For the past 4 months I've been battling a cyano outbreak. It's not on the rock or sand bed. It's just on the glass but is annoying as heck. I haven't been able to make a dent in the stuff and now I've got this funny gold-brown hair algae growing over a good portion of my live rock. Nothing in the tank wants to go near the stuff. The crabs won't eat it, neither will the tang or foxface.
I've increased my water changes and I siphon off the crap as much as I can each week but it just is not showing any signs of improvement. Nitrates and phosphates are always zero by my test kit. I've also had my water tested at two LFS. I get the same results there. Other water parameters are all normal and have been stable with the exception of calcium and alkalinity. They've been on the low side (380 and 1.6 meq/l). I'm working on correcting that.
At this point, I'm considering removing the sand bed. That's the only place I can think that the nutrients feeding the algae and cyano are coming from. Before I do that, I'd like a second opinion. Why remove it if I don't have to. Plus, I'm a little concerned that if I do remove it, the nitrates will go up.
So, is there anything else you would suggest I try before going that route?
Thanks,
Andy
Tank info:
-Tanks is about 4 years old.
-75 gallon display tank with a 35 gallon sump (sump contains about 10 gallons of water)
-About 75 lbs of live rock and a 4 inch sand bed (sugar grain sized). Sand bed looks good and clean except for a couple of spots in the front corners where the water flow is lower.
-Aqua-C urchin pro skimmer in the sump
-Chaeto in the sump. It hasn't grown at all since I put it in the sump 8 months ago.
-2 x 175Watt, 10k MH bulbs on for 6 hours daily (about 10 months old)
-2 x 96 watt PC bulbs. 1 x 10k and 1 actinic both on for 6 hours per day (3 hours before and 3 hours after MH).They are also about 10 months old.
-I get about 500 gal/hr from sump return pump and I have 1 maxijet 1200 and a koralia 2 in the tank for a total flow rate of 2300 gallon/hr
-I have about 25 astrea snails, 3 turbos, 27 blue leg hermits, 7 nassarius snails, 1 conch, 1 black and red cucumber. 1 Yellow tang, 1 foxface, 1 orchid dotyback, 2 percula clowns. Misc soft corals. Mushroooms, polyps, and zoanthids.
-5 gallon water changes each week done with distilled water from my own distiller. It's stainless steel. I've been using it for years without issue. Top of water is RO/DI (TDS meter is reading 10-15).
I've increased my water changes and I siphon off the crap as much as I can each week but it just is not showing any signs of improvement. Nitrates and phosphates are always zero by my test kit. I've also had my water tested at two LFS. I get the same results there. Other water parameters are all normal and have been stable with the exception of calcium and alkalinity. They've been on the low side (380 and 1.6 meq/l). I'm working on correcting that.
At this point, I'm considering removing the sand bed. That's the only place I can think that the nutrients feeding the algae and cyano are coming from. Before I do that, I'd like a second opinion. Why remove it if I don't have to. Plus, I'm a little concerned that if I do remove it, the nitrates will go up.
So, is there anything else you would suggest I try before going that route?
Thanks,
Andy
Tank info:
-Tanks is about 4 years old.
-75 gallon display tank with a 35 gallon sump (sump contains about 10 gallons of water)
-About 75 lbs of live rock and a 4 inch sand bed (sugar grain sized). Sand bed looks good and clean except for a couple of spots in the front corners where the water flow is lower.
-Aqua-C urchin pro skimmer in the sump
-Chaeto in the sump. It hasn't grown at all since I put it in the sump 8 months ago.
-2 x 175Watt, 10k MH bulbs on for 6 hours daily (about 10 months old)
-2 x 96 watt PC bulbs. 1 x 10k and 1 actinic both on for 6 hours per day (3 hours before and 3 hours after MH).They are also about 10 months old.
-I get about 500 gal/hr from sump return pump and I have 1 maxijet 1200 and a koralia 2 in the tank for a total flow rate of 2300 gallon/hr
-I have about 25 astrea snails, 3 turbos, 27 blue leg hermits, 7 nassarius snails, 1 conch, 1 black and red cucumber. 1 Yellow tang, 1 foxface, 1 orchid dotyback, 2 percula clowns. Misc soft corals. Mushroooms, polyps, and zoanthids.
-5 gallon water changes each week done with distilled water from my own distiller. It's stainless steel. I've been using it for years without issue. Top of water is RO/DI (TDS meter is reading 10-15).
