Could not using a skimmer have anything to do with out of control cyanobacteria?

jeff903

jeff903

Member
I didn't think it was that drastic to use a protein skimmer. I am having a horrible time trying to get rid of this cyanobacteria. I have been fighting this battle for about a year now and am about ready to dismantle my tank and get rid of it!! I haven't really been able to enjoy my tank because of this constant problem. I am not sure what is left to do. Someone, anyone please help me!
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
Probably not.
What causes cyano blooms like you have can be grouped into 3 problems well 4.....
1)Water quality. Are you using ro water or tap?
2)Lights. How old are your bulbs, how long are they one?
3)Feeding. If you over feed you just provide nutrients for the blooms. Overfeeding is very easy to do and is a culprit for poor water quality as well.
4)Clean up crew(invertebrets). Do you have one?
We need water parameters particularly salinity, ph, phosphates, and nitrates as well as asnwers to the questions above. Also how often do you do water changes and clean your filters?
 
jeff903

jeff903

Member
OK,
Here it goes.....hopefully you can help me.
1) Water Quality
only RO water used
2) Lights
change lights consistently on time. every 6 to 7 months. 2 vho's 110 watts each. They are on for about 8 hrs a day. recently tried having bulbs off for 3 days straight. Mostly all cyano went away. as soon as I turned the lights back on, it came back within 2 days.
3) Feeding
I feed my fish a quarter of a frozen cube (san francisco bay brand) about once every 2 to 3 days...never used to. practically starving the fish, probably won't feed them today.
4) Clean Up Crew
I have about 8 turbo snails, 4 scarlet reef hermits and about 15 blue leg hermits, and 2 cleaner shrimps
Water Parameters
salinity 1.022-1.023
ph 8.0-8.1
phosphates 0
nitrates about 5ppm
do water changed about once every week to 2 weeks of about 5 gallons which is about 10%. Ever since the cyano I have been doing water changes often to try to get rid of it (incase you're wondering) and about once a month I change the filter pads in my wet/dry and replace the carbon.
Thanks Jeff
 
jeff903

jeff903

Member
dburr,
I think you helped me with a mantis I had a while back, Thanks btw. My flow is 600 gph from my filter plus an aquaclear 402 which is 270 gph which equals 870 gph which is 15 times the tank volume per hour! Shoudl I add more movement?
 
timo

timo

Member
Try ChemiClean made by Boyd. In this instance, I recommend chemicals. Be sure to follow the instructions, and also turn off the skimmer for 3 days. Do the water change on the second day, and I'm sure you'll see results.
The algae has the phos and nitrate locked, so a test often will not detect high levels, when, indeed they are there. Confusing, perhaps, but true.
Try removing as much as you can with a scraper for the glass, and with dexterity, follow a net in the wake. Also a toothbrush may be used on rock. Get as much up with a net. Clean filter pads often in the sink during the process.
HTH
 
S

sebae0

Guest
maybe one other question is how old is your ro unit? have you tested the water out of the ro unit b4 it goes into the tank for po4? maybe some is getting thru and when you test the tank the algae has already consumed it? also is any direct sunlight hitting the tank? i had no cyano in the winter but come summer i would get a bloom, my queen conch pretty much handled it but now that winter is coming back it has all gone away, very strange.
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
Wow..... You got me there. In this case a skimmer may help. You do have a fairly large tank. Do you have any corals in it? Skimmers do pull out organics that are in the water and will help draw out nutrients that the cyano may feed on. Thats my guess.
Your water flow is kind of low. Although you have adequate aeration of the water you need more general movement in the tank I would suggest turning your powerhead you have now to the front of the glass on one side and get another power head and do the same on the other. And maybe one more just blowing across the back. 55 gallon tanks (what it looks like you have) are so long yet narrow its hard to get good water flow through them with just one power head and a HOB filter. Case in point. I have 2 power heads a mechfilter and a skimmer on my 20. I've got my water turning over in some fashion at least 20 times if not 25 but i also have everything positioned so that there is some sort of flow everywhere throughout the tank. You can watch particles flow through the tank and not settle down for some time. Same thing with my 12 gallon. I've watched things float in a circle in my tank at leat 5 times and show no signs of settleing down. My guess is thats whats leading to the cyano being able to root and then spread with the little current there is.
You may also want to try cerith or nassarius snails. They will go through your sand some and shift it around so that the cyano can't form the blanket that it does right now. Get at least 10.
My guess is that your cleanup crew is understaffed some. Oh, make sure you pick up some extra empty shells for the hermits. They may start murdering the new guys :) for their shell.
BTW how many fish are in there?
Chemiclean is also another option as someone else said. It gets rid of cyano but im not sure if its invert safe. I wouldn't change anything else you are doing. You are doing everything correctly as it is. Try what i said first. Then the chemiclean. And if those fail then you may just want to rip the tank down and start over. Problem is doing that incurs another fresh cycle which may kill things.... There's more to it than that but thats the jist of doing a break down.
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
To add on also when you implement those changes do stir up the cyano as much as possible and get it out with nets and by cleaning your filter pads a couple times a day after stiring things up.
 
jeff903

jeff903

Member
I have cyphoned the cyano about three times along with taking all the rock out and scrubbing it with a brush. All three times the tank looks awesome when I'm finished, but after about a week it all grows back. The only thing that I can think of that could be the problem is the live sand that I used for this tank. It came from another tank I had set up and it had sat in buckets with tankwater for about 3-4 months before I used it again in this new one. It smelled like crap when I opened the buckets so I waited until it stopped smelling but I think that might have something to do with it. I've noticed that looking at the tank up close, I never see pods on the sand bed or in the holes in my live rock like I used to in my other tank. Anyone have any thoughts?
 
chevman3171

chevman3171

Member
Check your filter - Maybe they're pulling a "GILL" :D They're trying to escape! Don't put them in bags!
Leave me alone, I just watched Finding Nemo again!
 
bdhough

bdhough

Active Member
The smelling like crap was the dead sand. Everything that was alive in the sand died and rotted. It has no bearing on this unless it was crushed coral. Which traps waste and becomes a nitrate factory after a while in salt tanks. You need more water flow in the tank so look into getting another power head for the other side of your tank... If you do have crushed coral try replacing it with araganite which is smaller and does not harbor waste like crushed coral does. And get some cerith snails :)
 
fshhub

fshhub

Active Member
MO
add skimmer, the nitrate reading you are getting is probably that low, only bc you have the algae, skimmming may help to starve it
add more snails and 2 fighting conchs
use RODI water
AND get more powerheads(2 or 3), more circulaiton will only help, and although your numbers are in the general area, quatity is almost as good as quality here. You need an adequate amount of source to cover all areas AS WELL AS the right gph going on
 
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