Several Questions (Cyano Issues and Other Algae???)

Hi Guys,

I have several questions that I hope can get answered and was hoping to do it in one thread, so I am posting in the general forum.

I just got from my vacation today and all of my fish survived . I was very worried about my Hippo tang before I left, but she seems to be doing okay. I have a few issues in my tank now that I am not really sure how to fix. The first is I believe a cyano outbreak. It looks similar to other pictures of cyano I have seen. I saw a little bit on a rock before I left and sucked it out with a water change. It is back in the same spot and a few others. It is brown in color and seems to be stringy (due to flow???). How would I go about beating this? I know that cyano feeds off of phosphates and nitrates, but they always read zero when I test. This could be a false reading. I have a reactor from BRS running high capacity gfo, but that has been in there for about a month. How often should I change that? I am also running carbon in a media bag in my sump. I have been changing that out about once a month. I use RO/DI water and rinse my frozen food before feeding. I feed the fish every day a half cube of frozen food with a few added flakes. I also feed nori about 3-4 times a week. If I cut back to every other day, how much food should I give? You can look at my signature for my stock. I run my lights actinic 7 am-8pm, full lights 8am-7pm. I also have 3 clumps of chaeto in my sump and I run the grow light from 8pm-8am. Is there anything else that I can do?

I also have a bright green spot on a rock that I am not sure what it is. i tried to take pictures of the things I am talking about. Please forgive how dirty the tank is. I just got back today and plan on doing a major cleaning tomorrow. Thanks in advance!!!

Regards,
Ivy

 

Your tank looks fine Ivy, you don't appear to have cyano. I have both the Gold and Green Coraline type algae. Cyano will be dark Red to Blackish. What do you mean by "major cleaning". Disrupting the tank may not wise. A water change if it is time but I wouldn't mess with the substrate. By the way, very thorough post, I like that. If you go to every other day or any time really, feed just a little and wait until you see the fish consume the majority of the food offered and then feed just a little more. I think you are fine. If you would, post a pic of the whole tank, I would like to see the entire tank.

 

Yeah not cyano. If it was cyano, it'd be EVERYWHERE fast. Cyano isn't the plague it's a natural part of the tank which is undesirable.

 

Thanks guys. I don't mean a disruptive cleaning tomorrow. I was just talking about doing a water change and cleaning all of the glass, plastic, powerheads, etc. I was surprised how much had grown on the glass in just three days of not scrubbing with the mag float. I have been feeding them everyday and feeding the for 5 minutes or until they stop and they eat until the five minute mark. I know that my big clown and tang would eat all day if they could. If I cut back to every other day and keep the feeding amount the same, do you think that would be okay? What would the signs be of underfeeding? My wife swears that I underfeed them as it is.

I will try to take a complete tank shot tomorrow after I clean it. I will attach a picture of the tank I took last week. If the spots that I was pointing to aren't cyano, what do you think they are? Thanks!!!!


Another picture cropped a little better:



Whole tank shot:

 

Well, looking the whole tank shot I now realize the tank is new and cycling. The algae in the latest picture resembles a hair algae type. I would suggest investing in a phosphate reactor. I use the viaaqua. A healthy tank will go through what we call the "algae cycle". It is normal and a reactor should be a staple of any filtration system, in my opinion.
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_viewItem.aspx?idProduct=VA3311

 

The phosban stuff is usually good for a couple of months. Might change it out monthly just to be safe.

 

As the others have stated all tanks esp new ones will go through a natural course of algal progression. Diatoms are the first and typically show up in the first 48 hours or so have having the tank set up. The initial bloom of diatoms will eventually fade but all tanks will always have some, otherwise we would never need to wipe off the glass!
Green algaes tend to come in next or sometimes cyano comes in quickly... There is really no set schedule for algae progression aside from diatoms coming first.

Herbivores, be them invert or fish, can be a good start to combating algae but you need to make sure what you are fighting is going to be beaten by what you are putting in... Diatoms will be consumed by most snails and tangs in the genus ctenochaetus.... If the diatoms are on the sand you will need to look into strombus spp. conchs as most snails will not eat it off the sand only hard surfaces.
Cyano will not be consumed by most critters as it is unpalatable and might contain poisonus matter that deters eating. Some ctenochateus tangs will consume it as will clibanarius tricolor, or the blue leg dwarf crab, but if you are using this crab to eat it remember you will need a lot and might not be able to keep up with the rapid growth of the cyano.
If hair algae is a issue, many tangs in the zebrasoma genus will eat it, as will rabbit fish, and naso tangs. Be careful though as many of these fish get large and are not suited for most tanks esp the nasos...
Contrary to most beliefs lawnmower or algae blennys will not consume hair algae or at least without much effectiveness. They are diatom eaters...

Aside from the cleaning crew stated nutrient export is a great way to combat algae. It sounds like you are already doing that. As far as the 0 readings.. what test kits are you using? How long have they been open?

Also, increased water flow and the use kalkwasser to elevate the pH will work wonders in combating algae esp diatoms and cyano...

As far as the feeding is concerned.. I used to be a firm believer in everyother day feedings, but have recanted my thoughts on this... Most fish, esp the ones I have eat all day long in the wild... Tangs, Anthias and wrasses forage all day, in the case of the wrasse and tang, well that could work but unless my system has zooplankton floating around all the time the anthias will wither. I would in your case feed everyday but enough that they eat in a minute or two not 5. If you feel that is too little feed them two small feedings a day instead of the one larger one...

Good luck

 

Thanks again for the replies. The tank is still relatively new but has definitely gone through the nitrogen cycle. I don't what stage of the algal cycle it is in though (that is a new one to me). I started the tank in late April. I did have the via aqua reactor and was using Phosban in it, but it felt really cheap. I decided to use a reactor from Bulk Reef Supply and am running high capacity GFO in it now. Thanks again for all of the information. I did a water change this morning and sucked as much as I could out. I will cut back on the feeding and see if that helps at all.