Brown hair ? Cyano ?

[Johntrigger]

Hi I have a 120 gallon with 5 smaller fish have a 40 gallon sump tank is 9 to 10 months old.All parameters check out at 0 ppm ammonia,nitrite,nitrate .My ph is 8.3 my phosphate read zero also on a API test kit.i can not get cheato to grow ether I run gfo,gac and filter sock change every 2 days it seem when I change sock the brown stuff fall off when pulling out of water I skim wet empty half cup a day always brown.i feed fish once a day. I removed refugium out because cheato kept getting brown stuff on it .do 15 gallon change every week .i finally tried chemiclean last night an brown stuff still on sand and live rocks I use instant ocean salt reef crystals all corals do well in tank except GSP.they always look nicer when at store I also have 1 korola 7 2500 cfh and 2 korola s 1400 and return pump is1642 so flow is real high.any help would be great I will try to post pics to I put pics on photobucket but don't know how to get them to here the site say I can't post links yet?

 

[Johntrigger]

Need to post 5 times to post pics rs says this is #3

 

[Johntrigger]

4

 

[Johntrigger]

5

 

[Johntrigger]

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[Johntrigger]

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[Johntrigger]

[/IMG]Now rc say it must ok pics before they post is this normal or am I doing something wrong? Thank you the bubbles you see in the algae is from the chemiclean it make tons of micro bubbles before the chemiclean it just brown hairy looking.

 

[Johntrigger]

Here is other pic

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[Johntrigger]

One more

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[DaveK]

It look like cyano to me. Sometimes it looks more brown rather then the maroon red color it usually has.

In my opinion adding any chemical control agent, such as chemiclean is a mistake. While the produce does work, unless you fix the cause of the problem all you'll do is replace one problem algae the another kind of problem algae.

Even though your reading for nitrate and phosphate are 0, you likely still have a problem. The rapid growth of the algae removes nitrate and phosphate from the water. This is why the reading are low. To resolve the problem you need to reduce the amount of nitrate and phosphate entering the system.

The major sources are the water being used,if not using RO/DI water, and overfeeding. Over stocking a tank can also be a big factor, but you don't seem to have this problem.

Here are a few things to look into.
Consider getting better test kits that API for testing nitrate and phosphate. Sometimes the cheaper test kits don't read low levels well.
Reduce the amount your feeding, and rinse frozen food out in tap water before use. Dry foods can also be a big source of nitrate and phosphate.
Make sure you have a good clean up crew.
Vacuum the sandbed, but only go down 1 inch or so. All the dirt that gets trapped there can be part of the problem.

 

[Johntrigger]

It look like cyano to me. Sometimes it looks more brown rather then the maroon red color it usually has.

In my opinion adding any chemical control agent, such as chemiclean is a mistake. While the produce does work, unless you fix the cause of the problem all you'll do is replace one problem algae the another kind of problem algae.

Even though your reading for nitrate and phosphate are 0, you likely still have a problem. The rapid growth of the algae removes nitrate and phosphate from the water. This is why the reading are low. To resolve the problem you need to reduce the amount of nitrate and phosphate entering the system.

The major sources are the water being used,if not using RO/DI water, and overfeeding. Over stocking a tank can also be a big factor, but you don't seem to have this problem.

Here are a few things to look into.
Consider getting better test kits that API for testing nitrate and phosphate. Sometimes the cheaper test kits don't read low levels well.
Reduce the amount your feeding, and rinse frozen food out in tap water before use. Dry foods can also be a big source of nitrate and phosphate.
Make sure you have a good clean up crew.
Vacuum the sandbed, but only go down 1 inch or so. All the dirt that gets trapped there can be part of the problem.

 

[Johntrigger]

I do use my rodi water 0 tds I just installed all new filters was reading 1 only thing left is t5 bulbs are 9 month old . As for nutrance I had my tank follow for nine weeks to qt fish and must of this happens then I did move all rock but took each one out and shook of in bucket of saltwater before rearrange the tank I have a small hippo tang two clowns gratin gobie and red tail trigger just got him going to do 30 gallon change tonight because of chemiclean I feel that chemiclean can't hurt anything corals and inverts are fine sometimes u need to try to get upper hand . I also bought a sea hare and I think he is eating it will let you know in week update thanks for replies

 

[PSU4ME]

What type of clean up crew do you have? Also what do you feed?

Short of the lights getting old it sounds like you are doing the right stuff (minus the chemiclean). As Dave said, nutrients are getting into the system some how. Let me know the food and you might want to get moving on the bulb replacement. Water changes will help. You didn't mention it but I assume you have a quality skimmer in your sump?

 

[whippetguy]

I agree with all the above. One thing you might want to do is cut your lighting time to 4 or less hours for a few days while you're trying to get it under control.

 

[Johntrigger]

I agree with all the above. One thing you might want to do is cut your lighting time to 4 or less hours for a few days while you're trying to get it under control.

 

[Johntrigger]

I feed frozen missid shrimp I started to rinse it out in a net now. my skimmer is for a 180 gallon bubble Magnus nock off every day I empty a half full cup of brown crap same color as algae . Most rock in tank was Marco rock 125 lbs and 3 peices of jarcardo live rock would cheato die off cause this I removed my refugium out of sump now because it was always brown covered and in 4 days now I have no algae growing down there it was next to impossible to clean sand bed in so I removed all the sand to now I have just more water in its place

 

[Johntrigger]

I feed frozen missid shrimp I started to rinse it out in a net now. my skimmer is for a 180 gallon bubble Magnus nock off every day I empty a half full cup of brown crap same color as algae . Most rock in tank was Marco rock 125 lbs and 3 peices of jarcardo live rock would cheato die off cause this I removed my refugium out of sump now because it was always brown covered and in 4 days now I have no algae growing down there it was next to impossible to clean sand bed in so I removed all the sand to now I have just more water in its place

 

[Johntrigger]

Well I changed 30 gallons of water vacuumed sand Snow White and it is brown in morning could this be Dino's chemi clean did nothing I blew off all rock the stuff blows right off easy but any algae that is on rock like fussy gets the brown stuff covering it in hours maybe I will dump 10 gallons of bleach in tank next. This stuff is driving me nuts all I do is clean this tank could I have bad salt instant ocean reef crystals because I get the brown ring in my make up water bucket but that sound common with this brand? Next will be lights out for three days maybe 4