Cyan or Dyno?

[Bubba30]

 

 

Tank has been cycled for about 2 months now and I've slowly added 4 fish. Nitrates were creeping up so I added chaeto; it exploded the first week doubling in size. I noticed brown algae growing on the chaeto closet to the light and it looked to be dying so I was pulling that stuff out. We just returned from a week vacation and the sump is a mess. The brown algae is also on the display rocks. Currently I have no coral and have no plans to add any until the tank stabilizes. I'm thinking about going lights out in the display for a while; I may even forget about macro and run some reactors. I'm going to do a big water change today; aside from that any advice how to best proceed?

[metrokat]

What are your parameters? Nitrates? Phosphates? TDS?

[Bubba30]

What are your parameters? Nitrates? Phosphates? TDS?

Nitrates were around 10ppm; 15ppm when I tested after vacation but it has been a little over a week for a water change.

I don't have a phosphate test kit yet; my old one is expired.

Using RODI; 0 TDS in mixing water and ATO.

I've been feeding about 2 cubes of mysis per week. That is the amount I divided up for the fishsitter.

 

Feeding 1 Midas Blenny, 2 Clown, and 1 Cardinal.

Also have a Pepermint Shrimp and Porcelain Crab. Not much makes it down to the CUC.

[metrokat]

I'm curious about the source of the nitrates. After your water change I would test again. If it doesn't lower then you might have to consider adding something to aid nitrate removal.

[Bubba30]

I'd assume from ammonia breakdown? I cycled with dry rock and felt I was pretty patient with the process. I hit some snags getting a CUC and waited a few more weeks beyond the tank processing 1ppm ammonia each day.

 

I will test the tank again tomorrow and do another big water change if needed.

[Bubba30]

So after my water changes Nitrates are down around 5ppm; climbing back up to 12-15ppm in a weeks time. I ran with lights out in the display for about a week and all the algae on the display rocks died off. I just turned the lights back on after this water change. The sump looks about the same; chaeto really isn't growing like it was initially - seems this brown shit is winning absorbing nutrients. Thinking about getting rid of the fuge and getting a couple reactors to run some media.

 

My last tank I used mature live rock; I am wondering if the rock and bio media just need time to culture anaerobic bacteria to keep nitrates down. I never saw nitrate spikes in that tank and was not nearly as good with water change frequency.

[Clown79]

Does the algae have bubbles in it or more of a dusting?

 

To me it looks almost like diatoms or a golden cyano. Dino's is mostly stringy with bubbles.

 

What is the filteration? Back chambers, hob, or sump?

 

Do you change your floss regularly? Do you vacuum the sandbed?

 

What is the lighting source and percentages of blues to whites?

 

My advice:

 

If aio tank: back chambers need regular cleaning. I use a baby bottle brush, scrub and syphon. A lot gets trapped in the chambers. Pump and hose need regular cleaning- monthly.

 

Hob filter: need cleaning monthly.

 

Filter floss should be changed 2 x a week, more so during algae outbreaks.

 

Any media bags should be rinsed at waterchange to remove detritus buildup.

 

Sand should be vaccumed with every waterchange, turkey baster used on rocks to remove any trapped food and poop.

 

Reduce frozen food feeding to 1x a week, feed pellet and flake alternating days. Only enough that should last 1 mins.

 

Reduce white lights.