Flow problem? Have cyano

[clown-lover]

Well, I have a cyano problem now...boo!

I think it has to do with the flow in my tank. I have a 29 gallon biocube with stock pump. I want to get a Maxijet 900...but I didn't think I would need to upgrade until I got into corals. (I have a mushroom now...but not by choice.)
It seems to be a problem on the back side of the tank, as well as some on the oposite front corner of the tank. None on the rocks...yet...
Here's more info about my tank:
29 gallon biocube
stock lighting
stock pump
set up on 4-25-'10
runs with one bag of purigen and one half unit of chemipure
has LR rubble in the back where the bioballs used to be
ran w/o lights on until a few days ago when I got the one LR with coraline algae and small blue mushroom
now runs with moon lights at 9am to 10am, normal lights from about 10am to 8pm, moon lights from 8pm to 9pm.
have used distilled RO water from Walmart since day 1
use Oceanic salt
Water parameters are:
pH - 8.2
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20ppm
Calcium - 480
Temp - 76 F
(that's all the test kits I have)
I'm hoping not to have to add a display tank powerhead...just cause I wanted to keep the look clutter free. But if that's what I need to do to help flow, I will.
What other options do I have to help it from growing? Will plant life in the back fuge help?

 

[florida joe]

PM spanko he is the resident cyano expert

 

[flower]

Overfeeding and phosphates contribute as well. You need to check for dead spots. Get a stick and attach a thin piece of ribbon to one end. Move the stick around and see where you have good water flow, and if the ribbon goes limp, you have a dead spot..adjust the power heads until all areas of the tank have flow.
Get a phosphate test, run purigen or the like if you need to, remove as much cyano as you can with a turkey baster and mark it "for FISH ONLY" and water do changes. Be careful of how much you feed your critters.

 

[clown-lover]

Thanks.
Right now I don't feed the tank. I don't have any fish.
I'll do the ribbon test today and see about any dead spots. I did add a powerhead yesterday but I haven't taken any of the cyano spots out. When my hermit crab walks over it, he either cleans it, or he is just turning it over. Either way, it looks better after he leaves the area.
Right now the cyano isn't really bad, but I wanted to do what I could to catch it now before it got out of control.
Should I be doing a water change once a day until it goes away? Or how often would you recommend?

 

[meowzer]

what do you mean by "moonlights" run 9am-10am and 8pm-9pm? Do you mean actinics?????

 

[spanko]

Red Slime (Cyano Bacteria)
Cyano grows on top of nutrient rich areas of low flow. There are a number of things that need to be correct or possibly corrected to combat this without the use of chemical additives. The biggest thing is to get rid of the extra nutrients.
1.Evaluate your feeding. If you are feeding more than can be eaten in about 1-2 minutes it is too much and the remainder of it is falling to the rock and sand and becoming nutrient.
2.Evaluate your flow. If you have areas in the tank where there is little to no flow this can be corrected by adding power heads or repositioning the ones you already have. You don’t need to create sand storms just have water moving over the area to keep detritus suspended in the water column for removal by your filter – skimmer.
3.Evaluate your water changes. The solution to pollution is dilution! You want to continually remove unneeded nutrients as well as replace those things that are used by the system. 10% weekly is a good change schedule. Some do 20% every other week and some vary the schedule from there, but a good start is 10% per week.
4.Evaluate your lighting schedule. About 10 hours of daylight is all that is needed.
5.If you have a Cyano outbreak do the above 4 items and:
a.At water change time siphon off the Cyano first. It will come up easily almost like a blanket.
b.After siphoning stir the affected areas a little to suspend any detritus for the water change and filtering - skimming removal.
c.Use a turkey baster on the rockwork now and at every water change in the future to again suspend the detritus for removal by the water change and your filtering – skimming.
Keeping nutrient levels low to non-existent will help to avoid Cyano outbreaks and any algae outbreaks as well as keep your tank and you happy happy.
Hope that helps.

 

[blenny]

Would bad bulbs cause a Cyano outbreak as well or flow problem? im starting to have some of that and i do about a 25% water change weekly. In my Bio cube i changed the pump to a maxi jet 1200 which was better then the stock one, running a skimmer as well and 1 power sweep 214 powerhead on a 24 gal tank. the tank itself has been up for about 4 months now,
24 lbs of live rock anout a 2in sand bed 2 polyp corals no fish 4 blue leg crabs and 3 couch snails
parimeters are
Ammonia 0.00 ppm
nitrate 0.00 ppm
Ph 8.2
phos 0.00
salinity 1.025
no dosing or additives either
woundering if i need a seconed power head ?

 

[spanko]

Just as a reminder here, flow is not what makes the cyano go away, the cure so to speak. Flow prohibits nutrient from settling in an area, keeps it suspended for removal by the filtering system or as suspended food for the fish and coral.

 

[clown-lover]

Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3273293
Red Slime (Cyano Bacteria)
Cyano grows on top of nutrient rich areas of low flow. There are a number of things that need to be correct or possibly corrected to combat this without the use of chemical additives. The biggest thing is to get rid of the extra nutrients.
1.Evaluate your feeding. If you are feeding more than can be eaten in about 1-2 minutes it is too much and the remainder of it is falling to the rock and sand and becoming nutrient.
2.Evaluate your flow. If you have areas in the tank where there is little to no flow this can be corrected by adding power heads or repositioning the ones you already have. You don’t need to create sand storms just have water moving over the area to keep detritus suspended in the water column for removal by your filter – skimmer.
3.Evaluate your water changes. The solution to pollution is dilution! You want to continually remove unneeded nutrients as well as replace those things that are used by the system. 10% weekly is a good change schedule. Some do 20% every other week and some vary the schedule from there, but a good start is 10% per week.
4.Evaluate your lighting schedule. About 10 hours of daylight is all that is needed.
5.If you have a Cyano outbreak do the above 4 items and:
a.At water change time siphon off the Cyano first. It will come up easily almost like a blanket.
b.After siphoning stir the affected areas a little to suspend any detritus for the water change and filtering - skimming removal.
c.Use a turkey baster on the rockwork now and at every water change in the future to again suspend the detritus for removal by the water change and your filtering – skimming.
Keeping nutrient levels low to non-existent will help to avoid Cyano outbreaks and any algae outbreaks as well as keep your tank and you happy happy.
Hope that helps.

1. Before yesterday evening, I hadn't added anything to the tank that required me to feed it.
2. I did have areas that were not getting enough flow. I bought a Koralia 1 yesterday and installed it into the tank. I hope that helps with the flow problem. it seems to have good flow now.
3. Even though I haven't been feeding...I have been doing water changes. I do 3 gallons every time I do a WC. Which is 10%. I have done at least 1 WC every week (and 2 extra WC's, once when I added my snails and hermits, and once again yesterday when I added my clown). But basically, once a week (every Sunday) is a 10% WC.
4. Does 'daylight' include the blue lights? If so...then I guess I need to cut back on lighting. If not, then my tank is getting about 10 hours of 'daylight'. If you include the hour before and the hour after, of blue lights, then it is getting about 12 hours.
5. a. I tried to siphon it out, but all I did was stir up the sand. There isn't a 'blanket' of cyano on the sandbed...it just comes up in a sand whirl wind, and then settles back down.
b. Again, the sand was already stirred up...
c. So far, there isn't any cyano on the rockwork...should I still blow it off with a turkey baster?
And lastly, how do I test for nutrient levels to know if they are low?

Thanks spanko for your help.
EDIT:
My parameters as of yesterday are:
pH8.2
Ammonia0ppm
Nitrite0ppm
Nitrate20ppm
Calcium480

 

[spanko]

doesn't sound like cyano now. Your comment on it just comes up in a sand whirl wind makes me believe you have a diatom outbreak not cyano. Diatoms are a normal part of the startup of the tank. They will subside on their own soon. Are they more brown in color? Do some google research on diatom outbreak to get a picture of what it looks like.

 

[clown-lover]

Thanks for the help! Those pictures do look like what I have.
Here's some pics. It's on the back right corner and in the middle in a line of the tank.

 

[spanko]

Yup, diatoms. Not to worry here or do anything to get rid of them. They are consuming the silicates that come in with the new substrate and in some cases rock. As the food supply dwindles so shall the diatoms.

 

[nycbob]

+1. this is part of the natural cycle of a new setup. without fish, i dont see how ur nutrients could be that high. on thing that puzzles me though is the nitrate level. when changing water, make sure u use a turkey baston to blow off any detritus on rocks or substrate.

 

[blenny]

yeah mine was Defiantly cyano, It was laying a thick blanket of purple all over the sand bed and rock's didnt want to do it but i used a product called Chemi Clean red slime remover, i need to do a water change tomorrow night but its on the 1st 24hrs and its working very well.

 

[clown-lover]

So...yesterday I had some friends over and this was the first time they have seen my tank. Which they loved. Then today, they came over today, and noticed a big change...which I also noticed...
Almost overnight, my diatom problem bloomed up big time!
Today was my day to do the water change, so as I did it, I made sure to blow off the algae from the rocks, stir up the sand bed, and wipe off my glass. (Before 2 days ago, it hadn't gotten to my rocks. Today it is on all of them on the top).
The problem now (after the water change and blow off), is that it is still on the rocks. I even tried to 'scrub' it off the rocks with my fingers, but it didn't come off.
Are my rocks stained now!?!?!?

I want to add chaeto to the back. But I need a light first. Will the chaeto help this problem?
I tested my water again today. Here are the readings:
pH 8.2
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 20ppm
Calcium 500
The calcium is the only thing that has changed since the last testing. It has gone up. (I'm not dosing with anything)

 

[meowzer]

Calm down...LOL...this is a normal thing....your cuc (clean up crew) will take care of it as will time.....
what do you have for a clean up crew?????

 

[clown-lover]

I have 5 snails and 3 hermits. Two snails are small and one of the hermits is small. It's a 29 gallon. Is that good enough? (Those snails sure are slow!

) lol

 

[meowzer]

what typr of snails? I's get 6 nassarius, 6 cerith, 6 astrea....and a turbo
forget hermits,......they suck

 

[clown-lover]

I have three nassaruis, 2 cerith. No astrea and no turbo. (though I do want one)
didn't know the hermits weren't worth anything or I would have gotten more snails.

 

[meowzer]

It's not that they aren't worth anything, but they will eventually kill your snails for their shells....If I get a hermit, I get a scarlet hermit. Not a blue or red
5 snails is not very many.....I have probably close to 100 of those itty bitty florida ceriths in my 29G along with a dozen nassarius, a few regular cerith and at least 6 astrea, I also have an emerald crab, and a sally lightfoot crab....oh and a bristle star