kenf729 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Hi new to saltwater but not tanks...with that said my tank has been set up for about 3 months, with only three (3) fish and a few hermit crabs...the last month this started up, it was only a small spot and kinda purple, now it's moving to the sand and other rocks...is it good? if not how do I remove it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finch6013 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Looks like cyano bacteria. Not generally a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finch6013 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 I have not delt with very much of it so I have no good advise on removal. I know that better flow will help as well as keeping your water in spec. Are you using RO/DI water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikep503 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Finch is right. It is cyano bacteria. There can be a few different causes and it is never real easy to remove. Usually high nitrates or PH levels being off are the cause. Do some searches on Cyano bacteria and you will find a lot of results. There are a few products on the market designed to get rid of the "red algae" but most of us don't have very good success with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenf729 Posted March 10, 2010 Author Share Posted March 10, 2010 oh darn...the color is really cool!!! ok yes been using ro/di water been going down to winco to buy the water out of their machine... thanks guess I better look into getting rid of the stuff...I checked my Ph and it was running around 8.2, I need to check my nitrates again but as I recall it's been ok...my flow pumps are 3200 gph in my 55gal...I was under the impression that was good.. ok, time to do more reading, thanks for the input Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finch6013 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 The only time I ever seen cyano in noticeable levels whas when I was feeding way to much. Be careful how much you feed those fish. High nutrient levels in the tank can contribute to cyano. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finch6013 Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 I would be careful with store brand water. You have no control over the filtration process and how well its actually filtered. I would recommend getting an RO unit or buying water from a LFS. You can get your own RO/DI for pretty cheap and they will pay for themselves sooner than later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 Ken, Because your tank is so young, I wouldn't worry too much about it. It is pretty typical for young tanks to have a bloom of cyanobacteria or nuisance algae in the first few months. I would not go out of my way to fix things unless it persists for a few more months or grows until it becomes a problem for your tank's inhabitants (covering corals, etc). I used Winco water from the bulk dispenser for over a year with no problems, but I did buy a cheap TDS meter to make sure I was getting 0 TDS whenever I bought a new batch of water. Finch is right that there is some risk that you will not get totally pure water from them, but it is most likely better than using tap water. I eventually invested in a RO/DI setup and the cost savings and time and effort savings related to hauling all that water around have been well worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquariansaltwater Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 If you want to go for the RO/DI unit, I have one I'm looking to sell...PM me for more info... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7Max-GTE Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 I have had success with Chemi Clean in the past as a Cyano remover. Keep your eye out on the outbreak, because Cyano uses up a LOT of oxygen, and can suffocate fish sometimes. I used Chemi Clean on my reef system years ago when I had an outbreak and it killed all of the bacteria within 48 hours. Make sure if you use it to oxygenate your tank very well, and run a LOT of carbon when the treatment is over. Also if you can wet skim / overskim, do it as much as possible for a few days after, to make sure you remove the dead bacteria before it decomposes in your tank and causes more problems. As for R/O water, it is very highly recommended because tap water or water run through carbon can have nitrates, a lot of dissolved minerals that are undesireable, and also phosphates and silicates which can all lead to nusiance algae growth and can also irritate your corals and stunt growth. Where I used to live, tap water came out at 8.6 pH with .3ppm phosphates and 15ppm nitrates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chewie Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 I have had success with Chemi Clean in the past as a Cyano remover. Keep your eye out on the outbreak, because Cyano uses up a LOT of oxygen, and can suffocate fish sometimes. I used Chemi Clean on my reef system years ago when I had an outbreak and it killed all of the bacteria within 48 hours. Make sure if you use it to oxygenate your tank very well, and run a LOT of carbon when the treatment is over. Also if you can wet skim / overskim, do it as much as possible for a few days after, to make sure you remove the dead bacteria before it decomposes in your tank and causes more problems. As for R/O water, it is very highly recommended because tap water or water run through carbon can have nitrates, a lot of dissolved minerals that are undesireable, and also phosphates and silicates which can all lead to nusiance algae growth and can also irritate your corals and stunt growth. Where I used to live, tap water came out at 8.6 pH with .3ppm phosphates and 15ppm nitrates. Post of the day! Well done man. Freakin nailed it! (clap) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgf86123 Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 are you running any powerheads in your tank? If not, the single pump won't really cut it, you need to add powerheads as well to really be able to get the water moving all over the tank. As for flow, most try and run at least 25x turnover, if not higher, I'm currently, in a 20 long I have rock I'm keeping alive, running roughly 50x turnover and I still have dead spots, so I know its not quite enough, but I'm not going to worry about it too much. In my 40 breeder I'm in the process of setting up I'll be running roughly 60x turnover, and I'm not sure thats gonna be enough to keep me satisfied. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted March 11, 2010 Share Posted March 11, 2010 He said he's got flow pumps totalling 3200 gph which is about 58x turnover in a 55g. I don't think total flow is the issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenf729 Posted March 12, 2010 Author Share Posted March 12, 2010 Lots of good info here and it is appreciated, trying something that may help, doing a 3 day blackout on the tank, then some slight scrubbing on the rocks, at the same time turn my scrubber up pretty good. May try that ChemClean, but would prefer to not use too many chemicals in the tank I heard that I may need to add some Cheato (sp) Grass in my sump tank, anyone know where I can buy some? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7Max-GTE Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Chemi Clean is pretty safe, as long as you do a few decent water changes afterwards. Chaeto will help with with nitrates and phosphates, but isn't a cure-all. Most people have huge clumps of it in their sumps, and you can probably find some for free or very cheap if you post in the WTB/WTT section. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
undrtkr_00 Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Yeah, you should be able to get some cheap or free. If you wanna come all the way to OC you can have some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aquariansaltwater Posted March 12, 2010 Share Posted March 12, 2010 Here are a few easy steps that you can take to alleviate some of your cyano issues. Feed your tank regularly for a few days leading up to this. Take a piece of airline and use it to create a siphon. Vacuum as much cyano off the surface of things as is easy to get to. Continue this with the removal and changing out of approximately 25% of your water. You can then cover your tank completely with a large towl, blanket etc. Leave it covered for 2 days. DO NOT PEEK. The cyano is partially photo synthetic. This will help to kill off the majority of the cyano. What is left over will be mostly dead. Things that cause cyano are as follows: 1) As was stated earlier, overfeeding the tank causes high phosphate/nitrate/nitrite levels, all of wich 'feed' the cyano. 2) Running your lights for too long. It is photo synthetic and the more light it has the more it will grow. Cutting your full lighting back by even an hour or two a day can drastically reduce the reproduction of the cyano bacteria. 3) Water flow is important. Especially at the surface of the water. Agitating the surface of the water helps oxygenate teh water. This helps the good bacteria eliminate many of the harmful phosphates, nitrates, and mitrites. Agitating the surface of the water also changes the way the light functions on the photo-synthetic process slowing the growth rate of the cyano. 4) RO/DI water...The filtration process removes many of the nitrates and mitrites naturally present in the water. 5) Good Filtration/skimming. Just another step in removing those nasty unwanted nitrates/nitrites/phosphates. 6) Here's one not a lot of people talk about. When you thaw your frozen fish food. Rinse it with RO water. There is often a lot of extra nitrite and nitrate present in the frozen fluids your foods are packed/frozen in. 7) Plants and natural Algaes. These help by eating those same nitrites and nitrates as food. Therefore removing the food source for cyano. I hope these tips help you with your cyano issues. I had a small 10 gallon Reef tank that had a bad outbreak of cyano when I was first learning about reefing. It was due to the Nitrates in the food I was feeding the tank. The thing that worked best for me was to vacuum the rocks and sand off and cover the tank for two days. After that all I had left was a small trace of dead black stuff that was easily removed with air hose and a toothbrush. Good Luck. Matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenf729 Posted March 13, 2010 Author Share Posted March 13, 2010 ahh, some great tips there, never thought about the frozen food, but that makes since, the tank is covered now and has been for 2 days, tomorrow my plan is to vacuum up the sand and rocks and do a 10 gal water change, but sounds like I need to up that to about 15 gals.. my lights: on at 9am 4 x48 inch 6500k tubes, at 10am my 2 250's kick on about 6pm 250's shut off, then at bed time all lights are off... is this too much lighting? feeding around 10 am and 7 pm either shrimp or flakes not too much but maybe better to cut back a little Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7Max-GTE Posted March 15, 2010 Share Posted March 15, 2010 I was running a 12 hour photoperiod for a while (9 hours of 4xt-5's, 1.5 hours on each side of just actinics) and I had HUGE algae blooms. I cut my lighting back to 9 hours total, and all my algae died off in a few days. I would recommend only having 10 hrs of light at the most in your tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenf729 Posted March 15, 2010 Author Share Posted March 15, 2010 thanks, after the 72 hour black out and a good vacuum I got a lot out, but still have one rock that the turbo's can hit real good, I plan to pull that rock and scrub in a bucket of water transfer next weekend. then do another black out in a week or so... also I've cut my feeding down to once a day and lights down to about 8 - 20 our total.. will keep an eye on it and let folks know how things turn out... Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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