Algae War

[mvreef]

I have been battling Cyano and GHA for some time now. I completed a cycle of "lights out" for 3 days and no improvement. Corals, however, look awesome now!

Any problems with going "lights out" again for 3 days? I am not running any kind of Phos removal so maybe that is the problem.

 

[Reefmedic79]

Where are you getting your water? How much are you feeding the tank?

Increasing flow will help control the cyanobacteria, and limiting the available nutrients will limit the algae growth better than going lights out.

 

[jdm01]

A number of us are fighting that battle. It can seem never ending sometimes. I have a tank that is a few months old. I am getting ready to run NP-Biopellets in my TLF 150 reactor. My phosphates are 0 but nitrate still high. From what I can tell the biopellets will help resolve nitrate, phosphate and really choke out the cyano. It is a nutrient issue. My bloom happened in full force when I likely overfed the tank with mysis shrimp and did not strain it properly.

Sorry for the long answer.

 

[jdm01]

I also understand cyano does not care much for flow, so I have decided to fight fire with fire and put a Koralia 425 powerhead right above the sand. High enough for no sand storm, low enough to make it's life miserable :mad2:

 

[Ron Reefman]

I have been battling Cyano and GHA for some time now. I completed a cycle of "lights out" for 3 days and no improvement. Corals, however, look awesome now!

Any problems with going "lights out" again for 3 days? I am not running any kind of Phos removal so maybe that is the problem.

Going 'lights out' for 3 days is just a way to try and kill the cyano bacteria that is established in your tank. If you have high nutrient levels and not enough flow, it will just come back again (or may not even die off with the lights off). You need to solve the reason for having cyano and hairy algae first. Over feeding or nitrates & phosphates are high (you may get low readings when you test because the algae & cyano are using it up). Water changes, runing GFO, cut back on feeding add a refugium...
Good luck.

 

[Dr. Reef]

i used to have same problems u have. i bought a sulphur denitrator made my korallin and used chemi clean and that the last i ever saw algae or cyno.

 

[ReLPSef]

Run GFO and 10-15% weekly water changes. Siphon out the algae right before the wc and attempt to capture any free floating strands. Cut back on your feeding and dig in deep. It's a battle ahead but you can win it. I have. I also switched salts.

 

[mvreef]

Run GFO and 10-15% weekly water changes. Siphon out the algae right before the wc and attempt to capture any free floating strands. Cut back on your feeding and dig in deep. It's a battle ahead but you can win it. I have. I also switched salts.

I've heard siphoning cyano actually can help to spread it?

 

[mvreef]

Going 'lights out' for 3 days is just a way to try and kill the cyano bacteria that is established in your tank. If you have high nutrient levels and not enough flow, it will just come back again (or may not even die off with the lights off). You need to solve the reason for having cyano and hairy algae first. Over feeding or nitrates & phosphates are high (you may get low readings when you test because the algae & cyano are using it up). Water changes, runing GFO, cut back on feeding add a refugium...
Good luck.

I am running 2x425gph on opposite sides of the tank. But I do think the algae is growing the "dead" spots.

Would increasing flow with 2x750 for a 29g setup be overkill or actually help to resolve the problem IYO?

 

[jdm01]

I am not sure siphoning helps spread it, the stuff is incredibly efficient at reproducing itself. You can peel the sheets off of the sand and a day or two later it is right back if you have not resolved the underlying issue. You have to get at the core of what is causing the problem or it just comes back time and again.