Dang Red Algae...o

[otherunderbrink]

I need some input from you fine folks about controlling this Dang red algae! I am sick of using a turkey baster to clean 8 sq ft of sand every 4 days! The stuff is growing on the sand mainly, there is a little on the rock but not much at all. All my water parameters are good, nitrates are at 20. I am at the end of my rope. I feel like I have tried everything, snails, crabs, I even got a sea hare! I feel like my flow is good, anymore flow and I would.be.blowing sand everywhere. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Sounds like you have a cyanobacteria problem. Here's an article I typed up that will give you some information on how to combat it.
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/388801/snakes-method-for-cyanobacteria-treatment

 

[otherunderbrink]

I KNOW I have a cyano problem! LOL!

 

[snakeblitz33]

Did I say something wrong?

 

[underbrink1017]

No! Not at all!!! What he meant was we know that it is a problem because we have already tried the turkey baster for a few weeks and sit keeps coming back. Do sea hares help any or do they tend to eat other things first?

 

[snakeblitz33]

In my experience, sea hares are only good for green filamentous algaes. Cyano is better delt with by siphoning it out, adding additional flow to the tank, decreasing your lighting and water changes. Overskimming and an algae scrubber would help as well. Blowing it off the rocks with a turkey baster just spreads it around more. What you need to do is siphon it out. Stir it up and then do a water change, keep going at it.
Once it's starting to go away some, and is more under control, you can start to consider using a red slime remover. If you have a lot of cyano in the tank and you use the red slime remover, it will crash your tank. You need to get it under control before using the product.
Cyano is usually caused by three things: Lack of flow, Too much lighting, too much nutrients. Turn the lights down, add another powerhead, and feed less. Water changes - and you should start seeing it go away.
Once it goes away, I HIGHLY recommend using an algae scrubber to keep your nitrate and phosphate under control.

 

[otherunderbrink]

Thanks a bunch for all the info! We will keep plugging away! Any tips on siphonning the sand? I have been sucking it up with a baster, that is a real pain! There must be another way...

 

[snakeblitz33]

Airline tubing somewhat works. Turkey baster works some. The main thing is adding additional flow to the tank. It stirrs it up some that your filtration can catch it. Then replace your filters. Once you stir it up a lot, you need to do a water change and use an airline tube to siphon most of it out at a time. It takes a little while to get rid of cyano - it's not something that can be cured naturally overnight. Using a product/antibiotic is not the best thing to do, when there are much better, more natural ways of dealing with it.
EXTRA FLOW, or change your powerheads around. Keep washing your filters after it gets stirred. Siphoning with airlines and turkey basters (watch your salinity!!!) decrease your photoillumination period and feed less. You'll eventually get it.

 

[otherunderbrink]

Our CUC consists of
Queen conch
Brittle star
2 cleaner clams
Peppermint shrimp
Skunk cleaner shrimp
3 big nassarius snails
Sea hare
Pencil urchin
Pincushion urchin
2 emerald crabs
Arrow crab
10 margarita snails
15 or so turbo snails
15 or so assorted hermits
The margarita snails, sea hare and conch were just added this week. Is there anything else we should add to the CUC?

 

[snakeblitz33]

Are you sure your margarita snails are still alive?
I particularly enjoy nassarius snails. They turn over the sand bed quite a bit and keep things pretty clean.
In my experience, it usually doesn't matter how much of a clean up crew you have when you are dealing with a cyanobacteria problem. Cyano usually has to be taken care of with good husbandry practices. IE water changes, changing light bulbs, limiting photoillumination period, increasing flow rates, decreasing feedings, siphoning it out, etc.
In my 20g tank I only have one astrea snail, one nassarius snail and two hermits. Then again, I don't have that much of a bioload yet either. My algae scruber pretty much takes care of everything.

 

[otherunderbrink]

Yeah they are alive... They are good on hard surfaces but no bueno on sand. Why do you ask?

 

[snakeblitz33]

Margarita snails are a cold water species of snail. Usually, over time, they will die. Some take longer than others, but they still don't fare as well in home aquaria as astrea snails, nassarius vibex, or Mexican turbos. In the past, when I tried them, they died in a matter of weeks. After that, I never bothered with them again unless I was setting up a cold water tank.

 

[otherunderbrink]

Snake, do you think an algae scrubber would help with this. All the parameters are good on the tank, just wondering if that would help...

 

[snakeblitz33]

No offense. I don't want you to take my comments as being rude, sarcastic, or insensitive in any way...
I know for a fact that your water parameters are not "good" because of the presence of cyanobacteria in your tank. If your test kits are reading zero nitrate and zero phosphate, you should check the date they were made, and check it against another accurate test kit. Often, API test kits are inaccurate, either stating nitrate and phosphate are through the roof or non-existent. The same can happen with other old test kits. I hope this helps.
An algae scrubber would help with your tank, sure. But, for a few weeks it would grow nothing but cyanobacteria on the screen. If you can get it seeded with some hair algae it may start making a big difference. I highly recommend using an algae scrubber anyway on any tank, because of the ability of hair algae to suck nutrients out of the water column. That's basically what you need right now - very clean water.
Here is what I would do if I didn't have any corals in the tank at all:
1. Build an algae scrubber and get it running for 2 weeks so that the screen can get well seeded.
2. Turn off your lights on your display tank completely for two to four weeks. I know it's very difficult to do this step! I love watching my fish, but when correcting a problem, it's better to take a time out for a short period, then dealing with it long term.
3. Add additional flow to the tank, or change your powerheads around to blow onto the cyano to get it stirring around.
4. Change out your filters and run carbon in the system. Dying cyano can release toxins in the water column. Using some carbon in the system will help neutralize it.
5. Do a 50% water change at week 2. Siphon out as much cyano as you can. Wash your filters.
6. Clean your algae scrubber screen every 3 to 5 days. The screen will be red with some green. Once you get some green growth, increase your water flow rate down the screen. This will kind of slough off some of the cyano and get hair algae to start growing.
7. Do another 50% water change at the end of week 4. You will see a lot of the cyano die off over this entire period.
Check out my "Snake's Methods for basic husbandry" thread for additional information. You can also find some algae scrubber basics and how to build a simple in-sump algae scrubber in my Snake's Methods for Algae Scrubber Basics thread. If you can't find it, I'll link it to you.

 

[snakeblitz33]

This thread is a list of the different articles that I have written that you may find helpful: https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/388776/snakes-methods
Here's the two links on the algae scrubber that you might find useful:
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/388857/snakes-method-for-building-an-algae-scrubber
https://forums.saltwaterfish.com/t/388858/snakes-method-for-algae-scrubber-basics

 

[otherunderbrink]

Well we got it under control! We did a little water change, 15 gallons, and cu back thee lighing schedule a little and it is almost gone! Sorry no pictures. I can't figure out how to post them from my phone. It's an HTC EVO. Anyone know how to do that?