RSM250 Cyano outbreak?

Eastpatchwino

New Member
Hi all,
New to the thread. Having problems in my tank. Thought it was a Cyano outbreak. Parameters are fine. Have the 2 tank powerbeads and added two more. Treated with the recommended dosage of Ultra Life Red Slime Remover, but it didn't work. Any ideas?

 

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
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to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

Start a tank thread & share your tank with us so we can follow along, we love pics

looks like cyano to me... when I get some, it is almost always related to excess nutrients - I increase water changes frequencies & % along with cutting back on feeding

might also make sure you have a hardy number of snails... I could be missing them, but don't see many in the vid

see what others advise...
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
Yes, it looks like a cyano outbreak to me. Using a product like Ultra Life Red Slime Remover is generally a mistake. While it can work, if you don't solve the underlying problem all you will do is kill off one nuisance algae and it will be replaced with another nuisance algae.

Statements like "Parameters are fine." do not convey any information. We don't know what you tested or what your readings are. What you think is ok might indicate a problem for someone to.

You system might possibly be overstocked. An RSM 250 only holds about 65 gal of water and this gets reduced when you add live rock and a sand bed. I noticed two hipo tangs in there. Tangs are big dirty fish, and likely contributing to your problem. I'm not trying to play "tang police" but this fish should have about a 150 gal tank for one of them. Consider returning them to you LFS.

While we are on problems, I also saw that you has some asterina starfish. These are generally considered a nuisance creature and should be removed.

I have posted this before, but it is applicable to your problem. The main one I would suspect is over feeding, but check everything else too.

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.
 

saintsreturn

Well-Known Member
Well Dave covered it all so I will just second that. Snails can die off from cyno so be aware they should watched when you have an outbreak. Cut back on the feeding and how long/ what intensity are your lights set at?


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StevesLEDs

RS Sponsor
Sounds like it could be old bulbs to me. The older the T5, the more red light is created as the phosphor in the bulb degrades. Nuisance algae has primary photosynthetic absorption peak, at 460nm....which just happens to be the color red.

I've seen people put red LEDs in their otherwise pristine aquariums, and days later they now have algae issues, particularly cyanoalgae exacerbations. Removing the red LEDs resolved the outbreak.

Not saying this is the issue, but could be one of many possible causes.

Jeff
 

Choff

Well-Known Member
I've been having a minor clash with cyano for quite some time. I've looked at all the usual suspects as listed above without any improvements. I've recently been doing a lot of reading about peroxide dosing to battle it. I'm not wild about direct dosing , so I went with a sochting oxydator which is essentially a peroxide doser. They are not real big here in the states, but apparently much more common across the pond. Mine has been running for only a couple of days, but will post any progress on my thread.

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