Algae out off control!

Changed my metal halide bulb yesterday and today little to none red slime cyano. Forget the chemicals, find the root problem. I'm glad I did. I'm just surprized how much the 6 month old MH bulb changed.

 

good for you going natural.

 

Ok so natural is good but im stumped! i have very good flow in the tank: 2 filter outlets one at top for air and one half way down the tank a tunze flow powerhead and one little power head, 1x 405 filter with live rock rubble , 1 x 305 fluvale with carbon & rowa phos, octopus dual BH-300 skimmer, 40 + kg live rock , coral sand gravel 2 inch deep bed. 2 x t5 lighting 1 blue 1 white, 2 marine white led strips (TMC) & 2 reef white lights (mixed white & blue) The lighting was added to my tank 1 week after my tank pwer crash at christmas.

I did have my skimmer running just day but changed it to 24/7 as from yesterday.

My paras i just did _
Ammoni 0
Nitrite 0
nitrate barely 5
cal 440
kh 110
ph 8.1-8.3
salt 1.026


I Had a good growth off fern algae And halitilda? (cant spell to save my life!) till the cyano smothered it!
People keep saying good flowe is the key but i have a really strong tunze powerhead pointed down just above the floor and its still comimg back strong!

I was thinking id love to go natural but i cant figure out whats causeing the cyano other them maybe my tanks 2 day power crash at christmas when i was away two days! i dont over feed i feed little amount 1-2 times a week.
Im thinking go with the kent red slime remover (as i cant get hold off chemiclean) and get rid off the cyano temp to see what my actual nitrate is sitting at because at the mo im getting a reading off below 5 because the cyano is eating it. So if i use the slime remover then my nitate should jump up to lets say 50 + then i can make efforts to lower it with maybe more frequent water changes?

Anyones input it all welcome!
Thanks Kiarah

 

Have you tried cleaning out the skimmer and filter housing? If they are dirty they can house alot of nitrates.

 

its very hard to take my skimmer off the top off my tank so i have not cleaned the pumps, pipes or any off that part.The only part i clean is the cups!
i dont really touch the filters either as i dont wanna harm the good bacteria so in the past 4 months i have just opened them up once to make sure they are not cloged. there is one thing i think i got wrong when setting my tank pipe work up and thats my main big filter is a 405 fluvale but i put the uv ster on the pipe work before thw waterer gets to the filter - so the water gos in the inlet then through the uv then in to the filter then back into the tank. This is the way my lfs told me to do it but i thought it had to go to the filter then to the uv then back to tank?
Thanks K

 

The dirtyier the inside of the skimmer chamber the less efficent it will be. Even if you clean once every 6 months or once a year it is better then never

 

I think this is a huge part of your problem. I would take the time and clean it out. You may be surprized with the results.

 

here are some pic off my skimmer ,it needs emptyin now but as you can prob see it a big hang on unit so do i have to take the whole unit off and clean it in ro water?
Thanks K

 

Well hate to say it but maybe you need to find a skimmer that is easier to clean out. Going natural takes a lot of time. Even after a year and a half I see cyano in my tank( granted it is not as much as when I first started) I Think as long as it has somthing to feed off of it will be there flow or no flow. If you take the easy way out then you will always have problems.
The other thing that may have you confused is that some will go more natural then others. There is 1000 was to bake a cake. That doesn't mean any are wrong. If you do one thing then I would stick with it. If you go natural and wait then do that and don't expect results tomarrow. If you do the chemical way then plan on spending money in the future for all the chems you will be buying. Hang in there in time you will understand.

 

I have just remember where the cyano came from! I had a hermit that came free on the mushroom rock i got about a month ago and on its shell was the purple/red stuff thats covered my tank! The hermit pasted away after a day and left its shell at the bottom off my tank and the purple stuff spread from the shell and across my tank floor. to think my tank was perfect till i put that hermit in there ! .I clearly remember thinking i must take the shell out as i thought it looked odd and that the stuff on it was spreading and i even remember thincking that maybe that stuff on the hermits shell was why it died. Then with all the partys at christmas i completely forgot about it then bam ! , should have taken it out when i first thought about it!
K