Weird Growth

[leeveh99]

Hey guys,

I did some looking around and could not figure out exactly what this stuff is that is growing on my live rock. It grows fairly rapidly and is almost like a skin that covers my live rock. as it build up it has a bunch of strands floating around. It seems like it is starting to completely cover my live rock and when I syphon off, it takes the color from my live rock.

Ammonia : .25ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
PH: 7.8 ( I know its low but I added buffer today)
Temp: 78 F
SG: 1.024
1- 96 watt coralife 10,000k
1- 96 watt coralife blue acintic
Lights are on for about 14 hrs a day
feed flake food 1-2 times daily
2 clowns
1 yellow tang
3 hermits
10 snails
1 sand sifting starfish
80 lbs live rock
30 lbs live sand
protein skimmer
2 hydor korealis

These are the best pics I could get:

 

[Innovator]

Sounds and looks like cyano. Your NH3 reading is worrisome so I'd opt for a 35%-40% water change until it gets back down to 0. You can also reduce the lighting to 10hrs a day and stop feeding flake. Pellets are better all the way around; although, you do have a yellow tang so you should be feeding Nori daily or every other day. There is nothing wrong with feeding food daily as long as you can continue to balance the tank and curb algae growth. Look into creating your own food mixes (Search the site for food mix topics).

 

[Kristall-99]

Is this a new tank or did you just throw in some live rock with some die-off. Im surprised your fish are still alive with an ammonia reading like that. but yes it does look like cyano. Can you take a phosphates test to confirm?

 

[cmor1701d]

How long has the tank been set up?
When did the cycle complete.
I tend to agree with the others.

 

[leeveh99]

Tank has been up and running since august. I let the tank do a full cycle because it was a tank that I had gotten from my friend and he did not take care of it. I added two pieces of live rock that I got from my LFS to help kick start the cycle. I did notice a bit of this cyano a couple of months ago but there was very little and I just siphoned it out. Thought all was fine but it came back with a vengence here this last week. My test kit card for ammonoia starts at 0 ppm, then the next level is .25 ppm then .5ppm so on and so on. I assumed that because my reading was .25 ( the next reading above zero) that that is not very much ammonia. If this is too much ammonia, any idea why the test company even gives it in increments all the way up to 8?? Shouldn't it be more like .05, .1, .15, .20, .25 ....??

 

[ccCapt]

Anything more than 0 is too much. You can buy a more precise measuring device, but it's not going to cost $10 like a pet shop test kit.

Hach - Ammonia, Pocket Colorimeter II Test Kit

Hach - Nitrogen, Ammonia Test Kit, Model NI-SA, Color Disc, 0.1-2.5 mg/L, 100 tests

 

[leeveh99]

I realize that the ultimate goal is for 0 ammonia but you guys made it sound like .25 is going to kill my tank. Is it still possible to kill the whole tank with .25? I am just curious because I thought that .25 was not that much and that the natural process of the tank would take care of my ammonia levels. Should I be doing a water change as soon as I see ANY ammonia?

 

[cmor1701d]

YES! No livestock should be a tank that has anything above 0.
You can get up to 8 or even higher duing an initial cycle. I did with a couple of boxes (90 pounds) of Fiji LR.
PWC's are mandatory in a tank with fish and ammonia.
During a QT treatment for disease/pararsites you may need to do PWC's twice a day to keep the ammonia in check until a proper biological filter is establsihed.

 

[austinsdad]

Cut your lighting back to 8 hours too.

 

[leeveh99]

Ok thanks guys. 8 hours for "treatment" or 8 hours all the time?

 

[thincat]

Two piieces of LR would only cycle your tank to the load of the bacteria that could grow on those two rocks. Not much. when you add anything with that light bio-load you will get an ammonia spike (mini-cycle) to catch up with the new bio-load. It is recommended that you have 1-1.5# of live rock per gallon of tank water. You don't state the size of your tank.

 

[leeveh99]

55 gal

 

[leeveh99]

The tank was also ran for at leat a year before I got it. And all that live rock was in it. The owner just stopped looking after it other than the ocasional top up and clean up.

 

[austinsdad]

8 hours all the time.

 

[thincat]

How long did it take you tto break down the tank at the other owners home and then set it up at yours?

 

[leeveh99]

I went to his place at about 5:00 Pm, only took me an hour to take his apart. Put the live rock in two tote bins with water from his tank and left them in my living room with a htr to maintain temp over night. When I got home after the initial breakdown I immediatly cleaned the tank and filled it with water, added my salt, turned on the powerheads. The next day at about 5:00 pm when i got home from work is when i added the live rock and live sand. I assume you asked the question to determine if i left the live rock out in the open, killing all the beneficial bacteria? I assumed I would have a little loss from the tote bins but keeping temp and keeping them in saltwater shouldn't have caused me to lose that much, at least I don't think anyways... After this i did let the tank cycle for a good month, maybe even month and a half before I added my two clowns. Did water tests daily for a week then every second day until I saw my ammonia, nitrates drop back to 0. Cycle should have been completed, right?

 

[Zer0]

I'm also guessing your not using RO/DI water either? Which could also aid to the occurrence of the dreaded cyano. There may also be ammonia in your tap water if you are using tap water to fill up the tank and to do PWC's. It may not be a huge amount considered by us, but when you add it up in a tank, little by little, plus the bioload from your inhabitants, it could get to a level where it shouldn't be. But as previously stated, you shouldn't have any levels of ammonia.

 

[leeveh99]

I bought a coralife 3 stage ro/di unit and have been using that water for the last 3 months

 

[thincat]

The way you did your rock I don't see the lost of any bacteria either. The only thing I could think of is that you left it for a month and a half and without feeding the tank your bacteria died back. Then when you added the two clowns you kick started a new mini cycle and that's where you got your ammonia reading. If your tank was properly cycled you should not have an ammonia reading at all.

 

[cmor1701d]

To Summarize:
You took ownership of a 55 gallon tank last August. Then..
"When I got home after the initial breakdown I immediatly cleaned the tank and filled it with water, added my salt, turned on the powerheads. The next day at about 5:00 pm when i got home from work is when i added the live rock and live sand.
After this i did let the tank cycle for a good month, maybe even month and a half before I added my two clowns. Did water tests daily for a week then every second day until I saw my ammonia, nitrates drop back to 0
I bought a coralife 3 stage ro/di unit and have been using that water for the last 3 months"

You have a Coralife PC light with a 96w 10k and a 96w 03 Actinic
How old are the bulbs? They should be replaced every 7 - 9 months

"feed flake food 1-2 times daily"
Cut that back to 1x every OTHER DAY and feed a 1/4 - 1/2 sheet of nori (sushi wrap available in any asian market) on the between days for the tang.

Do a 20% weekly PWC using RODI water.
When was the last PWC and how large was it?
How often are you doing PWC's?
Are you dosing anything?