getting rid of cyano without a treatment?

[velocityoflove]

I added better lighting (t5ho), have no phosphates. No ammonia or nitrites, but I am having problems keeping my nitrates down. I've been scrubbing it off the rocks, washing out/changing the filters. It seems to slow it down a bit but not eliminate it. Should I keep doing what I'm doing, or is there a bigger problem I'm missing? Would a treatment be the better option?

Also, it's a 55G FOWLR tank (for now!), it's nowhere near being overstocked, SG is 1.025, temp is 78 to 80 degrees.

 

[frantz]

What do you have for water flow? I have two tanks sumped together, the one with less water flow often has cyno, while I never see it in the large tank.

 

[velocityoflove]

Yeah, that could be it. I have a decent powerhead in there but I need to get a few more. Also, I don't have a skimmer. I have a hang on the back filter rated for 90 gallons.

 

[frantz]

Sand sifting CUC will help too, not on the rocks, but on the sand, which is where I typically get it first. Def try a few more powerheads, I have 8 in my 120 (5 on at a time) plus the sump pump and a good sized HOB filter. Many sources of flow is better than a single big one.

 

[velocityoflove]

What kind of sand sifters might be good for a somewhat newer tank?
I have a few peppermint shrimp at the moment. I definitely need more as far as CUC goes. Any suggestions?

 

[ff337]

Brittle stars are good cleaners.

 

[shanepike]

How often do you run your lights? What's your pH? I cut my light cycle and bumped the pH to 8.3 to get mine to go away. Also stopped feeding so much.

 

[velocityoflove]

pH is a constant 8.4. Lights are on about 9 hours.

 

[acroholic]

Buy some chemi-clean and be done with it.

 

[snowmansnow]

velocityoflove;775628 wrote: I added better lighting (t5ho), have no phosphates. No ammonia or nitrites, but I am having problems keeping my nitrates down. I've been scrubbing it off the rocks, washing out/changing the filters. It seems to slow it down a bit but not eliminate it. Should I keep doing what I'm doing, or is there a bigger problem I'm missing? Would a treatment be the better option?

Also, it's a 55G FOWLR tank (for now!), it's nowhere near being overstocked, SG is 1.025, temp is 78 to 80 degrees.

washing out cleaning filters.

are you using some sort of bio wheel or something?

 

[velocityoflove]

just a hang on the back with carbon until i can get a skimmer. i wash it out and clean the filters quite often lately