I've about had it!

[tacks]

125g FOWLR set up for about 10 months now. Tank is built in wall in basement so it doesn't get much natural sunlight. Wet/Dry filter (with chemi-pure) Berlin Turbo protein skimmer. 100 lbs of live rock, 160 lbs of live sand. Water change of 30 gallons every three weeks. Lighting is VHO. IceCap 660 runs 1-110watt Super Actinic, 1-110watt white actinic, 2-95watt white actinic. The other IceCap 430 runs 2-95watt super actinic. I've cut back on lighting now to 4 1/2 hours per day. Tank is stocked with the following, 3 yellow tangs, 1 flame angel, 1 fridmani, 4 green chromis, 1 lawnmower blenny. Assorted crabs and snails from original cleanup crew. I feed once per day frozen and seaweed selects for grazing. Every third day, the tank does not get fed. Levels are as follows as of today...
PH - 8.0
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - <10
Salinity - 1.022 (not with refractometer... will get one soon)
Alkalinity - 9.8 dKh
Calcium - 315mg/L
Phosphate - 0.4mg/L
No matter what I do, I can't get rid of this cynobacteria. It's on the sandbed and some rock. I've increased the flow (now up to 7 powerheads), started rinsing/straining food, cut back on lighting, bought chemi-pure. I'm religious with water changes and clean the overflow filter daily. I use Hi-S RO/DI for makeup water and water changes. Fish look GREAT and are very healthy. The tank however doesn't look so good. I'd rather not correct this problem with chemicals but I'm getting close. Any suggestions? I hope I didn't leave any info out.
Woke up this morning to find sand sifting star had been eatin by peppermint shrimp and my Diamond Goby jumped through the eggcrate once again!!!! Back to square one and I'm ready to give up!!!!

 

[spiderwoman]

What kind of powerheads are they and what GPH do they give out? How are they directed? Can you show a full tank shot?

 

[rcreations]

I've had a few bouts with Cyano in both my tanks. In my experience whatever you do won't help. You just have to wait it out because it will go away on its own at some point. Until then, just suck it up with a turkey baster and try to keep things as clean as you can. But it'll keep coming back on its own until all of a sudden it'll go away.
I've had cyano in my small 40gal for 2-3 months and no matter what I tried, it wouldn't go away. I tried to reduce lighting, more flow, everything. Then all of a sudden it went away on its own.

 

[oceansidefish]

Try and make sure that there are NO dead spots in your tank... I would cut feeding to only every other day. Fish don't need to eat every day. Get a turkey baster and suck it all up.

 

[fishfreak1242]

What is your water change schedule like? Try doing a 5% water change once a week.

 

[fishygurl]

im dealing with cyano in my 72 right now.. im gonna scrub the rocks with it real good before i put it in my 125... i have aimed powerheads right at the rock with the most of it, and every water change i scrape a lot off the rocks and suck it up, now its in my sand.. so im gonna boil that before it goes in the 125... i know what your feeling its frusterating..

i started feeding by hand with my clowns since they are all i have atm and now there isnt any food going down they eat it all from my hands so i hope that helps.. not sure about the snails so every couple days i will let a little bit of food get down to the sand for em ive noticed the one rock is looking a LITTLE bit better and some coraline is growing on it so i hope it goes away

 

[tacks]

30 gallons every three weeks. Already cut back on feeding and lighting. PH are a variety of aquaclear, hydor koralia 4 and koralia 2, etc... Can't really point them at the sand otherwise tank is cloudy white.

 

[fishfreak1242]

Originally Posted by Tacks
http:///forum/post/2638408
30 gallons every three weeks. Already cut back on feeding and lighting. PH are a variety of aquaclear, hydor koralia 4 and koralia 2, etc... Can't really point them at the sand otherwise tank is cloudy white.
I would highly suggest doing a 7 gal water change every week.

 

[michaeltx]

how old are your lights?
your getting phosphates from somewhere did you start with tap water when the tank was first setup?
Mike

 

[ophiura]

I agree.
You are definitely, IMO, doing no where near enough water changes. You are not even doing 30% a month which is standard, and you have several tangs in there which would automatically, IMO, up the water changes. Tangs are messy fish. I would at least consider 10 gallons a week if not 15. I had a cyano issue on my 45 which I feed heavily, and so I just had to deal with about 12 - 15 gallon water changes a week to get on top of the problem. I used to have to clean the glass of slime just about every day if I cared. Now - got the discipline for every week and its good.
I also have the Berlin Turbo...did you get a venturi modification for it? Is it skimming well? IMO it might be an underperformer for a 125 FOWLR.

 

[tacks]

I replaced the impeller on the skimmer cause it wasn't working at first. It's definately underperforming but I don't have the money for a new one. I empty the cup MAYBE once every two months. It always seems to have foam in it though. Maybe a new skimmer with more frequent water changes would help.

 

[tat2tillidie]

high phosphates are the main cause of cyano. i would suggest a phosban reactor i have a two little fishies and it cost $39 and it works awesome. good flow consistent water changes and a phosban reactor or any phos removing media. just my 2 cents

 

[crimzy]

Originally Posted by RCreations
http:///forum/post/2638387
I've had a few bouts with Cyano in both my tanks. In my experience whatever you do won't help. You just have to wait it out because it will go away on its own at some point. Until then, just suck it up with a turkey baster and try to keep things as clean as you can. But it'll keep coming back on its own until all of a sudden it'll go away.
I've had cyano in my small 40gal for 2-3 months and no matter what I tried, it wouldn't go away. I tried to reduce lighting, more flow, everything. Then all of a sudden it went away on its own.
I agree with this. I do not think the problem is something that you are doing wrong. Fish tanks go through different phases of algae as they mature. The cyano will last for a while and will eventually go away on its own and will never return. Some people go through bouts with hair algae. Don't beat yourself up over the cyano... it won't help and it will eventually just go away on its own. JMO.