Cyano?

So far I am trying Phosgaurd (Seachem) to try and reduce the silicates. (My phosphates are 0 already). All this seems to have started when I started dosing with Seachem's Reef Advantage Calcium, but I'm not sure if this is just coincidence. Just to be on the safe side, I have stopped dosing with the calcium. I will let you know if I see any changes.

 

This stuff is getting thicker, and is becoming "stringy"... I think that filamentous may be a more appropriate term. Is this still typical of diatoms? I have changed quite a bit of water, and it only seems to be getting worse... What is the liklihood of this being caused by the 6 month old compact flourescent bulbs? I tested the phosphates again and still read 0ppm; 5ppm nitrate. There really isn't much in the tank that it could feed off of. Other than silicates (I ordered a test, and am now waiting for the shipment). Any other ideas? Please keep in mind that this stuff literally disappears over night, only to come back within a few hours afters after lights on. Is this normal of diatoms?

 

Well the phsgaurd had an adverse reaction with my brown button polyps... I removed it, and started a new pack of carbon to remove any of the phosgaurd remnants. The polyps seem to be doing better today (not black and withered like they were). Hopefully all will be fine.

 

If when you change water, you are using some type of siphon hose and the substrate
get's sucked in and the brown,red stuff kind of get turn in to some kind of booger like stuff,
is not diatome if the hose wouldn't pick it up it is cyano, I am dealing with it my self.
Now hopefully this is like another type of stage the tank will go through, and like I said I'm hoping for that, try using a lot of flow, I did and end up having to move some of my stuff around to keep them from staying close must of the time, cut down on lighting period, really didn't help much either, it is really hard to eradicate!!!! I will be following this thread to see what kind of solution we can come up with, probably a lack of a trace element!?!?

 

If your dealing with cyano, first, and most foremost, make sure your alkalinity is up and up- From personal experience, and talking to others, cyano is MUCH more likely to appear when your alkalinity is on the low side. Secondly, check for all the algae norms (excess nitrates/phosphates, old lighting, poor waterflow, yada yada yada). Third, And if your risky feeling, do what I did and introduce a batch of GHA into your tank (in a controlled manner). If you have a refugium, you wont have to do it this way). I took a container, poked only a few holes in the side, took the lid off, and put some substrate with a small amount of GHA on it. Make sure there is very little water flow in the container (the GHA loves it). Now, pick up as much of the stringy cyano as possible and get it out of the tank (I know- manual labour sucks, but you need to cause an excess amount of free nitrates/phosphates temporarily) Let the GHA grow, and continue to clean up any cyano for a week or two. Eventually the GHA will take a stranglehold on the nitrates/phosphates, chemically suffocating the cyano. Once the cyano is completely iraddicated, its safe to take the GHA container out of your aquarium.

Mind you, this is only one way to get rid of it- there is still likely an underlying cause for why it occured in the first place. Making sure your water params are in check after you get rid of it is pretty much key here, or else you repeat the exciting cyano experience (I know you love it!).

 

Silicates are in your salt mix, every time you change water you are feeding the diatoms by adding more silicates. You have to remove the silicates from the system and starve the diatoms. Cut back on the water changes for a little bit (assuming all your water params are normal). You also may want to remove as much of it as possible by scooping it out.

Then get some Poly-Filter by Poly-Bio-Marine. I pay 8 bucks a pad at the LFS. It absorbs the silicates and phosphates out of your water. It won't get rid of the algae overnight but starving it is a slow process. I can see a difference in my tanks after using it only a few days.

Also, how big is your clean-up crew? and change those bulbs!

 

If your "algae" is brown but resembles cyano, then you most likely have dinoflagellates. Treat the same way that you would cyano.

 

It not forming the normal 'sheet' like cyano does, instead it just appears that the stuff is getting pretty thick in some areas. My nitrate are 5-10ppm and phosphates are 0ppm.. I wonder if it is my saltmix adding silicates (as someone had suggested earlier)?

 

I would go for a bigger cleaner crew. I know in my 46g tank I have about 12 of sand cleaners and turbo snails and I have at leas 17+ hermit crabs and my tank stays super clean. I think only 4 crabs and 5 turbos is not enough for a tank that big.

 

actually if you used play sand(some is made of silica) that might be the problem. i couldn't really tell from the pics but if you touch it and it fell a little slimey it cyano, if you touch it and it fells just like sand its diatom