A little help.

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mikestanked

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jun 6, 2012
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289
Location
El Segundo, California
What is this stuff growing in my sand bed? Cyno?
And how can I get rid of it?
Lighting schedule is about 10 -12 hours a day, and I have only 1 550gph power head.
My nitrate levels are a bit high, about 30ppm? On the API test kit, its a light orange in color(sorry I'm not looking at it right now, I believe that its my nitrate level)
 

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My daylight lights are on about 10-12 hours a day depending on if I remember to turn them off, I try for about 10 hours a day.
I have a 24"marineland double bright LED non-reef fixture, and no corals
 
Well I have it too. I thought it was Coraline as I have some of that your pic looks pinkish red to me. If It is Cyno It has not been an issue yet and its been there a while. My tank is quite healthy and is very established. So Ive just been leaving it alone. Sometimes doing "something" can be worse than doing nothing. I always say if its not creating a problem leave it alone cause you could create a problem you sis not have. I too leave my lights on for 8-12 hrs a day for my corals and now have some green string algae but I also have a tang and some snails so Im just monitoring and watching my chem levels.
 
I wouldn't run your lights more than 8 hours a day. That will help later on down the road. If your nitrates area at 30 you might want to do partial water change and get it to something less than 20, or lees then 10 if you've got any type of corals.
 
Well I guess Im running my lights way to much then but I thought my reef really likes the light, it seems to not do so well when I give it 4 -6hrs. Maybe my bulbs need changing?
 
I have a way underpowered fixture for a FOWLR its a marineland double bright LED non-reef.
It never gets hot, never throws heat in my tank. And I leave my moonlights on all night until I turn the "day" lights on.

Do you guys turn your lights all the way off at night?
 
mikestanked said:
I use pre mixed saltwater from my LFS, 1.024 salinity

Not sure about phosphate? Forgive my ignorance is that PH?

No, phosphate is a separate test and they will fuel cyano. Cyano is from too many nutrients in tank- too much food, etc. how much you feed? From my understanding, lighting doesn't affect cyano, but over feeding will.
 
Geez I feed about a whole cube of a mixed variety of krill, mysis, and brine(usually at separate times, but sometimes I will mix a half cube of krill and a half cube of mysis together) every other day.
And on the off days I put a couple "pinches" of dry sinking pellets.

I'm sure that's way too much for my quantity of livestock. Check out my profile for livestock info
 
mikestanked said:
Geez I feed about a whole cube of a mixed variety of krill, mysis, and brine(usually at separate times, but sometimes I will mix a half cube of krill and a half cube of mysis together) every other day.
And on the off days I put a couple "pinches" of dry sinking pellets.

I'm sure that's way too much for my quantity of livestock. Check out my profile for livestock info

Yeah, unless your profile hasn't been updated, it looks like you have 3 actual fish. A whole cube for 3 fish is a lot. I feed 1 1/2 cubes to a total of about 12 fish and 2 cleaner shrimp, a pistol shrimp, sun coral, and give the anemone a little too (all in 2 separate tanks). Some people would say i overfeed too, but thats why i got a big filter and a great skimmer. :) I'm thinking you could get away with cuttin the cube into fourths. I did that until I got more fish. If you're worried about the fish going hungry, just do 1/4 cube once a day instead of every day. That's still a big reduction of nutrients going into the water. Chemiclean is reported to help get rid of the cyano that you already have. Cutting back on feeding should help prevent more.
 
ok cool, i think im going to try and target feed my maroon, and damsel, to cut down on over feeding. any advice on feeding my blenny? he really like to grub on the krill and mysis that is left on the floor, anything other?
im also having a little Aiptasia issue, maybe that'll starve my peps enough to forage more ;)
 
You can still let a little drop to the bottom, but right now, there's probably a lot falling to the sand. If blenny will eat sinking pellets, you could put a tiny pinch of those in there for him. If he won't eat those, though, don't put them in. The hermits will eat them, but they'll find other stuff to eat without them.
 
mikestanked said:
I use pre mixed saltwater from my LFS, 1.024 salinity

Not sure about phosphate?

Your LFS may be able to test your water for phosphate. Do you also use store freshwater to top off your tank? They likely sell fresh RO just for that.

I agree with the others about feeding. You can definitely feed every day, just much smaller amounts.

It'll take water changes and possibly some phosphate remover to starve the cyano into oblivion.

willbratz said:
I run my moons all night long. I run all 3 on some timers I purchased from Walmart for about 5 bucks a piece

I recommend running the moonlights only when you're usually awake. A few hours after the main lights go out and a couple before they turn on usually does the trick. Those lights are more for the tank owners benefit rather than the fishes. Your timer can be setup to do it.
 
Your LFS may be able to test your water for phosphate. Do you also use store freshwater to top off your tank? They likely sell fresh RO just for that.



It'll take water changes and possibly some phosphate remover to starve the cyano into oblivion.



I recommend running the moonlights only when you're usually awake. A few hours after the main lights go out and a couple before they turn on usually does the trick. Those lights are more for the tank owners benefit rather than the fishes. Your timer can be setup to do it.

yes my LFS does water test, for free.
currently im using distilled water from the grocery store, my LFS said that its ok and i've had no issues to date.

How do you replace your water during water changes? i currently replace my water by lifting a 5g jug of SW and pouring it directly in the tank and all at once.
 
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