Can someone please help?

[LanaB]

Plankton
I have had my 29 biocube set up since Oct 2016 and crashed about 4 months in. All due to an anemoni throwing fits. It died, crustations died. Tank leveled out except for hair algea issue. Weekly water changes, nos daily, skimmer and UV filter installed as well as stronger filter added; 500 gal per hour. All peramiters tested daily and perfect. Corals soft and hard Frags growing and healthy. Fish happy and healthy. Aquired some free loaders with live rock; brittle stars, bristle worms (yick) and pinapple spounges. So when I purchased my hydnophora coral, it had a brown hard spot on an end where I am assuming it was cut off and on it has had a dark patch. It would get this chocolate brown stuff, go away, alternating and 2 days ago it started up again and looks like attched pic. What is it and how do I get rid of it? You can see the coral is happy and all puffy. Any help on hair algea would be great too. Lol.

 

[biggles]

That looks like cyano now growing on the little dead spot, give it a squirt with a turkey baster and let us know if it blows off the coral easily. I think your hair algae is just too many nutrients and or not enough snails to help keep the reef lawn down in your tank.

Try to get 10-20 small snails which will breed and self regulate their numbers, weekly 10% water changes and get a gravel vac and siphon your sand if you have a sand bed.

You know what you're doing, just tighten up on the cleaning duties for a while and basically try to run your water a bit cleaner then it is. If the coral is not doing well enough to overgrow such a small dead patch it is not doing as well as you think btw. I don't mean it's in trouble or anything but it should have stung the you know what out of whater was on that spot by now and grown tissue back over the skeleton.

All the best, don't start pouring stuff in to deal with something that results from putting too much in........... :reading:

 

[LanaB]

Thanks for replying Andrew. The coral is trying to grow over that spot. It was much bigger. Will try the turkey baster and let u know. As to the snails, we have 2 turbo's but they never clean sand bed. I do siphon hair algea up every few days off bottom and tooth brush places on rocks. I had a few bumble bee snails but they started attacking and eating me waving hands soft coral and pretty much killed it. What reef safe sails would you suggest? Thanks again.

 

[Diana A]

For algae on rocks and glass: turban, turbo, and margarita
For cleaning sandbed: nassarius

 

[LanaB]

tbanks Diana.

 

[bif24701]

Along with your current maintenance look at Vibrant Reef Aquarium Cleaner, it works well for algae.

 

[LanaB]

Thanks and do i just add than to the water?

 

[LanaB]

bif, I ordered it online. Cant wait for it to get here!
andrew, did my weekly maint today. Removed the cyano with no problem and coral is closing over the hard brown nub. Just an fyi. A denture brush works wonders on live rock hair algae. Lol.