I seem to be good at growing algae and bacteria

[MarcW]

Looking for some guidance. My 36 gallon fowlr keeps having tons of red cyanobacteria (think that's right) and green algae. Do 20% water change every 2 weeks. Have 4 or 5 snails and 2 emerald crabs. Only have 2 damsels in there. Treated the tank 3 times now with Chemiclean, did water change as directed each time. The dude at the fish store said I would be fine with a hang on back filter that I think was for 75 gallons, so that's all I've had on it. I clean it out and it comes right back within 2 weeks. Suggestions?

 

[mike werner]

Welcome

 

[SaltyCupcake]

Welcome to R2R!! I'm still new to all this so I can't offer much advice yet. But there are a lot of people here who know pretty much everything there is to know. I'm sure they'll chime in with lots of helpful info <3

 

[Dr. Phil]

Welcome to R2R! You might check out the thread below. It seems they have some success in beating cyano.

Official Sand Rinse and Tank Transfer thread

If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to R2R!!! We’re glad you’re here!

 

[Mikeltee]

4 words... feed less and chemi-clean

You only need chemi-clean if you feed too much so keep that in mind. Have a balanced reef which means proper ratio of cleanup crew for the animals you have.

 

[Jeto2004]

Welcome to R2R! Are you doing any water testing? How old is your tank? What’s your lighting schedule?

 

[Gernader]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[fishguy242]

hi welcome to the reef going to love it here!
lots of fun/info/fun/help/fun!!!
pics!!...we all love pics!!!!

 

[Daniel92481]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[EnviousPride]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[Reesj]

 

[Mark Bradley]

When I first started out, several months ago, I went through various stages of algae. The LFS said it was a necessary part of maturing the tank. The big difference happened when I ‘hired’ a sea hare - from memory this was at about 3 months. Cleaned the tank up brilliantly (kept him about 8 days) and now my snails and urchins maintain it. Also looked at my lighting as its set up wasn’t aiding. 7 months in and no issues with algae.

 

[SPR1968]

We really need a set of water parameters including nitrate and phosphate levels and a tank picture would be good before we can really offer any advice

And in the meantime Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[JoshO]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[NeSsyAqua]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Reefnman2]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[BigRedReefer MT]

Welcome to Reef2Reef! You will find lots of helpful people here.
As mentioned before you'll need to test your water for at least nitrate and phosphate. Water changes(w.c.) are very helpful in this hobby, maybe increase your w.c. schedule to once a week until you see some better results (I had to do this to get my green hair algae under control). Be sure to siphon your sand during your water changes to remove sand bed detritus and try to physically remove as much algae as you can and suck it out of the tank. Cyano likes low flow, so increasing flow in the affected area might help to clear that up. Another thought... a protein skimmer will help to remove dissolved nutrients and there are many affordable hang on back models so a quick look at those is probably in order. Sorry for the novel... but welcome to the reef!

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!!