Algae floating?

[roka64]

I have a nice and nasty cyano break out. I am working on it. It is red and there are air bubbles in/on/under it. Does this mean it is dying off? Also, the air under it is causing it to separate from the sand and hover over the sand. Anyway, I was just wondering about the bubbles. I now have a baster and will start that tonight and do about a 20% PWC on Saturday. Also, I need to add to my clean up crew. I ordered 36 snails and only got 30.

[Devilishturtles]

Cyano produces O2 as a byproduct, hence the bubbles in the algae It's likely not dying but rather...thriving?

It's been my experience that the sheets do sorta sit above the sand, but really it's just forming thick sheets on the sandbed and lifting away. What kind of water flow do you have in your tank? Are you running powerheads?

[austinsdad]

How's the water flow in those areas? Could be a sign of dead spots.

You can suck most of it up with your vinyl hose when you do your PWC, but check for better circulation in those areas.

[roka64]

Yea, I added another PH. I have the fluvial 304 out put near the surface. Two PHs one on the other side of the output. The newest PH is pointing at the bad spot of cyano. I changed my feeding to every three days, temporarily. I don't think I like this, my damsels are now eating the algea off of the glass. Last weekend, scrubbed more than half my LR (after I put in my clean up crew...DUH..lol). I think my problem might partly be the tank sets about 5 feet from at deck door, where the sun sets. There is a curtain that is always closed, but I imagine, the spectrum of light that feeds the cyan gets through the curtain.
I am thinking about covering that side with something to block the sun's rays, doing a 20% PWC, and sucking up the algae with my new turkey baster and as much as i can with the vinyl hose.

Cyano produces O2 as a byproduct, hence the bubbles in the algae Smile It's likely not dying but rather...thriving?

I kind of figured on that, but was hoping it was die off!! LOL!!

How's the water flow in those areas? Could be a sign of dead spots.

I believe the flow is now decent in those areas, it's just on the side by the window. But I can move my PHs around to fit the tank's needs.

[seaham358]

have you tested for PO4? Cyno needs food and PO4 is it.. IMO you can add 100 snails and they will not eat it. I have never found any that would eat it till its gone.

[roka64]

I haven't tested for PO4, I have the Seachem one and can't read it very well. I used the turkey baster and it worked great. My tank is clean. I will continue to feed every three days and see if it doesn't come back, I will start feeding again at every other day. Thanks for al the help! I'll see if I can retest and read the PO4.

[dwh890nc]

IMO ... you should reduce your lighting duration. I have found it to be the only solution to cyano blooms I have battled in the past.

[roka64]

I sucked it up with a turkey baster, and have water getting ready for a PWC tomorrow. I'll see how that works. If not, I will go with a shorter lighting cycle. I do 10 hours right now.

Thanks for the advice.

[dwh890nc]

10 hrs of lighting during the day is your problem. Try reducing to 8 hrs per day and see if that start taking care of the problem. I recently reduced lighting duration in my 180 gal fowlr from 9 hour to 7 hours to stop the slime.

A couple years ago in a new 29 gal fish only seteup I had to reduce the daily duration to 7 hours per day.

[FishFrik]

I believe 12 hours of light per day is the "normal" light cycle. It's fine that u reduce the duration to battle algae for a short period of time but u can't rely on just reducing light. Cyano feeds primarily on PO4 so reducing PO4 is a must. Im also battling cyano, so good luck to u both

O yea roka, u suked all the slime out and no slime has appeared again at the same spot? I tried scoping the sand at the slimy area out to rid of the slime but within a couple of hour, the slime layer formed again (even a larger patch!)