can someone tell me how to get rid of this????

Im new to this sight and was hoping that someone can help! I have a 180 gal with a mag 4 sump, life guard 24" uv, 24" skimmer . I have mushroom polyps ( not sure if I spelled that correct LOL) Finger leather corals ,some zenia coral. My fish are 2 Gobies, 1 lunar wrasse, 1 six line wrasse, 1arch eyed hawk fish, 1 cinaman clown, 1 rabbit fish, 1 yellow tang. lighting is 2 Odyssea 36" 156W (4x 39W) T5 HO.Lights are on a timer and come on for aprox. 5 hrs a day. My tank has been running for 2 years and 3 months. I use R.O. water for top off . I have had this problem since my tank cycled. But before ,I could leave the lights off for a couple of days and the brown would go away. But now Im afraid to leave the lights off for a long period of time because I dont want to harm the polyps or any of my corals? I have tried and bought everything the lfs has recommended and have had no luck!! Ive even built two 20"x4" coiled denitrators one has 38' of 3/8" tube the other has 70' of 1/4" and has been runing for a little over a month and a half and still no results !! the lfs event told me that my bio balls in my sump were causing the brown nusence and that i should remove all of the bio balls because they were nothing but nitrite beds??? has anyone ever heard of this? i have taken some photos of my tank . water is always clear and fish are happy but this stuff grows on everything. it even covers my leather coral???? Thanks in advance for any info .

 

I cant zoom in on the pics but it looks like cyano from what I can see. Any type of algae problems usually stem from multiple problems, not just one.
A few top things to look for are flow, nutrient load, lighting, and cleaning crew.
Make sure your flow is up to par and evenly spread out through the tank. How are your phosphate, silicate, and nitrate readings? What, how much, and how often are you feeding? How old are your bulbs? Is your tank in an area that gets sunlight through the windows? Whats your cleaning crew situation? Refugium?
Bio balls can be nitrate factories, but only because people use them incorrectly. Are yours fully submerged, or does the water tumble through them via a tower? Bio balls should never be fully submerged under the surface.

 

Possible cyano, but cyano tends to be more red in color & has air bubbles in it. I don't see any powerheads. Flow maybe your problem. A mag 4 (400GPH) pump for a 180gal tank seem VERY small. From what I can see in the pic, it looks like you have a HOB overflow. A 180gal tank should have 2 drains, one on each end of the tank. As for the bio balls, I don't care for them & only use them in my skimmer, because I have too or the skimmer won't work. Though, they need to be replaced at times.

Packleader made some good points.

 

Packleader, long time no see, how have you been?

And I agree, it does look like cyano...

 

Thanks for the speedy responce. No sunlight is getting to the tank. The bio balls are not submerged ,they are on a tower that the water tumbles through them like you explained. my cleaning crew ( 5 large hermits) were shuked out and devoured by my lunar wrasse ! Feeding is once a day . and the bulbs are aprox. 7 months old. phosphate, silicate levels not sure? And nitrate and nitrite levels show normal on my test kit ? As far as flow i am using a rio 17H (aprox. 840 gph@ 4ft mine is 3ft) for my main return and i also have a fluval canister filter ( running empty only using the pump for my uv filter. No power heads, should i have on ? Again thanks for your time and info.Also sorry for the mistake , I meant that I have a mega flow model 4 sump not mag 4. sorry . It is duel siphon tubes.

 

You betcha, that would probably make a huge difference.

 

Yes, you should have a min of two. One of each side of the tank. This will make sure you have water flow through out your tank & minimize dead spots where algae can grow. I recommend a wakemaker or if you have a controller, have it control your powerheads.

 

So two power heads. I will pick two up tomorrow . Will this get rid of my exsisting cyano or is there something i need to do to get rid of it. Also it makes bubbles in the sand and on the glass and every where else that it lives? is that still canyo?

 

Looks just like cynobacteria to me. I think you should still check out your phosphate value as well.

 

I would test your water still, but a turkey baster & a small fish net works wonders removing it manually. Use the turkey baster as a vacuum or as a water jet on it (especially on the rock). Scoop up the algae that floats up or around with the net. Net works great skimming the sand.