1.
You must be sure what you are putting INTO your tank contains no phosphates or nitrates.
- I thought I was doing really well for a long time with all my hair algae growing everywhere. I had red cyano on my sand EVERYWHERE. nothing seemed to make sense. I tested for nitrate & phosphate and came up zero on both readouts. Then I decided to purchase a TDS meter to check the output of my RO/DI. guess what it read?
http://www.marshreef.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=41095
So I've since replaced my RO membrane and now my TDS meter is reading "1" on the output side.
Hair algae gone.
2.
Cyano and other types of "red slime" dominating your setup gets decimated by cerith, astrea & turbo snails. A while back I initiated a clean up crew (cuc) group buy. I purchased 500cerith snails(they were VERY tiny). I sold all but about 100 of those snails to fellow members & guests). To THIS day, I still see MANY of those snails climbing my glass & rocks munching down what they can find.
- it's not hard to get rid of this stuff folks. Look @ what's god has done out there in the ocean & recreate it. Our corals sometimes look better than the oceans content because we are throwing heavy actinic light at them. God's just growing them. Same principal applies to the oceans algae content. Algae lives there because it's a natural balance. If you don't WANT a natural balance & desire the algae-less rock look - throw in earth's natural predator's.
3.
Check your food.
- are you introducing heavy phosphate preserved foods?
- if feed my fish frozen brine thawed inside ro/di water. I always add 1-2 drops of Kent marine's garlic extract into each feeding.
- garlic is known to combat disease in fish. Kinda like us drinking orange juice.
4.
Create FLOW
- Install a filter sock(temporarily) and start blowing off your rocks with a turkey baster.
- remember, in some parts of the ocean the waves crush so hard down on rocks and corals that the average human being would be dead in minutes. Our fish and critters are extremely determined to live. Blowing water around your rocks randomly & heavily is a major positive thing.
- why do y'all think I went and got myself a vortech mp40? Because it absolutely gives the BEST push of water available. Install 2 of them and FORGET about having flow problems. When I get my house in a couple years & I build my ultimate dream tank - you'll see at least 4-5 vortechs running.
Recap:
-good water quality
-cleaning crew
-flow
I should also mention that I add kalkwasser daily(it's in my auto top off).
I'm under the impression that pickling lime(kalkwasser) raises pH. Well that makes these run much smoother in your tank than resting on a pH lower than 8.0.
Still have questions? You know how to reach me. And if you DONT know how - you need to be more observant
