Algae Help Needed

[Riderc82]

Hello, my aquarium is growing algae which I believe is cyano.  I went six months without doing a water change because I have been remodeling another room in my house.  I know algae generally grows because of phosphates in the water column/rocks/sand but it looks like cyano can grow from poor water flow.  I currently am running one koralia #3 and one number #4.  I use to run another #4 but I got tired of the constant sand storm so I removed it about two months ago. 

Last week I did a 15 gallon water change and tried to suck up as much slime as I could but I wasn't able to get it all before I had to stop.  This week I did a ten gallon water change and continued sucking up as much as I can but still feel like there is a little in the sand in areas I can't reach.  The 29 gallon sump has two soccer ball pieces of rock that don't have a speck of algae on them which confuses me because I don't run much flow through the sump.  I guess the rock may not have algae growing in it because it is unlit.

I run GFO (last two years) because my previous attempts at growing cheato have failed.  I know some people will say cut back on your feeding but I barely feed my two clowns and my watchman goby.  I have had the aquarium setup for close to three years and I used new sugar sized sand made by caribsea when I orginally setup my aquarium.  My sand ranges in depth somewhere between and inch and an inch in a half, I've never vacuumed the sand because I've always had a cleanup crew and a goby. 

I've been considering removing all the sand on one side of the aquarium and adding some Caribsea - seafloor special grade reef sand in hopes I can kick up the flow a little and still keep the goby and the cleanup crew.  My thought is after I remove the sand I can replace it with the new sand and then wait a couple of weeks and do the other side of the aquarium in hopes I won't start a cycle.  The reason I am considering this is because I hate the sugar sized sand and I sure it's sucked up some phosphates over the years.

Ok I know there are multiple run-on sentences and no real questions but I need some feedback on my random thoughts of what I should do to better my aquarium.  Sorry for the edit it may help if I add pictures.

[lazylivin]

Here is a thread where I got some help with cyano. http://www.ohioreef.com/index.php?topic=6496.0
Hope it helps.

If you decided to remove your sand bed consider vacuuming it really good first. May also want to wait a while and run sand free until the cynao is gone so you can really put some extra flow in the tank without the worries of sand storm.

[Riderc82]

Thanks for the info I considered removing the whole sand bed and kicking up the flow but I thought that may cause a cycle.  I also considered taking the sand bed out and putting it in a five gallon bucket and then putting it into the sump and do a remote deep sand bed.  What is everyone using for their shallow sand beds it seems like I'm he only one who has constant sand storms.  I moved my Koralia's today and even with the #4 at about two inches from the top trim you could see it picking up sand off the bottom.

[Riderc82]

Did I read the thread right Lazy that you brushed the algae off your rock while in the display and caught it in a filter sock?  I was worried it would spread but seeing as how it is bacteria I didn't know.  Does anyone else have any thoughts on removing the sandbed?  I'm pretty sure whatever can happen from moving it has already happened my powerheads have moved it more than ever since I repositoned them yesterday but I'm still worried I'm may cause the aquarium to cycle.  Thankfully everything in my tank is pretty tolerant everything that is in there made it for five days without power during Ike.

[lazylivin]

I did brush it off since I could not take the rock out. That is essentially what is happening when you add more flow. Blows it off the rocks and puts it in the water suspension so your filter sock can collect it. It is always best to siphon out what you can but if there is some that wont siphon a toothbrush works great.

[Riderc82]

Sounds good I guess I need to get a filter sock and holder I have never ran one.  My PVC just end about an inch from the bottom of my sump.  I need to take a look at some other peoples setups, I can still have my return PVC terminate toward the bottom of the sump right or should the pipe end right at the beginning of the sock?  Hopefully that makes since, I would like to keep the roar of the return to a minimum .

[lazylivin]

Maybe you can stuff some filter floss somewhere to help temporally?

[jd]

I waited my cyano out, sucked it out when I did water changes but mostly let it run its course. Not saying that works for everyone and every tank but it is an option.

[Riderc82]

I'm not to stressed over it but I figure it gives me the chance to ditch the current sand.  I have been moving my powerheads around every couple of days and it seems to be helping.  I've been considering changing some stuff about my aquarium so this should give me the opportunity to do so.  I'm in the market for a new skimmer as well.  I'm planning on cutting my overflow and return lines and adding a union to my return line and adding a union to my return pump (in the right place  )  Additionally I plan on removing my sump installing baffles to help reduce microbubbles.  I have considered changing the return pump as well but who knows.  I currently have a mag5 but have been considering an Eheim since they are supposed to be quite.  I plan in adding another reactor,  I've neglected my tank long enough it's time to get it growing again. While I'm messing with everything I'm going combat the mushrooms and green star polyps.  Does anyone have input on a decent skimmer for a 90 DT and a 29 gallon sump?