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Old 03-28-2006, 01:01 AM
DaveK DaveK is offline
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Thanks for answering all my questions!

Aaron_owen's post about over feeding is 100% right on target. I only feed my reef about 2 to 3 times a week. If I were in a cyano battle, I'd cut my feeding back.

Also, discontinue the use of Spectra Vital. It's really not needed in a reef as long as you make regular water changes, and it's contributing to the cyano problem.

Just about everything else you are doing is fine.

You want to clean only about the top 3/4" to 1" of your sand bed. Don't try to go deeper. You can use one of the various gravel cleaning devices that hook up to a syphon tube, and clean your sandbed as part of the water changes.

The other think that I think would help is to add some mechanical filtration. Now normally I am not a fan of hang on the tank power filters, but in your case, they may help. You want something that is going to be used only for mechanical filtration, so avoid all of the "bio-wheel" type products. Get something like a large Whisper or Aquaclear. Get one rated for a tank about double the size you have. It will only cost you about $20-$35. Set it up, but do not use the carbon or loose bio-media. Just use the mechanical media. Replace or clean the media in FW at least once a week. Twice a week would be better. If you let it go longer, the filter will turn into a "nitrate factory", and this will not help solve the cyano problem.

Canister filters used the same way would also work, but are a lot harder to clean, and a lot more expensive. I mention this only because you may already have one.

It takes awhile to win the cyano battle, but if you do these few things, you'll be well on the way.
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