Does a brine hatchery cause algae / cyno?

[mangelo]

I've had to move my dwarf seahorses once already and now I am almost convinced that a brine hatchery causes this. There is a carpet of red junk on the bottom of my tank on top of the sand that looks like the cyno that was once in my saltwater tank.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[ReefNutPA]

If you are using one of the in-tank hatchers....yes.... they will polute the water something awful and can lead to all sorts of problems. I never advise dwarf keepers to use the in-tank hatchers. Try hatching brine in an inverted soda bottle and then test the water after they hatch. You will be stunned by the test results - not to mention the bacteria that will be quickly multiplying in the hatch water.

Dwarf seahorse tanks are notorious for having algae issues due to the 2 to 3 times daily feeding of enriched bbs. Frequent water changes and adequate flow to keep dead bbs off the substrate so it can be removed by the filter can help a bit.

Tom

 

[mangelo]

Thanks for confirming that. My question now is how do I feed them the bbs? I am assuming I should set up another tank just for the hatchery and then scoop them out and put them in my main tank?

 

[rayjay]

Ideally one would decap the cysts and then hatch them out in pop bottles. This sterilizes the cyst as well as changing the hard outer shell to a soft translucent covering that doesn't lodge in digestive tracts. They also hatch out a little earlier.
They are best fed to the seahorses as soon as they are hatched before they consume the food sack.
Alternately they can be ongrown to later stage of growth and then gut loaded before being fed to the seahorses.
My decapped cysts hatch out within 18 hours of decapping them.
Once they have hatched, let the culture sit for a few minutes to allow the waste to settle as much as possible and then siphon off the swimming nauplii, capture in a mesh or coffee filter, rinse and feed to your seahorses.