When will it stop ????

[Sam1969]

I have been battling all kinds of algae for months now ... have got the hair algae beaten .. phew .. and most of the other algae is now beaten or under control .. but I now am having a problem with what I think is cyano, it starts as a reddish brown coloring on my sand and then as time goes on it turns to a darker red then to a brown.

I have been doing large water changes once a week ( 50% on main tank and 90% on sump ) for 3 weeks now and its not getting any better in fact my anemone is looking very sick and starting to turn green on some of his tenticles. I am very concerned and wondering what else I can do to beat this before it kills my anemone.

[mike31154]

If your anemone is a GBTA, the tentacles turning green might be a good thing. How long have you had it and what colour was it when you purchased it? What kind of water are you using, tap or RO/DI?

[Sam1969]

I have had it since january and it was very pink when I got .

[mike31154]

So it was sold as a rose bubble tip? If so, then turning green might not be good. Did you get it from a reputable source? And it would be useful to know how long your set up has been running.

[paddyob]

I had some algae issues.ca And kh Were always low.i had to start testing and dosing Daily.i have a 20 Gallon And i dose alternate days at a much higher then recommended amount. i dose 1.5 tsp Of ca One day and 1.5 Of kh The next. i do get some sand surface algae but not bad. before it was an eye sore. this is probably something you have looked at but that helped mine. increasing your CUC. my tank has about Ten assorted hermits, 1 cerith 2 nassarious 2 turbos 3 mexican trocha 1 astrea. g'l.

[paddyob]

Is it a newer tank?

[fishytime]

Diatoms and red slime can sometimes form due to lack of flow at the bottom of the tank. Another thing to consider is what and how much you feed. Ive never been an advocate of dry foods, because imo they all contain phosphates and if left uneaten can quick dissolve into the water column(and some actually contain copper sulfate). If you feed mainly frozen foods , dont put the juice in the tank...rinse or strain all your frozen foods. Kz makes a product called "coral snow" which has helped me with my cyano. Good luck with you "battle".

[JDigital]

I agree with fishytime on using KZ Coral Snow... it worked on ridding my tank of a couple small (4-5" round) areas of Cyano/Diatoms...

[Sam1969]

The tank is still fairly new, its only been running since late december. The only fish in the tank are 2 small percs and a yellow tang. Clean up crew consists of a conch, 4 turbo snails, 5 small crabs, 1 large crab, cleaner shrimp. I feed every other day ( frozen mysis ( drained )) and stop feeding when it hits the sand. I am running phos ban and carbon in my reactors. and my light cycle is 10 hours. I have 2 koralia 2's running mid tank in different directions ( one pointed towards front of tank one pointed accross tank ).
Nitrite, nitrate, amonia and phosphate are all undectable.

What now ?

[JDigital]

You could also try a 24 or 48 hour lights out trial... has been known to work for some reefers.

[Myka]

Two Koralia 2's in not near enough flow. In my 33g I have a Koralia 2, and two MJ1200s. Even though the MJ1200 is rated as much lower flow it actually produces much more flow as the two are rated much differently with the Koralia using a propeller and the MJ using an impeller. Both the Koralia 2 and one of the MJ1200s run 24/7. The second MJ1200 is hidden behind the rocks, and I turn it on for 3-5 mins every morning. The purpose is to blow the detritus out from behind the rocks, but I can't leave it on all the time because it is too much flow for my LPS. I would suspect that you could add two Koralia 4's to your tank to take the place of the 2's, and then use one or both of your 2's behind the rocks. You could probably even leave the 2's on all the time.

[fishytime]

I agree with Myka...two K2s produce 1200 gph which is 13.3333 xs turnover. Generally speaking for a softie/ lps setup you want between 20-40 xs turnover and if you want sps you shoot for 40+ xs turnover.