green cyano????

[gmwilk]

i have been trying to gid rid of this crap for 3 weeks or so, i try to vaccum out most of it out when i do my weekly change. it comes back and seems like in other spots where it was not before. it is also starting to grow on my rocks. i know its in a rather high flow area because the stringy parts are "going with the flow" per say. im kinda stuck on what to do. i do not use ro water...(prob my cause and going to get criticized for) my sg is 1.025 temp 81 ammonia 0 trites 0 trates 0 (prob bc of the alage utilizing it and not in the water column) ..... this crap is pretty bright green and the stuff on the sandbed is stringy....is it cyano?? ill try to post a pic..my tank is a biocube and im using the stock pump, and the oceanic protein skimmer. i know the flow is sorta low but this is sorta in a high flow area and on my LR......any help would be appreciated!

 

[bruner54]

it is probably because you are not using ro water but if you dont already have snails, they will help.

 

[robdog696]

green slime is actually more prevalent in freshwater aquariums than saltwater. This leads me to believe that bruner54 is correct. It feeds on nitrates, so your assumption that this is the reason for your good params is probably correct. I experienced a small outbreak of red slime. Increasing my flow, even though I thought I had enough, definitely helped. Also, my dwarf electric blue hermit crabs ate some of it. And replacing my bulbs seemed to have the biggest effect. Make sure you're not overfeeding your tank. Cyano feeds on uneaten food, nitrates, CO2, and 6k lighting. You have to remove all food sources, as it can survive on just one of them. Good flow provides gas-off and removes CO2, feeding less will remove uneaten food, replacing your bulbs should remove 6k lighting, an doing small water changes should remove nitrates. Good luck!

 

[gmwilk]

Originally Posted by Robdog696
http:///forum/post/2718452
green slime is actually more prevalent in freshwater aquariums than saltwater. This leads me to believe that bruner54 is correct. It feeds on nitrates, so your assumption that this is the reason for your good params is probably correct. I experienced a small outbreak of red slime. Increasing my flow, even though I thought I had enough, definitely helped. Also, my dwarf electric blue hermit crabs ate some of it. And replacing my bulbs seemed to have the biggest effect. Make sure you're not overfeeding your tank. Cyano feeds on uneaten food, nitrates, CO2, and 6k lighting. You have to remove all food sources, as it can survive on just one of them. Good flow provides gas-off and removes CO2, feeding less will remove uneaten food, replacing your bulbs should remove 6k lighting, an doing small water changes should remove nitrates. Good luck!
the bulbs are prop 3 months old at the most, i bought the coral life ones, what ever the stock biocube ones come with. im going to up flow and reduce my feedings. i feed once every 2-3 days i have some turbo snails and blue leg hermits, how many hermits is to much? i kinda like em interesting to watch ha... i dont know if i said but its the 29biocube. thanks for the info....o and in my freshwater tank i have no green algea nor have i ever had a problem with it or any other algea.

 

[robdog696]

If you only feed once every 2-3 days I definitely wouldn't reduce your feeding schedule. Sounds like your lighting is fine, too. You might look into getting some nassarius snails. They will eat the uneaten food. Personally, I don't believe in a set number of things for a certain size tank cleanup crew. I believe in adding slowly, until whatever pests you have are gone. I have a 150 and I only have 6 turbos, 6 astreas, 6 nass, 6 hermits, 2 emerald crabs, and 2 peppermint shrimp. Sounds like in your case you need some detritus eaters, maybe more flow, and something to help with nitrates. Nass or cerith snails will help with the detritus. As for the nitrates, more liverock would help, cheato algae would help, or small water changes would do the trick. Also, using RO water will be of great benefit to your tank in the long run. I pay like 60 cents a gallon for mine from my LFS. Good luck!

 

[gmwilk]

thanks for the info, ill add some more snails. what about doing 2 smaller water changes a week? i also had a question about my live rock, it has some brown stringy stuff growing on it. i dont think its diatoms. jw what it could be

 

[anonome]

Brown stringy things, green hair type algae sounds like your phosphates are high. Have you checked this yet? What kind of filtration (media) do you have? Cyano bacteria can come in different colors, not just the standard red.
Try and get a pic, so we can tell for sure.

 

[gmwilk]

i will try and get a pic....my test kit does not have a phosphate test kit im going to get one tomorrow to test this, my filteration is as follows: oceanic protein skimmer for biocube, the stock biocube platic frame with filter floss over it that i change every week, bio balls in the middle chamber and a bag of purigen and carbon