Diatoms and Cyano again

donniea1800

New Member
Hello,
I currently have a 50 gallon FOWLR tank that is about 6 months old. I initially went through the diatom, followed by green algae, and followed by cyano stages. I kept up my maintenance and everything cleared up and was looking great. Within the last week I have been getting diatoms and some cyano on the sand again.
. The only thing that has changed is recently i added some new live sand and a couple pieces of live rock. Could the sand and rock have fueled the diatoms and cyano? I assume if this is the case it should clear up on its own.
50 gallon FOWLR
skimmer
HOB filter
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrite - 0.0
PH - 8.2
Nitrate - 0.0 - 0.1
Salinity - 1.024
Temp - 80 degrees
Stock:
1-coral beauty
1-ocellaris clownfish
1-six line wrasse
1-green coris wrasse
1-pink spot goby
1-bicolor blenny
1-midas blenny
Inverts:
-various snails and hermits
-2 cleaner shrimp
-pistol shrimp
-brittle star
Thanks!
 

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Kill the lights and stop adding food and see if it clears up.
then resume with less lighting and feeding so it stays away.
I would also add macro algaes or an algae truf scrubber to help starve out the uglies.
my .02
 

donniea1800

New Member
Ok. Thank you. By the way waht do you think of my current stock? Am I overstocked or at my limit? I dont plan to add anything else.
 

beaslbob

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by donniea1800 http:///t/395447/diatoms-and-cyano-again#post_3520694
Ok. Thank you. By the way waht do you think of my current stock? Am I overstocked or at my limit? I dont plan to add anything else.
Sounds good to me.
my old 55g had more and larger fish. but most would say you're at least at your limit. but then I also had an in tank refugium to balance out and stabilize operations.
my .02
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
New sand can cause some new diatom issues, since some live sands have a certain amount of silicate available for use. Cyano, though, is a flow and nutrient problem. There's too much detritus building up in areas. Add a little extra flow, kill your lights for a few days, stir the sandbed when you do a couple large water changes. If you have a sump, add some macroalgae. If you don't have a protein skimmer, add one to your system.
Then again, usually once a cyano problem get a hold, there's very little you can do to make it go away. I've had to add red slime remover to my tank just once - and it hasn't come back again,... because I added more flow, added macroalgae, and did a couple large water changes after treating the tank.
Good luck!
 
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