brown cyano?

[ohio reefer]

i recently reset up my tank. my live rock pretty much is all base rock now. anyways i am having brown like hair/cyano algea growing on everything. the reason i think its cyano is, it peels off easily but it has long hair like hair algea.

my question is how do i get rid of it?

i used to have my metal halides wich are a year+ old on for about 10 hrs a day. but now is turnd off all together just have my actinics on same amount of time for the fish. no coral is in the tank yet. i have been doing water changes every 3 days water readings are within normal limits. protien skimmer removing about a gallon a day of skimmate. i even have a hang on back small filter running.

do you think it could have been the old mh's? should i add a uv steralizer?

what do you think?

please help!

equipment:

120 gal tank

55 gal refugium with live rock macro algea, denitrite clams, mangrove trees.

100 gal sump

calcium reactor.

thanks guys!

mark

 

[tecwzrd]

Have you bought a po4 test yet and do you know what your po4/no3 levels are? (both in the tank and your source water) Are you using ro/di water and if so is it time to change the filters? From your last algae hair breakout last Aug what steps did you take to rid your system of it at that time? Did you “start over” or were you able to remove it and get it under control?

If your actinic pc lights are also a year old I’d replace them along with your MH bulbs.
Lots of people swear by UV filters and the article on this site if you haven’t read it yet goes into the +/- of using them.

 

[ohio reefer]

i don't have a po4 test yet. but my other test are ph 8.26, nitrate 5, nitrite0, ammonia 0, salinity 1.024.

i do use ro/di water

i started over i used everything form the old tank though sand, rock etc.

i'll replace the bulbs and get a uv sterilizer

any other ideas?


mark

 

[tecwzrd]

I’ve seen some people recommend blacking out the tank (covering it with blanket) to help get rid their system of it. It might help since you don’t have corals.

Just changing out your bulbs should help drastically and with the addition of the UV sterilizer I think you will get it under control.

fishfreek recommended this on a similar subject.

I recommend changing PC bulbs out after 9 months. The color spectrum on them will really shift toward the red range and that’s a strong algae growing side of the spectrum.

 

[melosu58]

Between the bulbs and the UV which will get rid of free floating algea spores ,keep doing the PWC and I dont know if you have any fish but if you do feed every other day. UV is one of those things that everybody just agrees to disagree. I think they are an asset but that is IMO. Watch out , Duck down