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Chi_Cichlid

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
May 1, 2014
Messages
159
Location
Illinois
Hey guys, so I bought 2 juvenile cichlids from my LFS. One was sold as a Red Empress, and the other as a Taiwan Reef, but I would like to get some opinions on what you guys think.


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Oops...here are the pics haha.

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Also, are these diatoms on my rocks? It's brown and I can see it wave in the current. Tank has been up and running for only a few months now so I assume it is, but am not 100% sure.

Thanks!

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Anybody?

Found out the algae is bba......now I have to work on getting rid of it/fixing the problem.
 
The more colorful one is a red empress, the one with larger black bars is a Taiwan reef.
 
You are the man Squirrilah! Was wondering when you were gonna post here haha. Is he a Taiwan Reef Peacock or Hap?

You ever have problems with bba?

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Definitely the Haplochromis stevani.

Haven't had algae problems, sorry. Good luck though, I've read it can be a pain to get out.
 
From what I understand, you want to remove anything that can be removed , and bleach 2:1 clean it. Make sure it's rinsed well BF going back in. Of course you don't want to do this to your media, unless algae is growing on it.

Rinse everything off, scrub the glass, water change, water change, water change,

But the hardest part is figuring out the source, and getting rid of it.

Common sources are nitrates, too much light ( turning off the light helps) or high silicates.
 
Thanks squirrilah. I unplugged the lights and will keep them off for a few days. Like you said, now I just need to figure out what's causing the issue.

High silicates may be a factor as I'm using pfs as substrate. The lights are on for 6 hours a day, but the tank does also get indirect sunlight during the day. I guess there could be many factors that could be the cause.

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Silicates are part of diatom blooms, but those typically show up shortly after the tank is set up then subside in a matter of weeks, not months. Diatoms don't grow tall enough to move in the current, they simply cover solid surfaces.
 
Silicates are part of diatom blooms, but those typically show up shortly after the tank is set up then subside in a matter of weeks, not months. Diatoms don't grow tall enough to move in the current, they simply cover solid surfaces.

Thanks for the info todd! I don't believe they are diatoms, but black beard algae as suggested earlier.

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