hi I have this purple film algae starting to cover all my liverock how can I get rid of it as it is starting to become a problem I reduced my lighting cycle but it has only slowed it a bit but im getting worried that my corals might start suffering from not enough light
purple film algae
- Thread starter mupwi
- Start date
google Cyanobacteria 
Are you dosing vodka or bacteria? What type of flow do you have in your tank? Is the cyano all over your rocks and gravel or just in a few places? How long are your lights on for?
Oh and if u can, please provide some of your water parameters, high nutrients in the water fuels this stuff
yes it also has bubbles underneath i am dosing vodka but dint get dosed for the 4 days ive been away. there was just a little bit before on one or 2 rocks but I went away for work for 4 days and it seems to have suddenly taken over I have noticed now that when my mom was emptying the skimmer cup she accidentally adjusted the skimmer height so it hasn't been skimming for a few day this may have lead to high nutrients haven't had a chance to test yet since I got back.
my lighting was at about 16h/day 2xt5 and 2 t8 one white and one blue of each and in trying to get rid of some gha I changed to 1 white t5 and the rest blue and doped the lighting to t5's on for about 8h/day and the other blues for about 12h/day with this outbreak I have doped the lighting down to 6h/day just starting to wory my corals might start sufering from lack of light
thanks guys I googled Cyanobacteria and found a few sugestions
my lighting was at about 16h/day 2xt5 and 2 t8 one white and one blue of each and in trying to get rid of some gha I changed to 1 white t5 and the rest blue and doped the lighting to t5's on for about 8h/day and the other blues for about 12h/day with this outbreak I have doped the lighting down to 6h/day just starting to wory my corals might start sufering from lack of light
thanks guys I googled Cyanobacteria and found a few sugestions
remove as much as u can , when u can
Yes... that's veeeeeeeery long...
OK, drop the vodka dosing as cyano is a bacteria and feeds on carbon. Drop you photo period to about 8-9 hours per day less if you can. Increase the flow to that area by pointing powerheads in the general direction and every day fan your hands over the cyano to lift it and manually take it out with a net. Add a fresh batch of carbon following the dosage instructions and get your skimmer to skim a bit wet. Add a tablespoon of hygrogen peroxide per hundred litres per day to increase your oxygen levels in your tank as you may not have enough flow as cyano spreads in low oxygen areas which is why its on the substrate of a lot of tanks
started it off like that so I could look at the tank before I leave for work in the morning and when I get home at night
Unfortunately you are going to have to sacrifice one viewing time to get rid of your cyano and to place less stress on your animals who are used to a 11-12 hour daylight period as most of our aquarium animals come from equatorial areas
as stated earlier I had already cut it down and now after this outbreak have cut it down again but I wont put it back to the original timing once its sorted
