flow problem and a cyano

[hadarush]

i have a 40 gallon reef tank that works for more the 2 months, i have 2 things that frustrates me really bad.. first this is me tank[sorry about the crappy picture....]

1- flow, the returning pump is 4000 l/h, actually it does something like 2000 l/h, the big wave maker pump 4000 l/h and the small one is 2000 l/h.
i cant find the way to set the wave makers to get a direct flow towards the overflow, the thing that frustrates me even more is that i have a lot of dirt betwin the rock and i cant find a way to set the flow in the tank that will direct all the dirt to the overflow and will make my tank cleaner....
yes i change 10 L every week and try to pull out as much dirt as i can but still....
there is no dead areas [flow......] in my tank, every single place has at least slow water movement..
do you think that i should change the places that the pumps are placed? do you think that adding another small wave maker will help? where should i place it?
do you think it is good to place a pump infront of the overflow or it should be directed on the rocks?
2- i have an annoying cyano problem [as you can see....], even at places where it has a direct flow... amonia and nitrit are 0 and nitrate is 5, need to buy new phosphate kit [also using the red sea no3po4-x pruduct]

 

[hadarush]

bump!

 

[RenoR1]

Basically you just have to fiddle with aquascaping and pump placement a LOT to get things how you want. This can take a while. I dont know what you have for a skimmer, but it looks like you have a lot of excess nutrients in the tank. Reduce the amount of food, and get a large clean up crew. And please reduce the size of your pictures prior to posting in the future.

 

[hadarush]

ok, thanks for your respone
i have a red sea prizem pro
anyone else has any other suggestion or an offer?

 

[Dadekster]

I second redoing your aquascaping and going so far as maybe even taking about 1/3 of that existing rock out. I'd make it a bit more open which should improve your flow and keep things in suspension more to allow your skimmer to remove them. It's hard to tell from the angle but if you have your rock stacked up against the back pane I'd get it off there so flow can get back there as well. The more open your rockwork is the better off you'll be in avoiding deadspots where crap can settle. A turkey baster is good for weekly blasting as well. Good luck.

 

[savageAJC]

agree with above post, also how much are you feeding and how often + how many hours do you leave the lights on?

 

[staceyd72]

Hi,

Your tank is still quite young at two months, the cyano is kind of expected. You can help alleviate it by following what Dadekster suggested. Some of your rock seems very dense, maybe you can add this to your sump(if you have room) while leaving the more porous pieces in the DT; having more porous will aid in filtration.

Here is an excellent article by Dr. Borneman on 'the cycle'.

 

[hadarush]

thanks for your advice!
i feed usually once a day, 2 times a week i feed twice a day [adding frozen food]
the light is on for 8 hours a day
im so afraid to aquascape the rockwork again, it took me forever to get to this result where i have many shelves and places to put corals... ill might take out all the the rock above the 6 big base rocks and try to play with them and of course move them a little bit to the front to distance them from the back.. what do you think?

 

[hadarush]

small update-
i took out almost third of the rocks and put them at the sump, of course after reaquascaping the rockwork again
also ordered another 2000 l/h wave maker for more flow....

 

[kenjung]

you should look for extra dirty filter media, foam, pads etc, change it out within couple of days. The dirty filter media I found out in my tank cause all the algae out break issues and vaccuum your sump.

 

[hadarush]

yeah, the filter media gets really dirty within few days so i change it oftenlly

 

[saltjohnswharf]

Siphon the cyano out with a hose removing it entirely. Redo the aquascape. Try Chemipure Elite. It has been known to remove the bacteria.