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Aquarium Advice FINatic
For those of you who might remember me, it's been a while. I've upgraded from the old 42 hex to a new 92 bow-front. I've got 110 watts of PC actinics, 250 watts of 10,000K MH, 170 lbs of LS, 100 lbs of LR, just a few small fish, and some inverts. It's running on a refugium of my own design with an Aqua-C EV-180 (if I remember correctly) skimmer and a Mag 5 running the skimmer. The return pump is a Mag 7.
So, anyway, here's my issue. I have a golf-course-looking patch of hair algae all over my rocks. That's fine. I know how to fix that. Simply keep the nitrates down, the phosphates down, and have a cleanup crew, right? Okay. I was without a cleanup crew until last week, so they're now digging on the rocks and making noticable progress. Problem solved, right?
Wrong. I have cyano all over my sand. Here's what's wierd about it, though. First of all, my nitrates are about 15 and my phosphates are about 0.25 at most... probably lower. Secondly, when the actinics come on in the morning the sand is pristine. It's 100% white with not a trace of red slime. Then, after 60 minutes it's covered with brown film. After that the hallide turns on and it just gets worse until the end of the day. Then, the next morning, it's clear again. What the heck?
Now, my nitrates are good, my phosphates aren't very high, my lights are backed down to like 6 hours a day (6 actinic with 3 hallide in the middle), and I don't know what else to do. I don't want to get a sand sifter simply for the sake of keeping my sand from growing over with cyano. I'm at a loss. What else needs to be done? Temperature hangs around 80-81, if that matters, and my SG is about 1.022.
Is there something that I haven't yet been educated about in this area?
So, anyway, here's my issue. I have a golf-course-looking patch of hair algae all over my rocks. That's fine. I know how to fix that. Simply keep the nitrates down, the phosphates down, and have a cleanup crew, right? Okay. I was without a cleanup crew until last week, so they're now digging on the rocks and making noticable progress. Problem solved, right?
Wrong. I have cyano all over my sand. Here's what's wierd about it, though. First of all, my nitrates are about 15 and my phosphates are about 0.25 at most... probably lower. Secondly, when the actinics come on in the morning the sand is pristine. It's 100% white with not a trace of red slime. Then, after 60 minutes it's covered with brown film. After that the hallide turns on and it just gets worse until the end of the day. Then, the next morning, it's clear again. What the heck?
Now, my nitrates are good, my phosphates aren't very high, my lights are backed down to like 6 hours a day (6 actinic with 3 hallide in the middle), and I don't know what else to do. I don't want to get a sand sifter simply for the sake of keeping my sand from growing over with cyano. I'm at a loss. What else needs to be done? Temperature hangs around 80-81, if that matters, and my SG is about 1.022.
Is there something that I haven't yet been educated about in this area?