Calcium Dosing/Coraline Algae..

meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by Oceansidefish
http:///forum/post/3023236
YES!!!! When I do a water change I don't even get close to my sand....In fact i just use a pitcher to get out water
I hate to disagree with someone, BUT...I have been battling cyano too, and when I do my w/c's I have been using a siphon to siphon the cyano off the sand....This is not what is spreading the cyano....When siphoning the sand BE SURE NOT TO stir the sand, I am able to siphon and not release a LOT of junk into the water, but I am also ridding the tank of some cyano.
After siphoning the top of the sand, then put your pump into the water to remove the rest of your w/c water...this will also help to remove some of what has been stirred up....
CYANO is cause by many things....low flow, too much nutrients, etc....
IMO siphoning the cyano OUT is a +
 
oceansidefish

oceansidefish

Active Member
Getting cyano out YES is a + but stirring up a bunch of stuff from the bottom of the sand bed IMO will cause a nutrient bloom....I have a DSB and would never think of touching it....Alot would depend on the depth of the bed as well. I say anything over an inch if the bottom is stirred up could cause problems. You only want to siphon off the surface.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Originally Posted by Oceansidefish
http:///forum/post/3023248
Getting cyano out YES is a + but stirring up a bunch of stuff from the bottom of the sand bed IMO will cause a nutrient bloom....I have a DSB and would never think of touching it....Alot would depend on the depth of the bed as well. I say anything over an inch if the bottom is stirred up could cause problems. You only want to siphon off the surface.
YUP...that is why I said ..
When siphoning the sand BE SURE NOT TO stir the sand
 
mindy2577

mindy2577

Member
Well I feel like it is 3 different things that could have possibly brought it on in my tank.
1. Not enough flow
2. Adding Amino Acid
3. Stirring up my sand using the siphon. And also when I tried getting the Cyano out with my net.
Now for my Nitrate problem - I keep trying to figure at where that is coming from. I can say that I have had my Nitrates stay at 40 about two months now. And I still can't figure out why. I am using RO water, doing weekly 20-30% water changes, cleaning out my filter/pads and still have no idea where its coming from.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Why don't you have any snails? You can get some cerith snails, and nassarius sanils, and they will help keep the sand bed clean....
Have you tested your phosphtes?
Do you rinse your frozen food?
 
oceansidefish

oceansidefish

Active Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3023264
IT CAN be done...I have been doing it weekly with this cyano issue....Just move the siphon slowly

I totoally agree Meowzer... Just be carefull. Personally when I had cyano I just used a regular turkey baster
 
mindy2577

mindy2577

Member
Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3023282
Why don't you have any snails? You can get some cerith snails, and nassarius sanils, and they will help keep the sand bed clean....
Have you tested your phosphtes?
Do you rinse your frozen food?
I have some snails. But they mostly stay on the glass and for the life of me I can't remember what kind they are.
No I have not tested for phosphates yet. I didn't get a chance to go to the lfs.
No. Its the mysis shrimp cubes. I wouldn't know how to go about doing that.
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
Stirring shallow sand bed isn't bad, stirring a deep sand bed can mean death to your tank. As long as your sandbed is less than two inches you can stir it in fact with coarse substrates like crushed coral this is the only way to keep nutrients from getting trapped in the substrate. Its alot of work to do this every time you do a water change though, I much prefer to let the microfauna and snails clean my sand bed. I run a DSB and haven't touched it in years and it still looks the same as the day I poured the sand in, I've had bouts with cyano but increased flow and monitoring my feeding practices have solved that issue along with the addition of a refugium.
Nitrate has to come from somewhere and the number one cause is usually overfeeding.
 
mindy2577

mindy2577

Member
I have moved my feeding from every other day to every 3 days. And I am still feeding half a cube of mysis shrimp. And they eat it pretty fast. And I don't feel like I am over-feeding them.
 
natclanwy

natclanwy

Active Member
If you were overfeeding before it will take a few weeks for you tank to catch up and process all of the accumulated waste and start dropping the nitrates.
 
aquarium125g

aquarium125g

Member
thats same algae got my tank 10 months ago, i used a product called ultralife red slime remover and i started usung rodi water.
i think your problem is the top off water, you have no skimmer plus you need more flow.
 
aquarium125g

aquarium125g

Member
Originally Posted by natclanwy
http:///forum/post/3023482
Stirring shallow sand bed isn't bad, stirring a deep sand bed can mean death to your tank. As long as your sandbed is less than two inches you can stir it in fact with coarse substrates like crushed coral this is the only way to keep nutrients from getting trapped in the substrate. Its alot of work to do this every time you do a water change though, I much prefer to let the microfauna and snails clean my sand bed. I run a DSB and haven't touched it in years and it still looks the same as the day I poured the sand in, I've had bouts with cyano but increased flow and monitoring my feeding practices have solved that issue along with the addition of a refugium.
Nitrate has to come from somewhere and the number one cause is usually overfeeding.
i have to agree on the refugium, in my opinion the are the best filter
 
oceansidefish

oceansidefish

Active Member
I generally don't recommend using any products in your tank... This is one thing that can definately be rid of the natural way... I would consider switching to a high quality pellet food for at least a few weeks. That coupled with water changes twice a week with RO salt water should take care of it.
 
mindy2577

mindy2577

Member
SO....CYANO GONE!! WHOO HOO!!

I didn't want to actually say it because I was afraid it would come right back!
But I do have a problem still. When the cyano issues came up, I was also getting hair algae. I have increased my flow with 2 nano powerheads because it was the biggest one i could fit into my tank with all of the liverock. I am still using a turkey baster and cleaning the glass before i do a water change but it just won't go away. Does anyone have any suggestions about getting rid of it?
 
rbcjoker

rbcjoker

Member
I USED to have a problem with hair algae. I bought new powerheads, cut the time the light was on by a couple of hours, and picked up a handfull of snails and crabs, and it was gone in days. That was months ago, and I haven't seen it since. I've even been able to creep up the time that the light is on closer to it's original setting.
 
brokendeck

brokendeck

Active Member
If your tank is new your Mandarin Dragonet will not live from what i am told. That fish needs a well est. tank!
 
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