Ok this is getting old :(

[aquanaut]

My tank is 3 months old. All water parameters are normal. I have 2 clowns (Small) 3 Blue Chromis and 1 Scooter in a 30 gal long.
Every day, and I mean every day, there is a layer of Diatoms on my glass (Greenish brown ?)and sand. Now I am starting to get Cyano .
I have a 96 watt 10k and 96 watt Actinic compact flor. wich is on from 9 am to 9 pm. Is there anything Im missing here. why so much algae.diatons ,cyano yuck......

I just lost my finger coral for no apparent reason, all nasty looking and not opening up anymore. But my sun coral is doing fine Xenia is well Colt is fine . I just cant figure it. Im getting sick of Constantly cleaning this tank.


Oh yeah I have a 20 gal sump with skimmer( which isnt producing much right now)

Any help would be appreciated Thanks Rob

 

[zacdl]

Well they say that algea comes from phosphates which are found in city tap water most of the time.

Are you using city water?

 

[aquanaut]

No I use ro/di water Phos test are low

 

[quarryshark]

Phos test are low

How low?
How often and how much do you feed? How much water movement do you have?

 

[Hara]

you also have 6 fish in a pretty small tank. The tank is not very old. Under those two circumstances alone, you can expect to find alot of diatoms.

 

[dansemacabre]

If phos is low, it'll still happen. Mine is at .1 (or .01, I forget which that stupid scale is) and I still get them. I recently added a second DI chamber after the first one, and it's now completely eliminated the phos coming out of the ro/di. Even if it's low, it'll occur.

 

[Walpurgis]

I would try cutting back on how long you are leaving your lights on for. 12 hours of full brightness is a lot for a small tank. Can you cycle your lights, so that the main lights (most powerful) come on during the time that you are home so you can enjoy the tank and keep softer lights for the rest of the time.

We have cut back our (3) 250K lights to 5 hours a day and have some softer watt bulbs for the "dawn and dusk" times. We don't have very much (of this type) of algee anymore.

 

[MarineFlake]

Your po4 levels should stay .015 PPM max (shoot for undetectable). Unless you have something to consume it, your going to run into issues. Also, I read somewhere on this site before diatoms are related to silica issues. Not sure if thats true, but its something else to look at. How often are you water changing? Another possible fish tale is the use of kalk. Again, don't know if its true but it is supposed to help 'bind' or export po4. It is a new tank at only 3 months. Some folks keep diatoms for 6 months w/o the load you have in there.

GL!

 

[SsSarahsS]

I had had the same problem with my tank (which is now 4 1/2 months old) there were diatoms and I was beginning to get cyano too. So I bought a sand sifting star a bahama star and one large hermit. One weekend the tank suddenly became very clear and there was no diatoms and minimal algea. I think all new tanks or most go through that diatom stage. Mine was at least three months along before it cleared up. Now I just get the odd bit of green algea on my glass, and some on substrate and rocks, but not a great amoung and easily comes off with the mag float. Don't get discouraged.

 

[aquanaut]

Thanks guys ... and girls

I ll check out everything. Def. cut back on lighting some..... Thanks again

 

[RMPD109]

The diatoms like most brown algae is fed by silicates and not phosphates. The DI stage filter should help with this. The cyano is a different story and follow the suggestions above. Watch out for overstocking, overfeeding, low water flow(deadspots) and the excess nutrients builing up on filters etc.