What's this thing?

[Bigguy6121]

What's going on? I started my tank 2 months ago and I know it's not going very good but a few of these thing just pop up on the sand the other day and I have no clue what it is. If it's good or bad? Looks kinda like the stuff from Ghostbusters II

Here's a video of my Tank. As you can see I need a little help? When I test the water everything comes up 0's and the salt level is 1.024 temp is around 80.

Tank Vid on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[Sadielynn]

Cyno you have too many nutrients in your water , siphion it off and do some large changes cut back on your feedings and also get some better flow ... There are treatments for this stuff but treat the cause first not the symptom (the cyno bacteria)

 

[mrg02d]

Ick, thats cyanobacteria. Time to start addressing your housekeeping!

Tell us about your feeding and lighting.
What kind of food?
How much, how often?
What kind of lights?
How long are the lights left on?

This crap is nutrient dependent. Remove its food and it dies. Usually that is...Sometimes it wins.

Matt

 

[Bigguy6121]

Alright thanks for helping. I feed them half a cube of the brine shrimp once a day. I have a metal halaid light with the antic ones and the leds. The antic ones are on from 8 to 8 the metal halaids are 10 to 6 and the leds are 8 to 8.

So what your saying to do is a water change and just suck that stuff out correct? as for adding no flow I have a 700 gph pump in there now on the far side and just the returns from the sump. I also own a 500 gph pump thats not in there. Should I add it? Where should I put the pumps and where should they point.

Thanks

 

[mrg02d]

What size tank? How many fish?

Half a cube every day sounds like a lot, unless you have a lot of fish. Id feed every other day, and only enough such that each fish gets a few mouthfulls.

I used to have cyano until I stopped feeding every day. I also keep my fish hungry. They dont get to pig out. Pigging out leads to pooping out nutrients. That feeds cyano and "others" to come...

You might want to cut your lighting back some. The actinics shouldnt be helping the cyano, but the halide and possibly the LEDs are. (More info on the leds?). You could try 6 hours for the halide, cut back on feeding, increase flow, and sucking out the junk.

Flow will depend on the size of tank. 750gph is alot for a 5g tank, but not for a 55g tank. See what I mean? gph/tank volume = turn over rate.

EDIT: Oh yea...Where is your tank at? If near household lighting or the sun, that could also help cyano out as those lights are good sources of the wavelenghts that algae and cyanobacteria like.
Matt

 

[Bigguy6121]

Thanks The led are those blue leds that go on at night. My tank is a 55 gallon with a 20 gallon sump and about 90 lbs of live rock. Where should I place the pumps and where should they face? My tank dosent get any sun light either and only a little light for house hold fixtures

 

[Bigguy6121]

oh and for fish I only have a scooter bleemy and 2 clown fish

 

[mrg02d]

The LEDs are fine then. With a 55g tank, youll need much more flow. Id suggest getting some Koralia powerheads and pointing them on various places so that there are no dead zones. One can point up to break the water surface for 02 exchange and the others to keep stuff from settling. (Like cyano)
Matt

 

[Bigguy6121]

Alright I'll add the other one thanks. I'm still gonna have to do a water change ? right? and cut back on the food. I'll give that a shot thanks.

 

[mrg02d]

Correct. You will also want to add a power head or two to help reach places with little flow. Koralias can be gotten online for decent prices. I believe you ought to aim for 30times turnover or so.

Matt

 

[Bigguy6121]

How many GPHs is that? The power heads I have now are made by Aqueon ones a 500 and ones a 700. What should I cut the feeding back to?

 

[mrg02d]

Okay, so you have 1200gph total to work with. Thats 1200/55 = 21 times turn over. So grab another power head to cover the rest.

As for your feeding...You are over feeding IMO. Two clowns and scooter blenny. I have two clowns, a sixline wrasse, and a strawbery baslet that only get like 1/5 a cube of frozen mysis (washed in DI water!) every other day. Scooter blennys eat algae dont they?

So yea, feed MUCH less and every other day. I believe brine shrimp are no good for regular feeding too. No nutritional value or something like that. (Unless you are ADDING nutrition via suppliments).

I would go get some frozen mysis shrimp and thaw out enough that each fish gets like 4-5 whole mysis shrimp each. (Or less) Do this every other day. Mysis are much better than brine anyways. Sometimes when I am feeling good ( a beer or two) I throw in some pellets from Formula 1 for the fish to keep them from harassing me. (between feeding days).

Matt

 

[Bigguy6121]

Awesome dude thanks. I'm gonna work on this today and tomorrow. Will doing this also help clear up all that green hair alge I have growing on my rocks?

 

[cmor1701d]

Algae is fueled by excess nutrients and light. Cutting the lights back to 4 hours a day for a week will not affect anything. I didn't notice any corals in livestock, so minimal light is fine for FOWLR. I would cut the feeding to once every three days and supplement with a ¼ sheet of nori in between for the blenny.

Follow Matt's advice. You want to get some flow from a powerhead in the area of the cyano. It can't get a hold on the substrate if there is good flow there. You also want the other power heads pointing toward the surface to create good surface agitation too.

 

[Bigguy6121]

Cool thanks. I have a few mushroom corals in there. Thats it. I'm gonna have to pick up another power head and that food today and give it a shot.

 

[capj64]

tag

 

[Bigguy6121]

What?

 

[Bigguy6121]

Tank 2 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Alright water change is done. I added the extra power head I had here. Been cutting back on the food. And this is how I'm looking right now. Im gonna be heading down to the pet store to pick up another power head either today or tomorrow and see if I can't fine some frozen mysis and some nori there too. Thanks again for all the help.

 

[mrg02d]

I see what looks to be alot of hair algae.

Are you using tap water for PWC and top off? If so, you got to stop. Youll never see the end of algae without RO/DI water. (Thats reverse osmosis water run through a deionizing filter to get near perfect h20).

You did good by increasing flow and cutting your feedings. Now you just need to be patient and keep a positive attitude as well as start RO/DI water if you havent already. It WILL get better, as its a simple matter of controlling nutrients.

Keep it up!
MAtt

 

[thincat]

Thanks The led are those blue leds that go on at night. My tank is a 55 gallon with a 20 gallon sump and about 90 lbs of live rock. Where should I place the pumps and where should they face? My tank dosent get any sun light either and only a little light for house hold fixtures

Here are a few options for PH placement.