Markburns43 Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Just looking for an opinion on what this could be to point me In the right direction, started on sand bed, seems to cover rocks but only on other algaes such as some light hair algae and my macro algae, blows of really easy, forms long strands looks dark purple but brown out of water, it's not slimy to the touch. Here's a picture on the sand, my next step is finding a microscope to see if it's Dino's, comes back fast after blowing it off things catching in a net and throwing out. Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted September 25, 2015 Author Share Posted September 25, 2015 bottom picture seems like a close id of what it looks like on the sand bed, it doesn't blow off the Sand in a nice mat it sticks really good. Comes off easy when on rocks and when attached to other things. I have a dealing it's not cyano. It seems to have come about after using reef energy a and b. I run clearly carbon and phosguard in a mesh bag in an ac 70 with a aquatic life 115 skimmer. Change pad rwgularly. Back to back water changes don't seem to help but when I do a water change I do blow a lot of sand around possibly releasing extra nutrients? Test show zero nitrates zero phosphates api. Ph unaffected solid at 8.2. Alk drops fast through the week and it's the only thing I dose. Any other info I'll provide if asked. Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted September 26, 2015 Author Share Posted September 26, 2015 We'll I've been looking on the inter webs some more. looking at videos, pictures and I'm going to I'd it my self and say I'm 90 percent sure it is Cyanobacteria, just alittle to much feeding on my part with reef energy and along with other foods. I've fully stopped feeding this will be the beginning of the third day. I guess me keeping 3 groupers and two small nano fish could be root of the problem, but I digress. Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 I'll keep this baby going, it's 1144pm est just got back from the Bac Dor (local bar) middle of nowhere no one knows. Might have a few to many in me but I'll recap on my on going Crisis. Did a gallon and half water change sucked up some of this algae with out trying to disturb the sand bed. Cleaned my filter out good(ac70) if ppl don't want to read my above post. Damn algae right back like it was few hours later in the afternoon aftr sucking it up. Off of rocks and macro algae and other algae that's not being as invasive. To me it's saying I have nutrients being released from something. I did have a boom of cerith snails all over. I had a flat worm outbreak as well. Folowed the flat worm exit directions besides over dosing on the third day and followed by a water change. I noticed some baby snails die which I assume there could be more than I can see in other places. This has been a good month or so since with multiple water changes to kick this algae I noticed popping up. As for testing nitrates and phosphates I'm using API but nothing detectable. If this isn't a dino species I will assume just keeping on keeping on kinda like the little engine that could. If it is Dino's I'm spinning g my wheels just making sure my sps don't get consumed by this growth. When I'm sober I'll post more pictures maybe some one will have an opinion on what I'm battling. The daily blow job on the tank is getting old other wise everything is growing great and I'm happy. Nah mas day Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted September 28, 2015 Author Share Posted September 28, 2015 another update. Water change late afternoon, just made me sick to look at this mess of crap covering everything. I got so aggressive with my tooth brush and baster. I blew the sand multiple times releasing so much crap, caught the majority in a net then to change about another gallon and a half. Because cyano is a bacteria and it seems to be a dominant one in my tank what would be a good competing bacteria I could add to maybe out compete it? I will have to look more into this. That is all for today. Oh almost forgot I left the top off my tank while cleaning and my three groupers flew right out , sadly I had to eat them for dinner:/ Link to comment
soeminpaing Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 I used ultralife redslime remover for my cyano problem. It is ok for my lps and monti cap. Not sure about your sps though. Cyano usually is red. Dino is golden brown with air bubbles trap in mucus like stands and can break off. Fauna marine has ultra algae X which some reefers has luck with their dino issues. If you are sure it is cyano, i would advise you to check if the light is in correct spectrum, not prolonged lighting time,adequate flow for the tank, rockscape with less detrius trap, stopping carbon dosing, running GFO and carbon like chemipure. Aggressive skimming and siphoning with daily water change. It is also good to use a filter sock or wool to trap particles and rinsing daily with ro water. Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted September 28, 2015 Author Share Posted September 28, 2015 Thank you for the reply, I am convince it's just a bad cyano problem. I'll be patient and keep up on siphoning out the slime and blowing my sand and rocks. Currently I stopped spot feeding corals should I start up again? I will no longer be using reef energy which I did. Get from a 5 gallon pale of Red Sea salt. Was unsure how old it accually was but most likely it was my own doing using to much and feeding every day with still a fairly young tank. Link to comment
spinycheek Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 I've also had really good luck with red slime remover. Cyano is different enough from bacteria, plants and animals that the antibiotic only affects the cyano. However, a mass die off can release toxins, so remove as much as possible first. Also, you could try bluing up your light. Some problem algae like dinoflagellates grow better in yellow/white light. Link to comment
soeminpaing Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 The worst thing about cyano is it can use atmospheric nitrogen instead of relying on nitrate in water. In my case, I used too much coral food and amino omega which unbalance the nutirents i guess. If you test your water you can have close to zero nitrate and phosphate and still have cyano. If you can do complete light out for 3 days it can made cyano disappear for a while. After the light out period, a large water change and chaging gfo and carbon will prefent cyano from reappearing. If all these fails, red slime remover might fix it but be sure to provide lots of areation like pointing wavemaker to surface and adding airstone. Check out BRS TV on youtube for using redslime remover. It is a good guide. Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted September 28, 2015 Author Share Posted September 28, 2015 Both great information provided guys, thanks. I watched a few videos it will be my last resort to use a cyano product, I do know oxygenation is key if I do, I'm running my xr30 at 35 percent 14k, I'm running a good amount of phos guard and clearly carbon. So I'll keep siphoning it out. Oh flow is great but it's not seeming to matter much in high flow areas it just forms a long chain of it and flails around until I blow it off of what it's attached to. Main question is can I spot feed with some food as long as I'm being aggressive with cleaning and water changes or am I just going to prolong it? I guess feeding before a water change would be best . Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 Just wanted to share what stage I'm at. This was my next step with the tank about 3 days ago. I reduced my carbon and phos guard to half of what I had. Honestly I had probably enough in a bag to use in a 30 plus gallon tank on top of my skimmer. I stopped my skimmer for the time being and kept doing regular tasks. Removing as much as I can every other day of this cyano bacteria. That's exactly what it is. It has been out competing other useful bacteria due to the low nutrients cutting out the nitrogen cycle naturally that should be occurring. This is just theory but watching my tank as much as I do I can say it seems to be working. I'm getting less cyano that needs to be blown off and captured in my net. The sand is staying cleaner except in a lower flow spot. My corals all are doing great. Just wanted to share my thoughts on this. I haven't done a black out or lowered my lighting schedule because honestly it's not extreme to begin with. A piece of common knowledge that I'll say again that every one owning a reef knows or needs to be reminded is that , nothing happens fast that's good and to patient with your tank and don't get overwhelmed. I constantly remind my self this. Make small changes and monitor for a few days and don't change anything drastic fast! Link to comment
spinycheek Posted October 9, 2015 Share Posted October 9, 2015 Glad it's getting better. You're spot on with the take it slow concept, tank looks really good! Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted October 9, 2015 Author Share Posted October 9, 2015 Thanks a lot cheek. I really wish I had a better camera to show how we'll my sps are doing and to show greater detail. Link to comment
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