algae has me ready to pack it in!!!

[Melonbob]

Honest, I'm almost ready to give up. My tank looks like shit. Cyano everywhere. Green hair everywhere. I have dozens of snails, a couple of hermits, a giant emerald, I use only ro/di water, I've been running phosguard for 2 mths now, did a bottle of Marine SAT, can't get more in canada. Change filters, phosguard and carbon weekly. 10% change every other week, did a 25% change this week. I've battled this algae since day one, I had a nice spotless tank for about 3 weeks and it came back, now worse than ever.......I'm really fed up....

On the upside, I picked up a gold head sleeper goby.....he keeps the bottom well sifted anyways

[Bifferwine]

What/how often/how much do you feed? And do you have a canister filter?

[Doc]

If excess nutrients are the problem, reducing fish load, lighting, and feedings will help. I hate to hear you struggling so much. I had a time when my cyano was so bad, I shut off my lights for 5 days and covered my tank with a thick blanket to keep all light out and all the algae died off. It was a temp fix, but it allowed my normal parameters to keep solid. I wish I had more for you.

-Doc

[NewbReefer]

If phosphates are let go and reach as high as 3.00ppm it can really cause problems. Your rocks absorb the phosphates at those levels and continue to leach it back into the water no matter what you do for upwards of 6 months. Continue doing what your doing and also make sure your keeping your skimmer clean and don't use flake food. Im kinda in the same boat i dont know if my phosphates ever got as high as 3.00ppm, you never really can tell if you've got algea growing cause it's a false reading other than to say "yep, you've got phosphates". I am also fighting cyano, I ordered some Chemi-clean which i have heard nothing but good about and that it's completely reef safe, it is gonna be a last resort. If phosban doesn't take care of the cyano...chemi-clean will.

[Doc]

chemi-clean is good stuff. It works best when you clean out as much cyano as you can with a siphon first. One thing to remember about it, the cyanobacteria will develop a resistance to it over time. Which means that with each subsequent use of chemi-clean, there is a greater and greater chance it will not work. The first time will work, but I noticed a big difference in the success of it with the second time and third time. Make sure you turn off your skimmer when you use it or you will have a nice big puddle of foam!!!

-Doc

[NewbReefer]

yeah i've heard it does crazy stuff with skimmers, and also your suppose to do a good water change after the 48 hour mark before you turn your skimmer on i believe

[cthegame]

I think 10% water change every other week is not enough especially if you have a lot of algae already in the tank. I recommend doing water changes twice per week for a few weeks and watch the algae disappear. It has worked great for me.

[daugherty]

just like cthegame said try doing water changes at least once per week like 15% or do two 10% changes per week it will help a lot.

[UnderwaterWorld]

I would do 25% water changes every week and cut down to feeding every other day. That will work wonders

[Melonbob]

I do not use a canister filter, but I do have a hob, I clean the filter weekly, and change it about every three weeks. I basically use in only to run carbon and phosguard, the wheels are out. I feed every other day, about 3/4 of a cube of frozen to 5 fish. I have the lights on about 8 hrs a day