mkregs Posted April 29, 2009 Author Share Posted April 29, 2009 So, I'm embarrassed to admit that I've been fighting a tough battle with Cyano over the past month. I'm pretty sure it was introduced to the tank from a frag I added. So far, I've been able to keep it off the corals and LR for the most part with lightly using a toothbrush. However, keeping it from growing on the substrate has been a BIOTCH! I've done weekly water changes (5gal per), shortened my lighting cycle, removed as much of the stuff as I have been able to by hand and gravel vac. I have Chaeto, Chemi-pure Elite, PhosLock, and a skimmer in the rear chambers and I've even added one of those suction cup basket-thingys full of Chaeto in the tank temporarily to help out-compete the red nastys for nutrients. I'm only feeding every other day and only what my fish will eat to avoid junk from settling. I'm not giving up, but I'm getting pissed as I've never had a Cyano outbreak in any of my SW tanks before. Good news is...my corals, fish and inverts are healthy. Params are good (Nitrates undetectible), although the Cyano is probably making it seem like no Nitrates exist as it is consuming the nutrients. CUC is 6 mexican turbos, 6 nassarius, 1 emerald crab, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 pom pom crab. Has anyone had luck with an invert that eats this stuff???? or inverts that are great at cleaning the substrate and would deprive the Cyano of food? I don't want to add anything that will be a problem to my corals, fish, or inverts that I currently have. Ideas? Edit: Oh...and I would prefer not to use a chemical solution like Chemi Clean. Link to comment
GiantBen Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 I'm fighting it too. My problem seems to be the chaeto in my fuge dying.... I find vacuuming out the sand, swishing it in the bucket and returning it to work well. i also added 4x cerith snails, and they are very active in the sand bed. Stop by my thread later this week, I'll have some more corals :-) PS love the rics. Would you mind pm'ing me where you got em and what they cost? Link to comment
mkregs Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 For the love of all that is good......BUMP!!! Maybe I should have changed the name of the thread topic to something similar to a lounge subject...might get more response then... Topic like...."I really miss sex" (btw....I don't have that prob)...or...something related to Jer's gayness. Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Nice tank dude!! what lighting are you using? also is your anthia aggressive? or are they preaceful fish? Link to comment
mkregs Posted May 1, 2009 Author Share Posted May 1, 2009 Nice tank dude!! what lighting are you using? also is your anthia aggressive? or are they preaceful fish? Thanks! I'm using stock BC29 lighting. The Anthias is a cool fish (the colors are amazing)...not aggressive. If you are looking at possibly getting one, make sure you have some caves/tunnels in your rockwork as they like to hang out in there sometimes. Mine spends a lot of the day out in the open, but likes to hang out in a cave at night. Link to comment
spanko Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Hey pal, sorry to hear about the battle. I have found that keeping Nassarius, Cerith and a Fighting Conch keeps my substrate clean. Also here is some information I have filed for these occasions. Red Slime (Cyano Bacteria) Cyano grows on top of nutrient rich areas of low flow. There are a number of things that need to be correct or possibly corrected to combat this without the use of chemical additives. The biggest thing is to get rid of the extra nutrients. 1. Evaluate your feeding. If you are feeding more than can be eaten in about 1-2 minutes it is too much and the remainder of it is falling to the rock and sand and becoming nutrient. 2. Evaluate your flow. If you have areas in the tank where there is little to no flow this can be corrected by adding power heads or repositioning the ones you already have. You don’t need to create sand storms just have water moving over the area to keep detritus suspended in the water column for removal by your filter – skimmer. 3. Evaluate your water changes. The solution to pollution is dilution! You want to continually remove unneeded nutrients as well as replace those things that are used by the system. 10% weekly is a good change schedule. Some do 20% every other week and some vary the schedule from there, but a good start is 10% per week. 4. Evaluate your lighting schedule. About 10 hours of daylight is all that is needed. 5. If you have a Cyano outbreak do the above 4 items and: a. At water change time siphon off the Cyano first. It will come up easily almost like a blanker. b. After siphoning stir the affected areas a little to suspend any detritus for the water change and filtering - skimming removal. c. Use a turkey baster now and at every water change in the future to again suspend the detritus for removal by the water change and your filtering – skimming. Keeping nutrient levels low to non-existent will help to avoid Cyano outbreaks and any algae outbreaks as well as keep your tank and you happy happy. Hope that helps. Link to comment
mkregs Posted May 1, 2009 Author Share Posted May 1, 2009 Thanks Henry! I'm actually doing all of those things and still have the problem. Even with a shorter photo period, the stuff grows like crazy as soon as the lights go on then dies off a bit when the lights go off. Maybe my CUC is insufficient. ? for you...how many Nassarius do you have? I have 6, but was told that I should consider trippling that amount. Also, my LFS just stated carrying Conches. Does yours do any rock climbing or does it pretty much hang out at the bottom? I added a small Sea Hare last night and it started eating the Cyano right away. I don't plan on keeping it in the tank for the long term, so maybe adding more snails and a Conch would be the way to go. Thanks again, Mark Link to comment
spanko Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 Yeah IMO you need to have some critters that for the most part stay in and on the sand. I have about 10 small Nassarius, probably about 15 Cerith but ya never know for sure a s the hermits like their shells. I also have one Fighting Conch. He stays on and in the sand. Never seen him climb anything. Must be afraid of heights. Check out my tank here. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=168687 Link to comment
GiantBen Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 My LFS told me 1 or 2 nassarius is enough for a 29gal, but most people say otherwise. I also don't find them to be that active. I think Ceriths are good, but they sometimes go on rocks and glass too. My hermitys have never tried to kill them. Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 awesome i want an anthia now! good luck with the cyano. i hope i never come across that Link to comment
mkregs Posted May 3, 2009 Author Share Posted May 3, 2009 Yeah IMO you need to have some critters that for the most part stay in and on the sand. I have about 10 small Nassarius, probably about 15 Cerith but ya never know for sure a s the hermits like their shells. I also have one Fighting Conch. He stays on and in the sand. Never seen him climb anything. Must be afraid of heights. Check out my tank here. http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=168687 I decided to beef up my CUC yesterday hoping to help deprive the Cyano of food. Nassarius snails: had 6, now have 12. Conch: bought one of these as per Spanko's suggestion. Cerith snails: had none, now have 3. Mexican Turbo snails: had 6, still have 6. Black Margarita snails: had none, now have 3. So, now I have 2-dozen snails in the tank. I have had turbos and nassarius for a while, so I know exactly what the do: Turbos (glass/rock) Nassarius (substrate/glass) at night or during feeding. I am interested to see the behaviors of the Ceriths, Margaritas, and Conch. Link to comment
westcoastreefer84 Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Nothing is going to eat your cyano, something might go through it and dislodge pieces but nothing ate it, Cyano is an opportunist and is easily overcome with good husbandry, a bigger CUC will not help, when they all starve and die you will have bigger problems on your hands, you need to find the source of the nutrients: Test the RO water you use Test the salt mix you use Do you have bio media in your filter? Have u looked for any dead cucs? I read your thread, and you seem to be doing everything right, so you gotta really look closely at any possible source of nutrients for your cyano, check your back chambers, siphon them for any detritus, Make sure thers nothing diying in there, chaeto can rot away so if you have that check for dead spots If all seems to fail, try a UV sterilizer Link to comment
GiantBen Posted May 3, 2009 Share Posted May 3, 2009 Cerith snails are good at moving the substrate around, but don't eat cyano. +1 on checking your back chambers chaeto. My cyano (brown algae on sand, not red) seems to be under more control now that I tossed my chaeto in my BC29 fuge, which was just getting slimy. I am going to clean out my back chambers again today and see if it comes back. Link to comment
colgan10 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 your tank is looking great man! I really like the sunburst i have been trying to decide what kind of fish i want to add to my tank. do you like him? how big do they get and can you keep them in pairs? Link to comment
spanko Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 The conch will not make an immediate difference in your tank but over time you will notice that the top of the sand looks cleaner. They do eat diatoms also. I love the conch, and at some point as you watch you will actually see it jump. An amazing thing in my mind that this critter can cause his entire shell to leap off the sand bed. Link to comment
Ando Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Good luck on that cyano. Def keep those back chambers clean. I noticed one time there was a little bit of red slime growing in mine but I got her out and shes is gone! good luck! Any new FTS? Link to comment
mkregs Posted May 20, 2009 Author Share Posted May 20, 2009 your tank is looking great man! I really like the sunburst i have been trying to decide what kind of fish i want to add to my tank. do you like him? how big do they get and can you keep them in pairs? Thanks! The Sunburst is great...awesome colors. I'm not sure if a pair in a BC29 would be a good idea. The conch will not make an immediate difference in your tank but over time you will notice that the top of the sand looks cleaner. They do eat diatoms also. I love the conch, and at some point as you watch you will actually see it jump. An amazing thing in my mind that this critter can cause his entire shell to leap off the sand bed. I am really happy that I bought the conch. It's constantly at work and is fun to watch. 1 of my turbo snails crawled up on top of the conch and the conch lifted up quickly throwing the turbo snail at least an inch or 2. It was pretty funny to watch. Thanks for the tip on the conch as I'm glad I added it to my tank. Good luck on that cyano. Def keep those back chambers clean. I noticed one time there was a little bit of red slime growing in mine but I got her out and shes is gone! good luck! Any new FTS? I think I'm winning the cyano battle. I have been cleaning out the rear chambers at every water change for a while now and that didn't seem to reduce cyano. I have noticed a big reduction in cyano after adding a Rena Filstar xP2 canister filter. I used the same filter media in the canister filter that I had in my media basket. The difference is the canister filter is constructed in a way to pull/force water through the media rather than pouring water on top of the media and allowing it to find the path of least resistance. I still use the media basket in chamber 2 next to my skimmer and just have floss only in it. I have the canister filter pulling from chamber 3. I removed the return pump from chamber 3 and now have the return from the canister plumbed into the stock return on the chamber 3 wall. I didn't have a problem with flow before as I had a MJ1200 in chamber 3, but I have noticed more flow coming from the Rena. I'm sure some would argue that adding a canister filter wouldn't have improved my cyano situation and that it must be something else. All I can tell you is: I'm using the exact same media in the canister filter. I didn't replace with new media. I'm not doing anything different husbandry-wise as I did before. I noticed an immediate difference in the amount of cyano after making the change. Oh..and the thing is really quiet..which I like. Link to comment
spanko Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 Can't argue with success!!! Well done!!!! Link to comment
GiantBen Posted May 20, 2009 Share Posted May 20, 2009 I had one of those filters on my 55gal freshwater before I sold it last week. Just remember to clean it out every couple weeks. Mine got nasty in one weeks time. Link to comment
mkregs Posted May 22, 2009 Author Share Posted May 22, 2009 Some pics from today... Not too long ago... Today... Not too long ago (taken under actinics only)... Today (taken under actinics and 10k) note growth... Not too long ago... Today... Not too long ago... Today... Some other stuff... Link to comment
JLwaves Posted May 22, 2009 Share Posted May 22, 2009 Some pics from today... Not too long ago... Today... Not too long ago (taken under actinics only)... Today (taken under actinics and 10k) note growth... Not too long ago... Today... Not too long ago... Today... Some other stuff... Very nice growth, loving the pics. Link to comment
GiantBen Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 Looking good mk. How's the wrasse? Does he swim in the rocks a lot? I have a lot of rocks with tunnels in them, plus a tunnel I made on the right of my scape. My clowns don't really do in them, but I want to know is a wrasse would. Also if he would be aggressive to my clowns. Really like the acans. I am going to put some on my sandbed too, so glad to see the stock lighting can do them well. Link to comment
THEEGRIMREEFER Posted May 23, 2009 Share Posted May 23, 2009 Wow nice progress!! super fast growth, whats your secret? lol Link to comment
mkregs Posted May 23, 2009 Author Share Posted May 23, 2009 Looking good mk. How's the wrasse? Does he swim in the rocks a lot? I have a lot of rocks with tunnels in them, plus a tunnel I made on the right of my scape. My clowns don't really do in them, but I want to know is a wrasse would. Also if he would be aggressive to my clowns. Really like the acans. I am going to put some on my sandbed too, so glad to see the stock lighting can do them well. Thanks! I like my wrasse. They love swimming in and around the rocks, so it would love your tank. If you are thinking about adding one, I would suggest looking for one that is smaller than your clowns and add it as the last fish in your tank. Sixlines are kind of luck of the draw...in that you can get one that will get along with other tankmates, but some are bastards and can cause problems. My fish get along pretty well. They were added in this order (Percula Clown, YWG, Sixline Wrasse, Sunburst Anthias). I have considered adding another fish, but I have a pretty good gang right now and don't want to upset that balance. Wow nice progress!! super fast growth, whats your secret? lol Thanks for the nice comment! I don't really have a secret Link to comment
Ando Posted May 25, 2009 Share Posted May 25, 2009 Sweet! Do you notice and of your palys smothering your zoas? Link to comment
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