Please ID the algae?

[nynick]

Cyano wil survive a 5 day black out very well. Turn the lights back on, you are only delaying the problem.

They form some cysts under unfavorable contitions and will just wake up on day 6 instead These cycts are near impossible to kill in a tank so Cyano is always there, in all tanks. The trick is to not give it the advantage.

Phosphate removal media will take care of it but since your tank is new, so will a little time most likely. Having said that, a little phosphate remover in a media reactor is generally a good idea. Nothing is better at fighting algae than removing algae from the tank though and Cyano is very easy to get out.

Your tank is new, this isn't the last time you will have an algae bloom. They routinely turn into garbage bins while maturing. All natural and to be expected.

Nice looking tank btw!! Isn't it just so tempting to pour a bucket of bleach in there and just admire the lights dancing on the lilly white sand

 

[shiladitya1991]

Inspite of taking all the precautions my tank has cyano Its pretty frustrating. Its probably because I washed the substrate with normal tapwater ( high phosphate and tds near about 150 here in calcutta). I will hook up my Phosphate reactor tomorrow.

 

[shiladitya1991]

Some forms of colonial cyanobacteria can fix nitrogen from the air, but the kinds we see in our tank require fixed nitrogen from the water column. You might be able to kill the cyanobacteria with peroxide, but I'd just wait, personally.

Ok lets give it a shot. My personal opinion is the rocks have diatoms and the bed has cyano. Reinstating the lights and hooking up a po4 reactor. Hope it dies down. :sad1:

 

[nynick]

Again, it is a new tank so this is to be expected. Once you get rid of the cyano from the sand and the Diatoms on the rocks you are likely to get diatoms on the sand and Cyano on the rocks I know this is exactly what no new tank owner wants to hear but it happens in every single tank.

A phosphate resin in a reactor will help some but don't expect it to be a cure all. Your rocks and sand probably has a lot of silica and phosphates to leach out in your water and you can do absolutely nothing about this but wait and let algae and resin mop it up as it happens.

 

[shiladitya1991]

I added some phosguard and Carbon in a fluidized reactor and siphoned out the cyanos. It looks better as of now.

 

[nynick]

Change the media once you see the algae increase again, it is a sign that it is exhausted. This can happen very fast (few days) the first time you use it.

Phosguard is white if I remember correctly so aluminum based. They work a lot faster in my experience but do not last as long as the iron based ones. The white ones are also very good at removing silica so it double dips for your diatoms as well.

They don't leach phosphates back into the tank and they can not be regenerated (safely in a home setting). So many myths about white phosphate removers out there even if they have been proven wrong over and over again.

 

[shiladitya1991]

I dont like phosguard myself as it does more wrong than good. However since I have both po4 and silica, I am using it temporarily. Will change it this week only.

 

[shiladitya1991]

Over the week I tossed out the Phosguard and replaced it with Phosban. Siphoned out the remaining pieces of cyano and its been 3 days, i see a few normal diatoms creeping in. The tank looks much much better.. :fun2:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shiladitya1991/8594798306/" title=". by shiladitya1991, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8370/8594798306_dc16ea2508.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="."></a>

 

[nynick]

It does look very nce, great aquascaping!

 

[bertoni]

GFO will remove silicate in the same way that PhosGuard does. PhosGuard can leach aluminum into the water, which can be an issue, but sometimes, it's fine.

 

[shiladitya1991]

Yes , I asked Boomer about it and he told me all the conversations between You, him, Greg Morin and Randy..