View attachment 9231i started to notice some brown looking algae on the left side of my tank about 7 days ago . i cleaned it . next day it was there again . cleaned it again .every day it seems to get worse . now im noticeing it on my zoa and on the live rock . now i noticed on my yellow polyps i got from smitty (thanks again =)) it seems the brown may be turning redish . so now im really concerned. now the left side of my tank has sand and the right side is crushed coral . left side has 36 " with 4 actinic 36 inch and a 250 watt metal halide.. right side is 36" 2 x 10k white ..2x actinic . right now im mixing a 20 gallon water change of reef crystals incase its needed .. anyone have any idea why just the left side of my tank is looking like this .. all glass from left side to the middle is growing this none of the right side glass . but looks like its spreading to all the rock in the tank as well as the sand/gravel. thanks all input is appreciated .. Bill
think i may have a problem with my tank
- Thread starter wildbill
- Start date
madjoe
Premium member
sounds like cyno. i did lot of reading about it all points to some kind of inbalance when u break it down seems like nobody can agree on cause . any way waterchanges helped get rid of it and keeping up with water changes kept it away blow it off rock and suck up as much as u can while doing the water change and flow helps keep it away to may need more flow . i dont know much about u tank so dont know what kind of flow u already have good luck. also age of tank . sometimes newer tanks have this problem more often then older tanks
ColaAddict
New member
slime algae/cyano. newer tanks get them. control your phosphates. sometimes water changes make it worse because the new batch of water/salt has phosphates in it. the algae feeds off light too, so reducing light hours can help.
alot of people have had good luck using chemi-clean or red slime remover.
alot of people have had good luck using chemi-clean or red slime remover.
i was thinking it was due to that side having metal halide . i was wondering if it could be due to a weak bulb? i did buy this used off craigslist and just realized the guy i bought it from, either owns aquapros or works there since i seen him yesterday there. anyways im not sure how old the bulb is or if that could be a issue or not since its that side of the tank.
Herbie
Banned
Silly question but is it possible natural sunlight is hitting the tank in that area now that the arc of the sun is changing with the onset of winter? It certainly sounds like Cyano but it's a little odd to have it on the glass like that. Definitely check your rodi filters and I agree that a bulb change is probably in order to be safe. Keep us posted.
there is a window on both sides of the tank about 8 inches on each side .guess i could close the blinds on that side and see if that helps . as of now im also gonna stop running the halide to see if that makes a diff also . if so mabey ill either buy a new bulb or talk to mike about the t5 fixture . although i was really looking for the beautiful crisp light the halide makes as well as the fact i want really good growth .
im kinda thinking its the light bulb to be honest i live in a 100 year old farmhouse and my front porch is the legnth of my house and 12 feet or so deep with a full roof over it so i dont thnk its sun light.with the over hang of the roof i doubt enough light is comeing in to cause this . although im not 100% sure
i just got home and checked my tank . didnt run the halide light at all since yesterday afternoon . seems like the algae stoped . now i added 4 turbo snails yesterday also but i doubt they stoped the growth of the algae that fast . so now im pretty sure its the halide light .. could this be from the bulb being old? or does halide lights grow alot of algae ?
Cub21rak
New member
Idk cause I have two 250w de mh and I'm not sure how old they are but I'm pretty sure yet could be using a changing. I also have my tank in a corner that has a window to the back of the I painted tank and a window to the left of the tank also Unpainted. I haven't had problems with algae. I have plenty of snails. And since its been in its place I've never had major probs with algae. Find my tank thread you'll see what I'm talking about.
So that being said non of that probly helped ya out. I'd say just stuck with the snails and hope they take care of the probs. worked for me at times
So that being said non of that probly helped ya out. I'd say just stuck with the snails and hope they take care of the probs. worked for me at times