Algae Issues...

R

RWillieK

New member
Hello all -

I have some algae issues I'm not sure what to do about it now.


Here are the symptoms....

I have cyno, red and green, and a little hair algea.....but the stuff that I'm more concerned with is the rust colored stuff growing on everything.


When I change water, the stuff is gone for a day or two...by day three it's everywhere.

It is also produces bubbles (CO2?).....

Here is what I have done and checked....

RO/DI is 0ppm
Changed IO to Oceanic Salt
Done numerous large water changes 33% or more

I'm running a ASM G2 with a gate valve mod.

This system is about 30 gallons total....20 display, 10 sump.

I have some photos of the back wall and such, I just need to get them uploaded to my new FTP server.....

Any ideas?

Thanks!


Robbie
 
We still need more info to make the diagnosis, unfortunately. What's in the tank, feeding habits, if you run any filter medias such as carbon or a phosphate media etc... The more things you can tell us, the more things we have to try to help you out.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help right now,
Joe
 
Oops, forgot a few things... Type of tank (reef, fish-only etc.) and age of your system should be set up. Please also list any dosings you do, and what your maintenance is and how often you do various things associated with it.

Thanks,
Joe
 
Sorry - I realized I forgot some of that stuff....

I have four fish (six line wrasse, false clown, bicolor blenny, royal gramma), and some inverts - three turbo's, one skunk cleaner shirmp.

Additionally I have some corals, mostly mushrooms, but a few zoas, some star polyps.

I am running a phosban reactor with phosban in it, its been changed once in three-four weeks. I have two 4"x12" bags of Carbon.

Flow - two MJ 500s on a Natural Sea wave maker (the power strip), and a Mag 2 return.

Tank is a 20 display, 10 sump (for now).

Sand bed is Fiji Pink aragonite, about 1" - 1.5" deep. LR = as much as will fit - theres nearly 30-35 lbs in there.

Maintenance = water changes at least weekly - usually 5 gallons.

No dosing....other than kalk twice a week, approximatly 32 oz per application.

Feeding - a dime size peice of mysis shrimp (dime sized peice is approximatly 1/4" thick)......I thaw this in RO water, then dump it in a fish net, and pour about 4 oz of RO water over it to flush out the small bits (that don't get eaten). All of that is fed through a turkey baster, so its controlled, and most of it is eaten.



Thanks!

Robbie
 
I'm sorry, but it's hard to tell from those pictures because they are a bit blurry. Looks like it could be cyanobacteria.

-Joe
 
Sounds like your doing everything just about right. Flow is probably on the low side. On the wave maker only 1 pump is running at a time correct. You could try to bump the pumps up to MJ 900's. Also are you siphononig out the cyano when it blooms? If not try siphoning it later in the day when its growth has reached its peak. Do this as necessary it will help remove bound nutrients, because if its rate of growth cyano is very effective at removing nutrients.
 
I am planning on moving the power heads tonight, and chopping off the nozzle to try to get some more flow....

When I do water changes, I do siphon out as much as I can without taking too much sand out.

What about adding something to oxidize the undigest organic matter?

I have chemi-clean around somewhere......

Robbie
 
Anyone had a solution to this problem? I also developed this rust covered film over a large section of my tank.

Thanks,
Peter
 
i cant figure out why i have this very same cyano problem but in my fuge...

i have a mj400 in there, it is only a 4 gallon if that fuge built into my 15 gallon sump...plus i have a mag 9 for a return that is pulling the water through the sump at an alarming rate...cant be a flow issue for me..possibly too much food i suppose? i have a basket ball sized piece of chaeto in there as well with 2" of sand and 2 pounds of LR rubble..

my fuge light is on from 8:30 at night till about 8:00 am maybe it is a lighting issure for me?

i am doing a water change tomorrow...but my parameters seem to be in check amm - 0 nitrite -0 nitrate is about 12 or so...ph is 8.0
 
You're not alone, cyano is in my fuge as well. I think what has happened is nutrient pathways have changed to favor cyano.

Notice how diatoms are the first colonizers at tank setup? Problem is (and I can provide articles to back this up) is silicates become limited quickly, there are alot of organisms which utilize it including diatoms. When this happens something has to pick up the slack, welcome cyano, it grows rapidly, sucks up alot of nutrients and binds them until it dies back at night. Then in the morning it all starts over again. I've begun dosing silicates in the hopes that I will once again have my diatoms and get rid of cyano, atleast there are many invertebrates which eat diatoms, very very few eat cyano.

Silicon - Foe or Friend? by Craig Bingman

Silica in Reef Aquariums by Randy Holmes-Farley

Algae Control Tips by Ross (aka rabagley)
 
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