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c0n

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this time its in my tank, growing on halameda seaweed..and starting to populate on my sand bed..i removed the seaweed, and stired the sandbed a bit, tank is a bit murky right now, and im gunna do a 25 gallon water change tonite..any other suggestions? i would like to stay away from a chemical treatment if at all possible. heres my water parameters as of last night..

Nitrate Level : <=5 mg/L
Amonia Level : <= 0.1 mg/L
Nitrite Level : <=0.3 mg/L
pH Level : 8.01
Specific Gravity : 1.022
 
A

Anonymous

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Chris,

How long have you had your tank set up? I noticed that you had slight traces of ammonia and nitrite...that's why I ask...in a perfect world those should be zero. Your pH could perhaps be a little higher, as well (although it may just be a little low because you took the reading at night). Keeping all of these different readings optimal is a rather large (and constant) struggle for all of us...keep up the fight! :D

There are many reasons cyano could be growing in your tank. One of the biggest, IMO, is too many nutrients in your tank (caused by such things as overfeeding). These nutrients are gobbled up by cyano. I also see that you're doing a water change...that's great...but what type of water are you using? RO water? Tap water? My experience has been that tap water (not all, but most) contains relatively high levels of phosphates and other goodies that cyano just loves. So when you do a water change, you are, in effect, feeding your cyano. If you don't have one already, I highly recommend an RO or RO/DI unit. Yes, they are expensive, but a wise investment, IMO.

Other things that help keep cyano in check include brisk water movement, "fresh" lighting (I like to change my bulbs once a year), a protein skimmer, and a light-to-medium bioload. Regular water changes are all good, as well.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Chris
 

koehler

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LOL, I was just going to reply that its sometimes worth buying the Silica test kit to see if you can make do with tap water. I was running my tank on RO/DI water, or buying pre-made at the LFS for $1/g.

Then I figured I might as well take the chance and test for Silicates. Mine comes up 0 in SF East Bay (Alameda), so I've been using it for a couple of months now. However, just checked with my water quality board, and their most annual report shows my water as normally being 8.8mg/liter...

I wonder if that might be a problem...... :(

Guess its back to the PUR, although my tank seems to be blooming otherwise.
 

c0n

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i have an ro unit, and thats all i use for my tank water..tap water here contains some copper..my lights are used from my dad, and they are a bit older, so im going to purchase some new ones on wednsday hopfully. i dont have much live rock, so i need to get somore of that also. my tank has been up for 3 weeks now, and unfortunatly i have a pump going bad too =( im in rough shape right now, but this entire paycheck should goto my tank =D
 

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