lk250f Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 I have a BC29 which has been running since Nov. 2014 that has been having some recent issues with what looks to be a stringy form of cyano. I believe what set it off was the use of pellets since I planned on a vacation and wanted it to be easier for my girlfriend. Before my new setup I was running floss on top of chamber two with chaeto beneath it. I do five gallon water changes weekly but I am guessing the reminiscence of pellets settled and drove my phosphates way high. I knew this was time for a change so I am now using an inTank media basket with floss, purigen and clear fx pro (new stuff, comparable to CPE) in the bottom. The algae has only been going on for a week but it appears it is tough to rid of. I have only been running the media basket for three days so far. When doing changes I try to siphon as much as I can but it takes the sand with it and I dont want to remove too much. Nitrate, Nitrite and Ammonia are all zero, SG 1.026 but I am sure the phosphates are high since I am not sure what else could be doing this. Before I had the algae I checked on the Hanna and I was .01. I would need to borrow the checker from a friend. I have now been spot feeding selcon soaked mysis every other day. No food gets left in the tank. I have a plat. clown, YWG, blue chromis, cleaner shrimp, 4 astrea snails, 1 nerite snail, 6 or 7 dwarf blue hermits and 2 super tongan nass. snails. I bought a small reactor to run gfo but I am not sure if I want to since I do not dose and do not want my alk to be dropped like crazy. I was thinking about running a small media bag of phosguard in my media rack but I am not sure if that will even be effective. The cyano seems to be kept in check as it is not taking over, I also noticed a couple pieces of bubble but have removed those as soon as I found them. I know it has only been a week but I want to be as proactive as possible and do all the right things to get rid of this stuff. Any help is appreciated. The pic does not catch the stringy stuff but you can see the red on the sand. Link to comment
WibblyPig Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 At least double the number of snails and add some more flow. Keep up with the water changes and it will go away on its own. Link to comment
lk250f Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 At least double the number of snails and add some more flow. Keep up with the water changes and it will go away on its own. I have two koralia nano 425gph powerheads pointed towards eachother at the back of the tank. I get pretty much no dead spots from what I can see since the stringy stuff is moving. I am probably going to get a MJ1200 return though, so maybe that will help. I will just let it ride then, thank you! Link to comment
Maniu Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 Nassarius Snails and Fighting Conch are great at sand sifting chores. Moderate to high flow, reduced feeding and light period will help as well. Siphon what you can during your usual water changes. (Fighting Conch might need supplemental feeding of dry algae) Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted March 1, 2015 Share Posted March 1, 2015 I have been dealing with cyano for about 3 weeks now after my lobster made himself a new home and disturbed a large amount of my sand bed. Even though I had gotten my nutrient levels back down to normal range it was still growing over some of my zoas no matter how much I cleaned it off them. I dosed chemiclean one time and 95% of it was gonna in 48hrs and it is not coming back either. If water changes/cleaning doesn't seem to help enough I would highly recommend the product to assist with removal. Link to comment
lk250f Posted March 1, 2015 Author Share Posted March 1, 2015 Hey all, Thank you for the recommendations. Luckily it is not extremely invasive yet. I have been using a turkey baster to suck what I can out on non-water change days. I cut my photoperiod down from 8 to 6 hours. I also picked up two more nassarius and five ceriths to help out with clean up since I heard ceriths will eat cyano sometimes. I would rather not resort to chemical treatments but it is good to hear there is an out if need be! Maniu, nice Tiger in your signature! I had a Speed Triple for a little but sold it to a friend. He may be wanting to sell it so maybe ill get it again, we will see! Either that or an FZ6 will be the next bike. I even thought about Buell's but I am iffy. Link to comment
lk250f Posted March 3, 2015 Author Share Posted March 3, 2015 Update:I am not sure if it is the snails I added or what, but the cyano looked its worst yesterday so I siphoned a nice amount out and now I do not notice much in the tank. I am going to keep up with my every other day feedings until it is all cleared up. Link to comment
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