Just a bit of cyano...
 

Hello All......

I have a small problem that I need a bit of help with......

I have a farily new 90G setup (3 Months). 7 small fish (all doing well).100lbs. tufa base.10lbs live rock from Oceans. .026. 78F etc. All the water params are good, for a new tank anyway. But I still have a bit a cyano/red hair algi problem...My turbo snails seem to do a GREAT job of it on the rocks and glass, but on the crushed coral sand they seem to stay away.....So, what I was looking for is a bit of imput on a clean-up crew for the sand that will eat the cyano....

Any thoughts......

....When I say its a small problem I mean its small...6in diameter on the sand...


Thanks


Ken

I have an idea :idea: , don't worry about it. It is a function of all new tanks, but it will go away. I think I read that Fighting Conches eat it, but is it worth your while...... :question:

Scarlet Reef hermits do an amazing job of keeping the sand clean as well, IME.

If it's only in a small area, you might try increasing the flow to that part of the tank. I've heard of using peroxide on a small patch. I've done it without harm.

My two cents
 

The two most valuable assets to a succesful reefer, IMO, are patience and perserverence. Keep up with your water changes and you will eventually strike a balance. Keep in mind that lighting, nitrates, phosphates (including food and source water), and water flow are major players in the algae battle. I had a big problem with it when I started out, and one day (figuratively speaking) it was no longer a problem. I still get diatom algae buildup on my glass, but it feeds a lot of my reef every time I scrape with my magnets. I have also found that an active sand bed, once established, will pretty much maintain itself. I have learned a lot about that subject from Dr. Ron Shimek on reefcentral.com. I think that bio-diversity is valuable as well, but if you are just going to keep fish, learn more about the things I mentioned in the third sentence. Good luck, Rich.

Hello Richtg and everyone...
Thanks for the advice. I have two larger marine hermit crabs as well. I thought I read somewher that different species will fight and often kill one-another? So I think that the Scarlet Reef hermits idea will not work, unless someone knows different...I did increase flow to that area, but with no success. 2 days ago I moved the flow back to the orgional position to see if it makes any diference...Richtg mentioned bio-diversity, will adding a few more fish help or will the extra bio-load work against me....Like Bob_I said, don't worry about, I will do that also. I'm just a bit freaked because my first attempt at a marine tank became a cyano DISASTER!!! I don't want to go through that again....


Thanks all.....

join the "i've been attacked by cyano" club :P

happens to a majority of the people.

If you're losing sleep over this, you might consider this:
http://www.bigalsonline.ca/catalog/p...tegory_id=2811

Works fabulous.

Works GREAT you say!!!!.......Does Big All on heartage drive keep it in stock???


Thnaks again........

Oops....Sorry, looks like you are from Regina......hehehehehehe





Kennyv

bio-diversity
 

Sorry, what I meant by bio-diversity was not to add more fish. That would compound the problem to some extent. I was referring to a clean-up crew including different types of crabs, snails, maybe a nudibranch or two, urchins...the list goes on and on. I would not, however, lose any sleep over your current situation. It is, as many would agree, a natural phase that you will patiently wait out, right? Don't give up. Don't be compelled to go out and spend lots of money to fight the problem either. Do you intend to eventually build a reef in your tank? If so, I would look into a ro/di setup. Ever since I got mine (Aquasafe Systems $160 shipped with TDS meter) my algae problem went away. I think that excess phosphates from the food that I was adding as well as the tap water was enough to sustain an algae paradise. Has anyone out there had much luck with phosphate sponge? That might be a low cost supplement to get you through the next few months. Rich.