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Old 01-02-2006, 03:01 AM
DaveK DaveK is offline
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I moved this thread to the Nuisance Algae forum. You'll see other threads on Cyano here, and get more of a responce.

Like other nuisance algaes, cyano is cause by an excess of nutrients, mostly nitrates and phosphates.

Getting rid of it is best done by improving water quality. From you list of livestock it looks like you are reef system, and for such a system this is what I would do.

Get a high quality nitrate and a high quality phosphate test. You want ones that can read to extremely low ranges. For top quality Lamotte test kits are best, but very expensive. For something not as good, but more reasonably priced go with Sailfert.

Test your water and see how much nitrate and phosphate you have in the water. I'm going to assume you have very high readings. Also test your tap water.

Now to solve the problem you have to reduce the amount of nitrate and phosphate available to the cyano.

Check the amount you feed and make sure it gets eaten. You may wish to reduce the amount being fed, especially if you feed everyday.

Now the next few things are going to be expensive.

If you are not using RO/DI water, get yourself a RO/DI unit, and then make large partial water changes, using RO/DI water to mix your salt, until you have changed almost 100% of the water. You'll need to do about 6 changes of 30% of the water.

Upgrade you skimmer and get something worthy of a 125 gal tank. A Seaclone isn't that good a skimmer to start with, and I would consider it good for only about a 30 gal tank, at best. If you are prepared to upgrade the rest of the filtration system, go for a large sump mounted skimmer like an AquaC EV180. If it's got to be a hang on tank skimmer go with something like the Tunze 230/3.

If possible, upgrade the Emperor 300s. Ideally, I'd recommend a berlin type sump, overflow, and return pump. That's a lot of $s, I know. If that is not possible. use the Emperor 300's and clean them weekly. Do not worry about damaging any biological filtration they might be doing. With 250 lbs of LR you will not have a problem.

A note on filter Cartridges - Some of these cartridges use very low grade carbon that can leach phosphates. To test it, soak the cartridge overnight in ro/di water, and then measure the water for phosphates. If you get any reading at all, you don't want to use that brand of cartridge.

Vacume the sandbed. This will remove a lot of unwanted "glop". If it's a DSB, just do the top inch or so. Also, use a power head to flush out the live rocks and get that material filtered out.

Cyano doesn't like high water flow or bright light. You may want to add additional powerheads or other water circulation methods. If you haven't replaced you bulbs in the last year, now is a good time to do that.

A note on Red Slime removal products. Yes, they do work, and are somewhat reef safe, but unless you fix the actual source of the problem, you'll just get rid of the red cyano only to have it replaced by green nuisance algaes.
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