IDK tdog, do you really thing it's cyano? Doesn't look enough like a slime blanket to me. I do see some of the gas bubbles you are talking about on the rocks. Ms. Kitty, you know what cyano looks like, does it appear that you have that "look" (forget about color for a moment) on the rocks?
Again the picture of it on the sand looks too "powdery - loose - broken up" to me to be cyano. Ms. Kitty has the look changed since the picture?
On the light issue, it is interesting to note that this algae is confined to one part of the display, and that you have 3 MH lamps. Is this area under one particular area? Have all MH bulbs been changed at the same time? Is the one, if there is one, over the problem older than the others? Hee Hee so many questions, so few answers!!!!!!
Tdog does bring up a good point on lighting though, whether or not it is related to you issue aside, that we do need to keep a good maintenance schedule on the lighting. As the wavelength changes over time there are definitely different symptoms that present themselves, coral color changes, algae blooms etc.
I can only give you what I do here, I change my 150 MH bulbs out every 6 or 7 months. I have read conflicting information on the life of these bulbs. I think Sanjay did some work where the fastest changes especially in the violetblue spectrum happened in the first few months then changes were very slow after that. These of course leaves the yellowred spectrum burning away and guess what? Algae love that! Of course different bulbballast combinations had a bearing on the data but I believe that the outcome of his experiments were that they were not ready to come to a conclusion on when to replace a lamp due to all of the variables involved. However the data did seem to support a 6 - 12 month expected life.
The variables;
Lamp make
Ballast make
Time run per day (interesting that the difference between running 8 as opposed to 12 hours per day has a significant impact on lamp life)
The other thing to consider here is the effect on coral. As the lamp ages and loses spectrum the coral can and do adapt to some degree. This is why Tdog mentions the changing of the lamps and the method in doing so.
To me, my conclusion has been
[hr]
if 6 months can show spectrum changes that may be detrimental in terms of algae growth, and in the coral having to adapt to the lower violetblue spectrum and then having to readjust to higher light later I am changing my lamps to reduce the possibility of both of those things.
Originally Posted by meowzer
I have chaeto in the fuge....My light was bought in December....could I possible need bulbs already????
IMO yes.
Originally Posted by tdog7879
My suggestion would be WC and run your skimmer wet for a couple weeks and see if that helps. Also check your bulbs ,cut back on feeding and adding other supplement(vitachem). I did not read this thread in full depth but just feed your fish and back off feeding corals your light should be fine for them.
Tdog is right on here, cause we know Ms. Kitty that algae need nutrient and light!!!!!!
Phew, ramble ramble ramble.....................
It's funny cause I know in the past 10 months I have paid for a LOT more snail than I ever see..
