will it go away...

Discussion in 'Algae' started by Dubethenewb, Jan 12, 2011.

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  1. Dubethenewb

    Dubethenewb Bristle Worm

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2010
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    134
    tank is 100 gallons

    tankmates: african yellow belly hippo, two black occ. clowns, two blue damsels, sixline wrasse, lawnmower blenny, cleaner shrimp, about 10 snails, 5 emerald crabs (had 20 before tank busted but took them out because they were eating all my polyps), 5 hermies. i feed them pellets twice a week and once a week shrimp which i rinse off and put red sea veggies in three times a week.

    have about 10 diff corals mostly lps but some sps and lots of zoas palys and shrooms which everything seems to be growing rapidly.

    water quality:
    PH- 7.8
    nitrite- 0
    amm- 0
    nitrate- 0
    phosphate- .25
    cal- 440

    water flow- two aqueon 1250 pumps and two wave makers coming from return pump.

    do water changes every week at 20% and use ro/di water for top off

    run carbon

    clean sump twice a month have two balls of chaeto and 5 mangroves

    lighting- 6 VHO t12s (5 months old)

    now thats out the way i have had the tank since august 2010, in november of 2010 the tank split apart and leaked out...bla bla bla bla... got a new tank and set it up same day and it has been running ever since. so i guess we can say the tank is 2 months or so old now. i never had any problem with cyano before the tank busted and now i cant seem to get rid of it i had it for a month now and it covers my sand bed but not so much on my rocks and corals just the sand where ever the light can get too. i cut down my lighting to 9 hours a day now from 12 and it seemed to help a little and siphon what i can out with water changes (sand bed went from 4"s to about 2"s now with all the siphon). so what gives.. do i wait it out and wait for it to go away or do i take what my LFS gave me (red slime remover) and dump that in which i really dont want to do. is this normal for a tank this young? its ugly and i want clean sand so any advice is appreciated.

    [​IMG]
     
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  3. saints fan 420

    saints fan 420 Expensive Colorful Sticks

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    wow..that alot of cyano..first thing first you got alot of phosphates in that tank.. make sure the tds of that water is 0..if it were my tank i would get some GFO and either put it n a reactor or hang on filter or canister asap..as well as start doing water changes, large ones, every threeish days..like 25 gallons..even tho your test are showing 0, you have nitrates and phosphates, that algae is just using them up..you could also cut back on feeding to help out and also cut back on lights, you could even do a lights out for 3 days..also get a siphon hose and start sucking that stuff out the sand and also scrub it off the rocks before you do the water changes, you can also take the rocks out and scrub it off of them...thats stuff is never going to go away unless you take action doing the things i listed and maybe some other stuff some people chime in that i have left out...i have never had an experience with this so hopefully someone with experience can fill in..good luck man that stuff can completely take over a tank quick

    honestly looking at your setup, i think your best investment in this problem would be to get a phosphate reactor..theyre not that expensive and will make your tank look great...since your already running cheato..i cant think of any other way you have them..you got enough flow,,unless your just feeding way to much or your rodi filters need to be replaced..
     
  4. Dubethenewb

    Dubethenewb Bristle Worm

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    Baby I'm a saints fan that's I say who dat lol, from new Orleans saw your a saints fan also and same age as me but anyway

    Thanks for the advice I was planning on getting a reactor and i get my water from lfs and tested it and it was good. I cut back couple weeks ago on feeding once a week but my fish looked skinny and HUNGRY so I started feeding again. And siphon out every week but it comes right back onto the sand
     
  5. saints fan 420

    saints fan 420 Expensive Colorful Sticks

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    Oh word..WHO DAT for sure..Bummer about the playoffs but hey we won it last year so you know cant complain with a hurt team hard to win big games...yeah the reactor will help a ton..other than the lights out method which i would def do no more than 3 days even tho i have heard you can go longer but from what i have researched on it 3 days no lights works really good..and once you get that reactor you should be able to go back feeding your tank regularly..i dont know if i would keep siphoning since your sucking out all your sand, it will help and then if you wanted too you could just slowly add some more sand to your tank..again i really hope the best and ill keep checking..to help out with your phosphates and nitrates you can also either dose vodka as a carbon source or you can keep your ph around 8.5ish and it will evaporate the phosphates...if you do any of these last two methods please please read up about them before you attempt..dosing vodka is easier than dripping kalk to keep your ph stable at 8.5..but dosing vodka takes about a month or so before you start getting lower readings of phosphates and nitrates..
     
  6. SushiGirl

    SushiGirl Barracuda

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    Yes, it's normal for a young tank. Sometimes even happens in older tanks. Saints gave good advice. We're fighting it right now ourselves.
     
  7. Dubethenewb

    Dubethenewb Bristle Worm

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    I'm debating on getting a ozonizer or reactor
     
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  9. blackraven1425

    blackraven1425 Giant Squid

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    Go with a GFO reactor, and a fuge if you can.
     
  10. Dubethenewb

    Dubethenewb Bristle Worm

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    yeah i did some research on the ozone and it seems a little complicated for my skill level so i am just going to get the dual GFO and carbon reactor from BRS, i have a fuge set up in my sump with mangroves and chaeto n some live rock.

    do you know how much of the GFO and carbon i need to order to fill the reactor and how often do i need to replace it?