Just another bump in the road!!

[Clint24]

Hello everyone. Well I finally got the GHA under control in my tank. I can actually see the rock work again!! the bad thing is, is that for the last 2 days I've seen signs of a cyno bloom happening on my sand bed. My tank has been up & running now for a little over a year now. Though I've battled GHA for awhile, I've never had a cyno outbreak till now. Should I be worried about it or let it run it's course?? I have so much flow in my tank it moved my sand around, is this a problem. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

the pics aren't great, taken with phone but gives the idea.

Water parameters are good:
Salt--1.025 sg
Ph--8.1 ( lights off )
Temp--78.2
Ammonia--0
Nitrites--0
Nitrates--5
Phosphates--.03
Dkh--9
Magnesium--1300
Calcium--428
Strontium--10

All tests are done with salifert kits.


CD

 

[sirrealism]

That sux. What are you using for lights? You could do a black out for 2 days and that would stop it but I would think you have a little excess nutrients or bad bulbs.

 

[Joeys Tank]

Jolly good afternoon, Clint.

How did you get the GHA under control? Your water params are looking good (nitrate and phosphate specific). Depending on the GHA clensing approach, this may be what is causing the cyno bloom. I would also keep an eye open for diatoms to start up also if it is linked to the GHA removal.

Also, where at in CO are you? I am in C Springs. Do you have any stars in the tank? Interested in two red brittle stars? I have six stars in my tank and they are doing well for now (early tank stage where there is plenty of nutrients) but I am concerned with keeping that number once the sandbed matures and the food cycle becomes robust.

 

[Clint24]

Hello sirrealism. My bulbs are all relatively new, couple of months. I use selcon on my frozen food like twice a week, could that be a factor?

Hello Joey. I used every natural method possible & ended up having to use API algae fix. I live in pueblo, what do u want for ur brittle stars??


CD

 

[Joeys Tank]

Hmmm, it is very possible that the API algae fix helped consume your GHA but broke it down to the next level of the food chain. This would provide nutrients to the system which are/will be consumed and then those byproducts will feed algae in the system (e.g. cyano and diatoms) which will then be consumed by the animals living in your substrate and then further reduced and so on. I read your tank thread and saw the additional snails and crabs over the summer while you were fighting GHA. Given enough time, they will work on the cyano and diatoms but it sounds like your tank is currently out of balance and the cyano is blooming.

Recommendations, keep up the flow you have, slowly reduce the amount of nutrients you are adding to the tank (food and light) and scoop/sift/vacuum out the red algae produced by the cyano. It will take a bit for the tank to come back into balance. Congrats on winning the battle against GHA. Now, settle in for the follow-on battle.

On the topic of the stars ... you are welcome to them. I have a 175 gal tank with 6 stars in it. The main reason why I feel like I am currently being successful with so many is that my tank is young (almost 4 months) and the food cycle balance hasn't matured yet (with CUC and sandbed) to remove all of the nutrients so the starts are doing well. I worry about the day when things start to settle in and the stars start to starve. Of the 6, my wife wants to keep the basket star, banded brittle star and the serpent star. This frees up the two red brittle stars and a fromia star. The LFS's in Colorado Springs are not too open to taking on livestock for store credit, etc. You are welcome to have the two red brittles and the fromia (a word of caution on the fromia ... I saw him perched on a couple of Acans and consumed them). PM me for details, but you are welcome to have them

 

[DaveK]

... & ended up having to use API algae fix. ...

That is the crux of your problem. You killed off one problem algae, so another moved right in.

This is why I don't recommend using such products. I've posted this before, but not for awhile. It's the things to do for algae control. I'm afraid your starting all over again from scratch, since your original problem was not really solved, only masked.

DaveK's Standard Lecture #2 - Algae Control

Algae control comes down to controlling nitrates and phosphates. If you have a problem with algae it is because these two nutrients are out of control. Do not think that just because your test kits read zero or low values that you do not have a problem. In many cases the algae is removing the nutrients and growing. This is why there is a problem.

Here are possible sources of nitrates and phosphates -

Feeding, especially flake food and not rinsing frozen foods before feeding.
Using tap water to mix salt. Always use RO/DI water for this.
"Dirt traps" and "nitrate factories" in the system.
Low quality carbon can leach nutrients.
Low quality salt can sometimes add nutrients. This is unusual today.
Livestock load on the system

Here are possible ways to remove nitrates and phosphates -

Water changes. Change 1/2 the water and you reduce the nutrients by 1/2.
Skimming. Remove the waste products before the biological filtration need to break then down.
Nitrate and phosphate removal products.
Deep sand beds.
Refugiums.
Algae Scrubbers.

Each of these has advantages and disadvantages. Most people that control algae well use many of the above methods.

There are also other items that can effect algae growth rates.

Good clean up crew.
Other livestock that eats algae.
Low general water quality, especially when the readings are off.
Lighting, sometimes you can reduce it, especially in FO or FOWLR systems.
Old light bulbs. Colors change as they age and this can be a factor.
Water flow. More flow will often help keep algae down.
Manual removal. Very important, especially when there is a big problem.