Nancymacc Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 [ATTACH]11378[/ATTACH] Okay so the lights I have are 96w total of T5 VHO, 2 actinic 2 daylight that I got off ebay ( ya I know probably issue number one). My nitrate are very minimal maybe 5 ppm and phosphates are zero. I have been changing out at least 10g of water every week in the tank (total volume probaby 55g with sump). I have had some diatom algae, but in the last 2 days I have a ton of red hairy algae stuff on the substrate. Using RO/DI water that is 0-1 TDS, I have phosban in the sump in a bag, not in the reactor which I am not using at this time. I am at a loss of why this is here. Here are my thoughts, but I need some experienced input. 1. Crappy quality lights 2. Too long light time ( I have been reducing to 4 hrs a day since yesterday) 3. Food - I am only feeding once a day but I have been alternating Instant Ocean's Omnivore diet gel with their pellets. Everything seems to get eaten fast. 4. Not tnough flow. This one stumps me, I can't ever seem to actually what flow I should have in the tank, just "oh you can never have too much" I don't know what that means.....How much movement should my circulating pumps provide? I also have Purigen and Chemi-pure Elite in the Sump, Purigen is in the sock and the other just in high flow area. I did just replace the crappy BakPak skimmer with and Eshopps one, hoping that helps. Any input and suggestions on how to rid the tank of this red menace would be helpful. I am a person who wants to be doing something to fix the problem, I am wondering if this is just one of those hurry up and wait situations... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pnkrcklives Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 On my 55 gallon tank. My return pump is running at 937 gallons an hour. I also have two korralia 750 in there. Before that I was running 750gph return and two 450gph power heads and I had problems with cyano in the display. Once I upped the flow I only get it in the sump now(had to manually clean some from the display but it did not return). I also reduced my feeding a little and my light cycle by an hour. Hope that helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nancymacc Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 Then I definitely do not ahve enough flow.... my return is only about 450gph, when I had the bigger pump on it seemed like and insane amout of flow. I guess cause I am so used to freshwater tanks. I have a Rio 3200 that I can put on as my return but I might have to throttle it a bit (i can do this I have a ball valve on the line) due to my intake line. Should i increase the return line's flow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.R Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 Looks like Cyno to me. Siphon off as much as you can without spreading it too much. Increase your water flow. You can have as much flow as your substrate and corals can handle, this will keep the cyno from building up. Reduce feedings until the cyno is under control. If your lighting is already at 4 hours that should be fine. Cyno needs light, lots of organic stuff, like too much food in the system, dead snails fish ect. If you have gone thru all of this and are still battling it a month later there is some safe chemicals that will treat the problem. However it will come back if you have excess organics in your system to feed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitchell Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 Then I definitely do not ahve enough flow.... my return is only about 450gph' date=' when I had the bigger pump on it seemed like and insane amout of flow. I guess cause I am so used to freshwater tanks. I have a Rio 3200 that I can put on as my return but I might have to throttle it a bit (i can do this I have a ball valve on the line) due to my intake line. Should i increase the return line's flow?[/quote'] How long has the tank been set up and what size tank do you have? Also what are your test results? You don't want to increase your return pump, you just need some power heads. Aim for the gph to be at least 20-30x your tank volume. I have one 1050 gph power head and one 750 gph power head in my 55 gallon sps tank and everything does well. Also I only feed the fish a couple times a week and everyone does just fine, maybe cut back on the feedings a little? Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nancymacc Posted May 27, 2011 Author Share Posted May 27, 2011 The tank has only been up a few months. Nitrates are 5 PPM and Phosphates are zero, I do not have a silicate test but I am using RO water and have Purigen & Chemi-Pure in the tank. My Ca has been running high at 500, pH at 8.2m hardness at 11. Nitrites & Ammonia are zero. I really think the lack of flow in the tank is probably a good part of the problem and light and general noob-like overfeeding :(. Tank is 50g with a 10g sump, probably with rock displacement the total volume is closer to 45g. Once it is all under control I will put a lovely picture up of the tank LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lewisriverfisherman Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 From what I have read It doesn't look like you have any power heads in your tank? I would suggest atleast 2 750gph power heads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grassi Posted May 27, 2011 Share Posted May 27, 2011 You had some good answers already. There is no noob question. We all have been there and we love to answer and help. Feel free to ask as much as you want: better safe... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nancymacc Posted May 28, 2011 Author Share Posted May 28, 2011 I have 2 maxi-jet 400 powerheads and a aqueon circulating pump but none are giving the type of flow that I really need, I ordered at 750gph circulator today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reefnjunkie Posted May 28, 2011 Share Posted May 28, 2011 Cyno happens, low flow, to much nutrients, new tank-My guess is the newness of the tank coupled with high nutrients. I am one that will use chemi-clean and not think twice about it-Syphon as mentioned and look into the chemi-clean or red slime control by blue vet-I've used both and like the CC for cost and ease. After the tank becomes more established you will have less outbreaks-It'll happen again sometime in the future, and then again in a year from now and ......(laugh) dont sweat it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMiller Posted May 29, 2011 Share Posted May 29, 2011 When we first set up a different tank we had a bad case of cyano too. 1. it was a new tank (+ or - 5 weeks or so) 2.crappy lights 3. hardly any flow what I did to solve it was, I got a red legged hermit and within a day he cleaned it all up. There was a few small outbreaks but I upped my wc's and had the lights off for 2 days. I also decreased feeding to about half. haven't had any problems since! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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