This is odd...

[OCDP]

I ran out of salt a while back, I didn't do a water change for .. ohhhh, let's say 3 months (tsk tsk I know) . I finally got some salt about a month ago, and have been doing 2.5 - 5g water changes on Sunday's. When I first got my salt, you may remember I did a BIG tank cleaning.. tank looked great.. still does, for the most part.

What I am noticing now though, after the frequent water changes is....

I have a potentially bad cyano outbreak on the back tank wall and in the back of the tank on the sand and I am getting diatoms on the sandbed frequently , which is quite the eye sore.

Any ideas as to why I'd be getting MORE algae instead of LESS ? Seems when I wasn't doing water changes, I wasn't going through any of this :razz:

Just to note.. I have since added to my clean-up crew... so hopefully when that order arrives I'll notice them make somewhat of a dent. I hope....... :lol:

[TheReefGeek]

What water are you using for your water changes? Tap water or RODI?

[OCDP]

Haha, I won't lie.. I do use conditioned tap water. But, I know of lots of Calgary reefers who use conditioned tap water as well, with no problems... not to say that's not where my problem is coming from, though.

I use PRIME to condition my tap water. I also use a little more than suggested just so I feel that all the nasties are being removed.

[Beverly]

Scott,

Check the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels in the water. At certain times of the year these nasties can be present big time in tapwater.

[TheReefGeek]

On your next batch of water change water, use your prime, then let it sit overnight with a powerhead and heater. Then run tests on it, PH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, and phosphate and post your results.

[OCDP]

Hmm, it's not an RO seeing as I don't use an RO/DI unit :redface:

Maybe , depending on what the tax refund looks like, I could invest in one of those Aquasafe units... I plan to keep my reef for a while to come... and want long-term success, especially with SPS. So perhaps that's something to look into. I'll post a thread about them though, as I have questions about the unit itself.

Otherwise, is there something I can use (chemically) that will help rid of this algae outbreak? I would manually do it, but it's all too hard to reach (cyano in particular) .. I just need something to clean the tank up a bit.

Thanks,

[OCDP]

Thanks guys, good idea.. I will test the water , tomorrow morning. I'll try leaving a bucket sit over night with the PRIME in it.

[Beverly]

Oops, I forgot to mention phosphate in the tapwater which is linked to cyano growth. Prime will do nothing to neutralize phosphate.

Do you have any macroalgae in the tank to utilize nutrients?

Could also be that you've had phosphate in your tank for awhile and is just now showing up as a bunch of cyano, especially in low flow areas.

[Beverly]

Thanks guys, good idea.. I will test the water , tomorrow morning. I'll try leaving a bucket sit over night with the PRIME in it.

Test the water before adding Prime to get true readings of what's in your tapwater.

[mr_alberta]

If you want to take out phosphate, you can use Rowaphos or Phosban. Just be careful how you use them as a sudden drop in Phosphate levels is really hard on SPS.

[OCDP]

Yeah, Bev.. I know PRIME doesn't remove phosphates.

And I definitely wouldn't be too surprised to find some phosphates in my water.. I mean, 20g , 4 fish...the feedings, etc... it's inevatible IMO.

I just don't know how much phosphates are in my water hehe... let's say it can't be TOO bad considering my SPS are thriving and growing well in these conditions.

Here's a question... can I simply stick macro's into my tank and hide them away in a corner or something and just let them grow? What kind of macro's would be best? If so, I will definitely do this so it sucks some nutrients up... why haven't I thought/tried this before?! eesh.

[OCDP]

Bev,

Will do... I'll test before adding PRIME. :wink:

Mr. Alberta,

Thanks for the tips, I'd love to run a phosphate remover but I don't have any way of running it! I only use powerheads and a HOB skimmer on my tank :(

[OCDP]

Oops, not sure if the question was missed or not.. just wanted to ask before it gets put down to the bottom of the page ...


Can I stick macros directly into my display for nutrients? Could I simply just stick it in a back corner so it's hidden and let it grow??? What kind of macro's would be best to use?

Thanks.

[TheReefGeek]

I would test your water before and after Prime then. It is good to know what is in the water before prime, but more importantly after, because that is what is actually going into your tank.

Yes you can grow macro in your display, read up on it going asexual first. I think Chaeto is one of the safer ones. Bev uses and elastic and attaches it to a rock in your BB tanks. I have just started Chaeto, but have had razor and grape calurpa in my display for a long time, never had any problems.

[OCDP]

Thanks Rory.

I'll test my water this evening

[Willow]

cheato can grow quite well in your tank, you do not need a sump for it. only problem is it can grow fast depending on your nutrient level so you need to keep it pruned back or it will overrun. don't add caulerpa to your display as it will infest your rock and possibly go sexual without a 24 hour lighting period.

[OCDP]

thanks Willow.

Will the chaeto attatch to my rocks and spread over them?? I don't want that to happen.

Does anyone feel like explaining how and what it is when macro's go sexual? Or anyone with some good reads on it?

Lastly.. what does calupra (sp?) look like? I have this purple string-like macro on my rocks and it attatches to it like crazy, it's impossible to rip off...

If the chaeto is a good choice, and wont over-run my live rocks... then I am off to find me some chaeto ! :D

[Beverly]

Chaeto does not actually attach to the rock, even after a long period of time, ime. Just keep pruning it back and change elastics once in awhile. However, I have had bits of chaeto, that must have detached from the main "chaeto ball" while pruning, attach to the backs of my tanks. Thought that was kind of weird since it has never attached to the rock it's elasticked to. (Don't know if elasticked is even a word :razz: )

I have chaeto and other non-invasive macroalgae in higher flow areas of all our no-skimmer, no sump/refugium, BB tanks. I also try really hard to keep a low bioload and not overfeed.

[Beverly]

Also check your tank for a dead snail or hermit crab. That can foul a small tank very quickly.

I would also suggest throwing on some sort of mechanical filtration and do some serious turkey basting of rock and sandbed. If you have never basted your tank before, be ready for serious cloudiness. Don't worry about the cloudiness, it will not harm your tank. Have done this proceedure in a couple of tanks with sandbed and cyano problems and it is safer than using chemical cures, imo.

Anyway, once the once the tank clears, remove and clean the media in the mechanical filter, then baste the rock some more. Also gently basted the sandbed where the cyano grows, not so much as to cause a sand storm, but enough to loosen the cyano and some of the detritus into the water column. When the tank clears again, clean the filter media again. Your skimmer may also need the collection cup cleaned more frequently during basting, so keep an eye on it as well.

Do this basting and filter media cleaning thing at least once a day for as long as the tank gets cloudy during basting. By the end of the basting period, you will have exported tons of detritus which helped fuel your algae problems.

Once you get things under control with the large water changes, continue basting and cleaning filter media in your tank before doing weekly water changes of at least 15%.

[OCDP]

Bev,

Thanks a bunch for all the suggestions, you're always such a big help! Your method sounds great and I am definitely going to do that.

I always thought that when you turkey baste the rocks and sandbed, that the junk that comes up is harmful.. and can cause ammonia spikes or something nasty.. that's why I tend not to do the rocks but only the sandbed, and just very gently.

Would an AC500 or something similar be sufficient for running carbon in?? If so, I can get one of those for fairly cheap.

Thanks again Bev, and everyone else :)

[TheReefGeek]

The stuff (settled detrius mostly) you turkey baste is harmfull. That is why you want to get it off the rocks and/or sandbed (I only baste my rocks, I have critters to turn over my sand) and then suspended in the water, where filters can pick it up, then when you clean/replace the filters you remove the junk.

[Beverly]

Scott,

I baste my rock every week the day before water changes. Nothing happens except that some of the crud actually makes it into the foams in our mechanical filters :biggrin: That's why cleaning the foams on our weekly water change day is so important becuase it exports the crud.

In your case, most of the crud has already degraded into nitrate and phosphate. But don't let that stop you from de-crudding your tank with the method I described.

Using an AC500 might be over kill due to the amount of flow it will add to your 20g tank. Maybe an AC300 might be more in tune with the size of your tank. Don't use carbon in it, use foam. The foam will collect the crud way better than carbon and you can easily clean the foam, then begin the basting cycle again. And make sure you clean the foam as soon as the tank clears so the crud is exported asap.

When I used this technique on our first tank, a 75g, I basted that poor tank sometimes 4 or 5 times a day. Even basting into the sandbed did not cause any problems, and of course, that's where most of my cyano was. Basting the sandbed broke up the cyano, sent it into the water column along with LOTS of crud, and all was sucked into the foams. Once I realized how safe it was to baste sand and rock, I made it my mission to baste and clean the foams as often as I could :twised:

Since that bad cyano outbreak in our 75g years and years ago, I always baste my rock (and sandbeds, when we had them) before every weekly water change.

HTH :smile:

[TheReefGeek]

Bev, do you use anything special to clean your foams, or just elbow grease?

How often do you replace your foams?

[Beverly]

Rory,

I squeeze the living heck out of them in container after container of hot tapwater until they are clean.

I replace them when they start falling apart or when they lose their rectangular shape. Usually they last at least two months, often longer.

[TheReefGeek]

Good to know, thanks Bev.