Newbie here

[TonyW121]

Hello all. Im somewhat new to saltwater tanks. I currently have a 20L sw that Ive had going for about 2-3 months now. Having a cyano problem right now and its driving me nuts. Any advice on getting rid of it without having to dose the tank with anything would be awesome. I havnt had a chance to scrub the threads here for advice.

The occupants of the sw are a scooter blenny, a firefish, a blue damsel, and a coral banded shrimp. My other tanks are a 55 freshwater with 3 blue gouramis, 3 rosy red minnows, 9 tiger barbs, i think 8 pineapple swordails, and a pleco thats about 7", another 20L with a 2 firebelly toads, 2 firebelly newts, and 2 pineapple swordtails (probably gonna add the swordtails to the 55 soon).

Oh btw Im in the Phoenix area.. Surprise to be exact.

 

[mr X]

cyano is a byproduct of excessive nutrients. regular waterchanges with good source water (R.O.D.I.), while vacuuming as much out as you can with each change, along with lowering the amount of nutrients you are adding (cut back on feeding) is your answer.

you can also increase the flow in the tank a bit to try and prevent it from taking hold to the surfaces.

removal won't happen overnight. be patient.

 

[BigAl07]

Ditto to mr_X.

Manual removal (daily if not more) while implementing the long term changes will go a long way to defeating this bacteria. Whatever you do don't resort to chemical/medicine attacks on this as you'll likely also negatively impact your GOOD bacteria in the tank. It takes time to get beyond but many of us (yes US) have battled and won it.

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

to ReefSanctuary, a real Sanctuary of reef forums, with lots of very nice members

 

[caitrina]

Welcome to RS. Glad to have you here, jump right in the water has been tested!!! What Al and Mr X said.....

 

[sneaks03]

Ditto on Al and X, fought a little bit of this after my tank finished the cycle and I added more LR.

 

[TonyW121]

Thank you Mr X, Big Al, and everyone else. Ive been trying to do water changes weekly if not twice a week. This week Ive kinda slacked a little on doing it so Im gonna have to do it tomorrow after I get off of work. Ive been cutting back on feedings, now just waiting to see if that helps any.

Hopefully Ill be picking up a 90gal this weekend. Then the process of gathering all the equipment to get it set up.

 

[TonyW121]

Thank you Mr X, Big Al, and everyone else. Ive been trying to do water changes weekly if not twice a week. This week Ive kinda slacked a little on doing it so Im gonna have to do it tomorrow after I get off of work. Ive been cutting back on feedings, now just waiting to see if that helps any.

Hopefully Ill be picking up a 90gal this weekend. Then the process of gathering all the equipment to get it set up.

 

[WatchinFish]

:welcomera youl do fine as long as you dont get ahead of yourself. take your time. its a slow hoby with tuns of rewards and its fair amout of frustrating moments. dont forget to pull out as much of the algae as you posibly can and buying a clean up crew would help.
about feeding, in his book "setup and care of slatwater aquariums" david boruchowtz explains how a fishes stomach is about the size of its eye. if not smaller. you should be feeding them about half the size of there stomachs worth of food each day. if you think about it its a tiny amout, but im sure the limited feeding will help with the algae problem.
Good luck and happy reefing.:swmfish:

 

[TonyW121]

My current cuc is made up of about a dozen hermits (some red legs, blue legs, and im not positive what the others are) and about 20 snails. I also have 3 nassarius snails.

 

[RaysReef]

Welcome Tony...