# [Wet Thumb Forum]-hard water and algae



## redturk (Apr 17, 2006)

My area in the catskills of ny has very hard water.Every few years we have to replace the hot water heater due to mineral buildup which eats away the heater.
My problem is algae on the glass.I have a huge mat of H.deformis floating and the glass under that is clear. However the rest of the tank keeps getting a buildup. Diana suggested to much iron in the water which might make sense in my area. I am thinking of switching to rainwater diluted with tap water to reduce the mineral load. any comments or suggestions
art


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## whiskey (Oct 9, 2004)

Iron that came in from your tapwater would be quickly be used up, unless it is really high, can you smell iron in the water? How often do you do waterchanges? Most people in this fourm do them rarley.

The reason I say this is that there are other sources of iron in your tank, if you substrate is exposed to light it can releace mass amounts of iron continualy, and I would suspect a cause like this over source water.

Rain water mixed with tap water might work fine, but you never know how many nasties are in it from falling through all the smog.

Whiskey


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## dwalstad (Apr 14, 2006)

I wouldn't worry too much about the water. Hardwater is good stuff for many plants. And Whiskey may be right about nasties in rainwater. Sadly, with power plants currently spewing out tons of highly toxic mercury into the air, I would advise against rainwater.

Instead, I'd make sure you have plenty of hardwater plants-- duckweed, Elodea, Vallisneria, Amazon swordplants, Cryptocoryne wendtii, C. balansaea.

You can add charcoal to filter (to remove chelated iron) and reduce lighting (either photoperiod or the intensity)

I'm going to try the hydrogen peroxide method that Mr. Fishie had had good results with. Here's the URL

Hydrogen peroxide

I get mat algae every winter when the sun comes in the back of tank for several hours. I remove the mat algae by hand using an old toothbrush. During the summer, the algae goes away.


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## peter bradley (Oct 12, 2004)

Strangely simply improving water quality has a dramatic effect on algae problems we set up tanks in the london area Uk where are water is very hard we remove nitrate and phosphate and controll the amount of food being fed . feeding is one of the biggest factors causing algae problems . try just feeding live food for a couple of weeks and do regular water changes it may not be totally el natural but it works
peter bradley


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## peter bradley (Oct 12, 2004)

Just a thought have you a good covering of floating plants 
peter bradley


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## magicmagni (Aug 19, 2004)

In my experience anything that limits plant growth gives a "niche" for algae to thrive in. This is why it is important to make sure plants have all essential nutrients from some source weather from the substrate or water column. 

I suspect your tank may be low on phosphates. I have a feeling that if you were to test this you would see close to 0ppm. It's also possible that plant growth is lagging although it may not be so evident yet. If this is the case then you have a limiting nutrient that will limit your plant growth and give algae an upperhand.

My el natural tank tends to run around 60ppm Nitrate and 5ppm to 10ppm phosphate. Never a spec of algae- no need to even clean the glass in several months. I think it is a misnomer that these elements in the water are causes of algae. IME it's always the opposite- high tech or low tech tank.

Go to your LFS and get some kind of phosphate based buffer to add a little phosphate to your tank. (you may already have one?) I use Seachem neutral regulator since I had some collecting dust with all my fish junk. You just need a little bit on a low tech tank since the plants grow slower. Try 1/8 tsp of it for every 20-50 gallons of water every week or two. Don't worry about it changing your PH at these low levels.


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