Can someone confirm if this is cyano or not please? pics

[minordetails]

Hi, haven't posted here in a while, and I need to become more active so I can take better care of my tank! We have a love hate relationship sometimes
Anyway, I'm trying to deal with major algae issues. I think I have cyanobacteria (hoping its not the dino? stuff I read somewhere). I also have tons of this long brown/greenish algae. Can anyone help confirm what it is so I can make a plan to get rid of it?
I have T5 lights about a year old, a refugium/sump below w/SWC Xtreme 160 cone filter. It's a 90 gal tank (prob 10gals in the sump or so), moved from a 55 about maybe 9 months ago or something. The 55 had been set up for about 5 years but with no sump or anything. 3 hydor koralias (2 at 1400gph, 1 smaller).
As for inhabitants I have 2 ocellaris clowns, 2 chromis, 1 scooter blenny, 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 coral banded, 1 orange star, 1 brittle star (big guy), 1 serpent star, 1 sally lightfoot crab, probably 10 - 15 mixed hermits (red, blue, green, white legs), about 5 turbo/astrea snails, lots of nerite snails, possibly other small things I'm forgetting. Also I have some mushrooms and zoas (who don't like the algae of course), and trumpet coral.
I just realized my test kit was reeealllly old so I don't have water params right now. (anyone suggest a nice test kit, not too expensive?). I'm going to run a sample out to the lfs (I hope petsmart does a good test).
I buy my water at a store, hoping to get a RO/DI setup in a month or two.
Also, is it possible to have too much rock in the tank? I don't know how many pounds I have but it seems like it is possibly a lot, not much sand space.
Anyway, longish post, I just love my tank and want to get rid of the algae so I can add a little more stock and enjoy the zoas and stuff and everyone's happy! My first plan was to turn the lights off for about 5 days (which I read in another thread), will this help with all the algae or just the cyano, if that's what it is.
Thanks in advance, I really appreciate any help.

 

[meowzer]

YIKES.......looks like you have cyano and a bad case of hair algae.....
you definitely need to get a test kit asap...you can get the api master kit for now...and a phosphate test would be great too
your lights need to be changed....water changes need to be done
what are you feeding and how much?
are those the only 2 powerheads you have? need to check on your circulation
start siphoning the cyano out with a turkey baster immediately...and the hair alge you need to begin manual removal....pluck as much as you can

 

[drew2005]

Doesnt look like the cyano i have. Looks like some kind of hair algae. Have you tested to water you buy from the store? Is it ro water?
For test kits there are mixed opinions. I peronally use salifert. They are pricey and have been known to give off numbers but ive had pretty good success using them. Doesnt hurt to use more than one brand though just to compare readings.
Your rock work seems fine. Doesnt look like you have alot in there where it looks crowded. You could probably add more
You could definitely add to your cleanup crew. More astrea snails, maybe some nassarius snails and some more hermits. That will help control some of the algae. Do your hermits or snails eat any of the algae? Does the algae easily blow off the rocks if you hit it with a powerhead?

 

[minordetails]

Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///t/389966/can-someone-confirm-if-this-is-cyano-or-not-please-pics#post_3450150
YIKES.......looks like you have cyano and a bad case of hair algae.....
you definitely need to get a test kit asap...you can get the api master kit for now...and a phosphate test would be great too
your lights need to be changed....water changes need to be done
what are you feeding and how much?
are those the only 2 powerheads you have? need to check on your circulation
start siphoning the cyano out with a turkey baster immediately...and the hair alge you need to begin manual removal....pluck as much as you can
Yeah its a mess. I just did a water change today (these were right before I did a water change). I did 10 gallons this time and 10 gallons last weekend. Is that enough or should I do more?
I was afraid on the lights, I think I read 18 months when I bought them but 12 seems to be more like it I guess.
I just feed flakes once a day. I drop some sinking shrimp pellets in about 2 times a week which all get eaten right away by shrimp and starfish and snails.
There are 3 powerheads, one is on the near side of the 2nd picture down, plus the return from the sump. I was thinking about getting one more koralia though. I just don't know where to put them all.
Yeah the hair algae is tough, it breaks and little bits stick to the rock! But I'll keep pulling it out as much as I can.

 

[minordetails]

Quote:
Originally Posted by drew2005 http:///t/389966/can-someone-confirm-if-this-is-cyano-or-not-please-pics#post_3450153
Doesnt look like the cyano i have. Looks like some kind of hair algae. Have you tested to water you buy from the store? Is it ro water?
For test kits there are mixed opinions. I peronally use salifert. They are pricey and have been known to give off numbers but ive had pretty good success using them. Doesnt hurt to use more than one brand though just to compare readings.
Your rock work seems fine. Doesnt look like you have alot in there where it looks crowded. You could probably add more
You could definitely add to your cleanup crew. More astrea snails, maybe some nassarius snails and some more hermits. That will help control some of the algae. Do your hermits or snails eat any of the algae? Does the algae easily blow off the rocks if you hit it with a powerhead?
No I've never tested the store's water, how do I test it? It is from a store that sells water equipment (water softeners, drinking water setups etc.).
I'll get a kit asap and test everything I can.
For the rock, cool, I have some extra, I actually took some out because I thought it might be too crowded. I can add more once I figure things out.
Yeah I was thinking more cleanup crew too. I don't notice them specifically eating the algae. They graze all day from rock to rock but there aren't like paths of cleared algae (except on the glass sometimes). The sallie lightfoot is always grazing on the rocks. It blows off with a powerhead some, but parts always stick to the rock, its hard to get it all off.
Do you guys think turning off the lights for a few days will help? Would it hurt the zoas, trumpet coral or shrooms?

 

[meowzer]

turning the lights out will not hurt.....BUT...you have to make some other changes too
get rid of flake food and pellets...they are really no better then potato chips, get some frozen mysis, marine cuisine, emerald entree e tc
You need to do larger water changes and more frequent......definitely siphon the sand constantly......ALSO MUST HAVE water parameters....T5 lights should be changed 10 months -12

 

[drew2005]

You should test the water your getting just to be sure there isnt any phosphates or nitrates and that you are getting ro water. You can never be too cautious. Maybe they need to change their filters.
Turning off the lights will help with the cyano but i think the hair algae is a result of phosphate and/or nitrates. Cut back on feeding to every other day. Try cutting back on lighting time as well. Flakes do contain phosphate and the sinking pellets do as well. 10 gallons weekly water changes is ok. 10% weekly is usually normal. However larger changes are needed at this stage
Next water change i would clean out the powerhead impellers to be sure your getting max flow rate from them. Definitely change out your bulbs. Typically 9-11 months is a good range to change them out.

 

[snakeblitz33]

A TDS meter would be better to test RO water than actual freshwater test kits.
If you don't do anything now, eventually your corals will be overrun and killed by the algae.
The quickest, simplest and easiest thing to do is to get yourself a phosphate reactor with the media and a small pump. Then, hook everything up and put in 5x more media than what is recommended (nothing wrong with this, even says it on the bottle) The reactor is like $32, the media is $14, a pump for it you may have - or you could buy one for $11 and some vinyl tubing $1.25.
Once the reactor is up and running, turn off your lights completely for 5 days, and then run them only for 2 hours a day for the next week and then add two hours every week there after. The purpose of darkening the tank is that it makes the algae loose and weak. Once the algae dies, it releases nitrates and phosphates back into the water. But, if you have that phosban reactor up and going, it will absorb the phosphate from your water and prevent the algae from growing again.
For the cyanobacteria, add a little extra flow with a powerhead and use a turkey baster to blast off all of your rocks of all the detritus and then do a water change. Then, once everything is waterborne, add chemi-clean to your water and follow the instructions to the letter. There is a mandatory 50% water change the following day after treatment. It should clear up a whole lot after that, and as long as you practice good husbandry skills and aquarium maintenance, it shouldn't come back.
BTW, get rid of those foods you have and feed frozen foods. They are expensive in the store, but you don't need to feed a whole lot to feed your fish. If that's not an option, you can make your own home made fish food. There are a lot of good recipes out there.
Good luck!

 

[snakeblitz33]

Meowzer is absolutely right though, killing the lights is only half the equation, the other half is getting your water quality back up to par.

 

[minordetails]

Thanks everyone, this is great advice and I appreciate it!
I had my water tested, everything was great except my ph was 7.8 so I need to raise my ph some. They didn't test for phosphate though.
I'm planning to make an order for supplies in the next couple days and I'll get a test kit, new lights and maybe the phosphate reactor, I need to look into that more. I also went and bought frozen foods and I'll cut back to every other day. I'll do some extra water changes too and try turning out the lights once I get the reactor as you said SnakeBlitz.
Do you know off-hand if the chemi-clean is safe for corals, zoas and mushrooms?
Thanks again everyone, at least now I have a plan for attacking this mess.

 

[minordetails]

Ok, I've taken a lot of these steps to get rid of the algae, so far so good.
I got new ATI bulbs, actually got an ro/di unit, added a phosphate reactor, turned the lights off for 5 days, did a 15 gal water change (I know should probably have done more but that's all the water my ro/di made in the time that I got it to when I did the water change. I'll do weekly 10 or 15 gal changes from here), scrubbed as much algae as I can off, stirred up the sand (actually re-aquascaped while I was in there) and everything looks good. There is still very small amounts of the hair algae stuck to rocks and in between some zoas, not sure how I can get this out without hurting them.
I also got test kits, here are some parameters:
calcium: 480
ph: 8.1
total alk: 3
phosphate: .05
free and total ammonia: 0
nitrate: 0
nitrite: 0
iodide: 0 (I'm thinking I should dose this a bit)
silicate: 0
spec grav: 1.025
When should I change the phosban in the reactor? It's been running for nearly a week. I was surprised my calcium was as high as it is, I've never added anything and I thought a low calcium would contribute to a low ph. In other words, I was planning to dose to raise calcium in hopes of raising ph. Now I'm not sure what to do.
Some zoas are opening up great, others still haven't opened up at all. They definitely were not happy with the algae, hopefully they'll all open back up soon.
Any other thoughts would be much appreciated!

 

[travelerjp98]

Change the phosban every 3 months.