Cyano outbreak is kicking my butt!!!

[mooner]

I've got the dreaded brown slime with some nice crimson red on the substrate in my 7 week old 50 gallon setup. This stuff grows like mad and has been for 10 days now. I realize the tank is rather young and these outbreaks are common. One thing I noticed is that during the photo period I have a lot of bubbles and during the day my skimmer stops working much. Is the cyano eating all my nutrients during that period?

I have done the following to fight it as recommended by the good folks on this board:

>small water changes (5-10%) every other day
>I vaccum the top 25% or so of the substrate
>skimmer running at max (pulling wet foam & replacing lost water with fresh)
>reduced feeding to once a day(about 10 MYSIS) rinsed it really good
>started some carbon in a bag in the return to sump
>I remove the slime with every water change. I get like 90% of it

I am losing the battle and it's growing faster. The tank houses a clean up crew, devil's finger, an open brain, some polyps and some shrooms along with 3 small fish and one BTA. All inverts are small with the exception of the devils finger. Inhabs are all healthy.

Now for the part I will get lectured on and probably deserve: I have those cheap a** 6500K lights from HD totaling 130 Watts. Those are on the way to becoming the home security lights they were made to be and I will have 250 Watts of 14000K MH next week.

Vitals:

35 lbs LR

Ammonia 0
Nitrates/trites 0
Ph 8.3
SG 1.023
kH 10
Temp 80
calcium 400 (kalk drip)
I have some macro algae in there but not much
Weekly minimum or less of MicroVert, Tech 1, CoralVite (vary sparingly)

Anything I am missing? Doing something?

I really think and hope that my problem stems from these cheap lights. I am going to run with no top when I get the MH. I also bought a new titanium heater and plan to drop my temp from 80 to 78.

Also I wanted advice on: new light acclimation and placement, temperature recomendation, etc.

Thanks!

 

[fishinsouthga]

what kind of water are you dumping in your tank everyday, sounds like you are importing neutriants to your tank with you water changes, best be would be to sit back and let it eat itself to death, i remember mine, i was scaping glass and stirring everyday, that just adds to the problem let it grow and die....,

 

[mooner]

LFS bought RO is all I have ever used. Actually never tested it and they seem like dedicated reefers so I trust them on water quality. I just bought a nice high quality RO/DI unit that is on the way to my house now.

I will stay the course and hope for the best.

So you think grabbing the slime out by hand is OK as long as I dont stir it up? That's what I am doing now about every 48 hours.

 

[mountainbiker619]

I second the quality of water you are puting into the tank during the water changes. Do you have your own RO/DI unit, or are you getting it from your LFS? Regardless of the source, I would suggest you buy a TDS meter, not very costly and a great investment, and use it to check your water source. If the water checks out fine, then you can remove water quality from the possibility list and move on to the next option. You may want to pick up some PhosGuard, or something to that nature, and place the recommended amount into a sock bag and place it in your sump.

 

[blueoceandiver]

i had the same problem 80% of the tank was covered even though mt tds said 0 there was something getting in.i added an di to my ro and pow it all disapeared.dont believe the quality of lfs water they are not as concerned as we are.a di did the trick for me.

 

[mooner]

I think this outbreak is on it's way out but I wanted to get some confirmation. I stopped using the LFS water and will wait until tomorrow to get my RO/DI unit in the mail before my next water change.

I let this stuff get almost 1/4 inch THICK and did not remove or stir the cyano since the last posts recommended that I let this thing basically starve itself. Now some of it has turned clear and a bit lime green in patches (about 50% is clear now as opposed to dark brown like it was) and some is peeling away under the current. Is this thing finally dying out?

Whatever it is doing it is some sort of transformation and it looks good to me.

Thanks for all the help!