver from a pool shop, if using this chemical you will need a mechanical means to remove the flocculant after each dose, IE filter wool or Filter sock etc.