Brown Hair/Cyno algae.. Im rdy to give up!

Hello all,

I am currently at my wit's end with brown hair algae slash cyno. It is all over the substrate of my tank and no matter what i do it comes back. I am getting ready to tear the tank down its so frustrating.

I currently have a 29 gallon with only one clown fish, this tank is extremely lightly stocked.

For filtration I have cpr aeroforce 2 skimmer rated for why higher then my tank. I also have a medium refugium with two balls of cheato macro algae and light. I have had the algae in the refugium for 2 weeks now and I have seen 0 growth from the macro algae.

Before I spend any more money i need to know where to go???? Should i get a gfo reactor? It seems like the filtration does no good. I replaced the filters on my spectrapure ro/di unit last week and did my first water change with no signs of improvement.

Also I have a nova current light which I got used the bulbs have to be very old, is there a possibility the bulbs are old and causing this?

 

From what I've learned about fluorescent bulbs and how they need to be replaced every so often I would say that's probably the problem. Have you tried keeping them turned off for awhile? I know that bulbs eventually can go bad and should be replaced every couple of months.

 

What is your water source, are you using ro/di water? What are your phosphate levels? Definitely change the bulbs...

 

Def change bulbs and get a blue-er spectrum bulb. Algae likes bright white- er light. Get some sand sifters and a bi_color blenny which will eat algae on your rocks. Wet skim also. I've been struggling with cyano as well for about 6 months. It's horrible but I think I'm finally realizing what needs to be done. Idk if a reactor will help? Def check your phosphates with a good test kit before investing in a reactor. I run a brs reactor but its not helping my algae issues IMO.

 

List some numbers
nitrate level?
phosphate level?
how old is the tank?
how many bulbs in your light and what spectrum?
how long is your photoperiod?
any CUC?

It can be fustrating but you will get there. Even if nitrates and phosphate read 0 you can still have major algae issues, they just read 0 because they are consumed by all the algae.
The main purpose of the fuge is to grow algae to remove organics but how it does that is by creating a spot where the conditions for algae growth are far superior to those in the DT. Keep your photoperiod in the DT short and the fuge long. Use a blue-r spectrum as stated above for your DT and a whiter/yellow spectrum for the fuge. Make sure your algae loves your fuge more than your tank

Also with skimming, remember that over-skimming with and oversized skimmer does NOT mean better!! How a skimmer works is by building a head of foam that will eventually bubble over into a collection device. If you have a skimmer meant for a r eally large tank than you need a really large head of foam before it collects anything. Basically it will be very ineffiecent on a smaller tank because the dissolved organics will need to be significantly higher in the water column to produce the head before they can be removed. a skimmer rated at 2-2.5X your tank volume is what most suggest, anything smaller will do as well but with room for improvement and anything larger being too large for the sytem.

Also if you do not have a CUC, GET ONE!! Check out reefcleaners and talk with John. He will put together a nice list of snails and hermits to help consume that algae. They do not really eat cyano so siphon out what you can and pull out large chunks of hair algae. Also make sure you have good flow with no deadspots as this will help battle the cyano

Finally, if you tank is under 6 months old, DONT WORRY!! A young tank needs to go through its many cycles which include numerous algae blooms to build up a strong and stable system. If you start adding all kinds of reacters and chemicals than the tank will no go through the appropriate and needed cycles to become a stable system down the road. If the tank is older than 6 months and you are still having these issues than try a GFO reacter or bio pellets. I use niether so I would allow others to chime in on their use and effectiveness.

Good luck and rememeber patience patience and more patience in this hobby.

 

+1 110%!

The only other advice I can add is try vacuuming out all you can when removing water for a water change. I've found that to work wonders when trying to get macro established in a fuge.

 

There are some commercial dry foods also contain excess nutrients and other undesirable things like nitrates, phosphates etc so I strain/rinse my fresh/frozen foods before feeding my tank. You may want to consider feeding your fish less often.

 

Everyone has some very good advice. Don't give up although I know how it feels to be so frustrated that you're ready to. From what I understand, T5 bulbs needs to be replaced about every 8 months or so so definitely change the bulbs. Do the light recommendation with more white in the fuge and more blue in the DT and lessen the amount of time they are on in the DT. I have always run phosguard in my tank even when it was a FOWLR and did very poor husbandry and algae stayed pretty much at bay BUT I need to say, I do not have a fuge which really is a great thing to utilize and my tank is 15+ years old.

I've had several mishaps on my journey while trying to convert my FO to a reef and a couple of times was totally ready to hang it up but I've stuck it out (with support on here I might say ) - I continue to battle nitrates and am going very slow in adding any livestock and am loving the tank although it's not anywhere near to where I want to be - it will take time.

I think you're coming to the right place for advice and I would follow the above suggestions and hang in there!

 

Please provide image.

 

I will go ahead with the new bulbs thanks for suggestion. I have two daylight white bulbs on fuge but no growth at I'm very confused will post pics tommorow I just canr believe this I have 300 dollars of filtration one fish and my tank looks like trash