Minor Cyano problem. I'd appreciate some help.

[woody189]

Hi. I'm having a Cyano problem i one specific area of my tank. It's on the sand and glass in 1 spot. I tried adding flow but it didn't help.
It's a 46 gal w/ 45lbs LR. 40lbs aragonite sand.
Coralife skimmer 65
canister filter
3 PH's
2 clowns
purple firefish
royal gramma
6line- just added
5-6 crabs
5-6 snails
WHen i turn out the lights for a few days the red algae dissapears, but if i turn the lights back on for more than a few hours it reappears.
My water is:
ammonia-0
trates-20
trites-0
ph-I forget exactly, but normal
phosphate- LFS tested and said it was barely higher than 0
I'm not sure what the cause is. Phosphates issue was my last resort, but they are almost 0. Any ideas?? thanks

 

[sickboy]

My water tested 0 for phosphates, but as soon as I started using a phosphate pad, it vanished. I would imagine that phosphates are contributing, even in a minute amount, plus the cyano would be sucking it out of the water so you wouldn't get as high of a reading.

 

[dennis210]

Read your test kit - phosphates come as organic and inorganic - tests are only for one and not the other so even at zero you may still have phosphates.

 

[kjr_trig]

What sort of lighting do you use? PC's can cause this after about 9 months or so they need to be changed.

 

[jrod4u]

Ya know, I had a problem with the cyrano. I scooped very little out and got a protein skimmer, and it all pretty much went away after few weeks. Not sure if the solution was the skimmer or if everything pretty much stabalized. Just my two cents ;-)

 

[woody189]

i have a single flourecent tube and i already have a skimmer.