Tina's Twin Bommies

[TigerIssey]

Yep, the flow can be detrimental to at least half of my corals. I have to be careful as the Euphyllias and bubble can be only gently swaying else it could damage them, the galaxea needs lower flow else it sends out huge sweeper tentacles and the xenia just shrivels up if the flow is too high.

My main white light is on for 8.5 hrs a day, the actinics 3/4 hr either side and at night after they have gone off I have my LED moonlights on. The moonlights are 12v and no way would they give enough PAR to allow algae to grow.

I have used double dose of Ultiphos which has appeared to have slowed down growth and none has grown back on the rocks since adding this. The substrate is again covered patchily. Andrew is taking me for more water when he gets home from work tonight so I can do a water change and give the substrate a good vaccing.

I am only feeding frozen (washed and strained) every 2 or 3 days and using the tiniest amount of granule in the interim.

I have just increased the amount of Turbos so hopefully a few weeks of this will give them chance to get a hold, or is there something else I should be doing. The new Serpent star will also deal with any detritus as will the Nass I have.

 

[jennybugs]

Just caught up with your tank diary hun! It's looking great! I just ADORE the flasher wrasse!

 

[Anguilla82]

Yep, the flow can be detrimental to at least half of my corals. I have to be careful as the Euphyllias and bubble can be only gently swaying else it could damage them, the galaxea needs lower flow else it sends out huge sweeper tentacles and the xenia just shrivels up if the flow is too high.

My main white light is on for 8.5 hrs a day, the actinics 3/4 hr either side and at night after they have gone off I have my LED moonlights on. The moonlights are 12v and no way would they give enough PAR to allow algae to grow.

I have used double dose of Ultiphos which has appeared to have slowed down growth and none has grown back on the rocks since adding this. The substrate is again covered patchily. Andrew is taking me for more water when he gets home from work tonight so I can do a water change and give the substrate a good vaccing.

I am only feeding frozen (washed and strained) every 2 or 3 days and using the tiniest amount of granule in the interim.

I have just increased the amount of Turbos so hopefully a few weeks of this will give them chance to get a hold, or is there something else I should be doing. The new Serpent star will also deal with any detritus as will the Nass I have.

that all sounds good to me.
fraid it may just be a sit back and wait for it to clear.

 

[TigerIssey]

Thanks Jennybugs, been hard work, but I will get there. The flasher makes me drool every time I look at him. The clowns are taking an interest in my new pearl bubble too, seem to keep going over and giving it a wriggle, won't be surprised if they are hosting it by the time I get back off holiday.

that all sounds good to me.
fraid it may just be a sit back and wait for it to clear.

That is what I thought. Have just ordered another litre of Ultiphos, got a feeling I will be doubling up on it for a while. It does seem to have made a difference.

Just a little worried as I go on holiday a week on Saturday for 2 weeks, mom is looking after the tank, am scared to think what I will come back to.

 

[Anguilla82]

quite possibly a very clean and clear tank!!!!

well you can hope can't you!

just don't let them feed too much!

to be honest i always put in more phosphate remover than they suggest.
i've never found that it does any harm and if for any reason you get any spikes it'll cope with them.
mind you i use rowaphos, so it'll be interesting to see how you get on with the ultiphos.

 

[GlidergirlUK]

Ive got reef scientific phosphate stuff in my external...apparently easier to use than rowaphos!

 

[TigerIssey]

to be honest i always put in more phosphate remover than they suggest.
i've never found that it does any harm and if for any reason you get any spikes it'll cope with them.
mind you i use rowaphos, so it'll be interesting to see how you get on with the ultiphos.

I used Ulitphos when I set Nano up, bought a frag of Pachyclavularia that refused to open for a week +, removed Ultiphos and it opened within an hour, had it in an internal in the tank. Ordered Rowaphos, was a week without phosphate remover. Rowa now very expensive with the bigger tank.

Decided to try the Ultiphos when Cyano got bad, has not affected Pachy at all this time although I now have it in a bubble stop in the sump. I have now ordered the litre sized Ultiphos so I can change it again just before I go away. (just to make sure).

quite possibly a very clean and clear tank!!!!

That would be amazing, not sure how likely it is though. Having said that, the less tinkering the better sometimes.

Mom is coming over here every other day, I have taught her to top off already and will be testing her on that next week. I also intend to cut up some frozen blocks for her so she gets the amount right and will show her how much granule I use. She will alternate between frozen and granule each time she comes. Need to show her how to add the Korrallen Zucht but will not bother with alkalinity (the only thing I regularly dose at the moment, I do too many waterchanges to need the Ca/Mg additive at the mo), else I would need to teach her to test aswell, that may be too much for her.

 

[TigerIssey]

Okay, time to document the bad stuff as well as the good.

I have as I said some fantastic (NOT) Red Cyano.

FTS

Some wonderful (NOT) Cyano Volcanos

And the Cyano lifting from the substrate.

This did however make for easy removal.

I had already got what water I had left heating and mixing, I bought some ready mixed salt water in addition so that I could get the water change done tonight. I had a wonderful conversation with the young attractive lad (Andrew was with me by the way) about my cyano problems, he seemed to be able to tell I was experienced with fish, the merits of each available phosphate test kit must have pointed him in this direction for him to ask how long I had been keeping fish. Following the answer of most of my life and discussing my various tanks, I even managed a 20% discount from a shop I had only visited once before about 3 yrs ago. Gawd I am getting good at this.

So once back and with the water change water heating, I set too at the cyano. I have not been to shop that sells Turkey basters so am still lacking this vital piece of equipment, I therefore had to use a 1ml transfer pipette with the end cut off to blow the rocks off, no wonder I have dratted ulna tunnel.

The I set too with my nice new long siphon hose (Eheim tubing) sucking ll the cyano off the substrate. After a few hours and putting the water back, the tank now looks like this.

What an improvment.

Just hope I don't have to keep at this for too long now.

By the way, the result of our discussion on phosphates leads me to believe that the problem actually stems from using the Caribsea live sand when I first set up the Nano, this gained a hold in the period I was without phosphate remover.

The moral of this story is, Caribsea Live Sand is not only a gimmick but a phosphate sink.

 

[bagu]

what causes cyano?

btw looks great!

 

[jennybugs]

That's an interesting theory about Caribsea live sand. I used it too but never got any cyano in my 90L tank. I do have some in my 30L though but think that's down to changing to D-D H2Ocean salt.

That Cyano volcano is impressive

 

[TigerIssey]

I was certainly impressed as these volcanos appeared in the time it took to go fetch the water, which was about 2 hrs in total. I think it really was a combination. The Caribsea LS mixed with no phosphate remover for a week and about this time I fetched water from a shop I had not used before, within a few days of using the water bang my first cyano bloom. It was like that just before switching the tanks over too. This week the Cyano reached er Volcanic proportions shall we say, thats when I decided to use the Ultiphos again. It is slowing down considerably since adding Ultiphos at Double dose. When the new delivery arrives, I will swap it again as I believe with the levels (tests 0 by the way on API) being as high as they must be for that to occur, I will need to replace the phos remover more often.

The best thing about it though, is that the corals have never looked so healthy, they are looking stunning.

Bagu, Cyano is usually caused by a combination of excess Nitrates, Phosphates and Lighting. Hence I have reduced Lighting period, reduced feeding and am washing frozen food religiously and have added a mega amount of chaetomorpha to my sump to soak up Nitrates. I have also doubled the amount of phosphate remover and as an added extra I have added more Turbo snails.

The place I went to tonight had Turbos cheaper than anywhere else I have seen them, £1.70 each or 15 for £12.50. Andrew says if they are not performing at their best by next week, we can go back to get some more Turbos.

The other thing to think about Jenny with the Caribsea LS, it may depend how long it was sat on a warehouse shelf for. We all know it is not going to be "Live", I used it to see if there would be any other benefit really, I think for me that there was not.

 

[SkiFletch]

The best thing about it though, is that the corals have never looked so healthy, they are looking stunning.

Heh, that is one bonus of nuisance algae. It does gobble up all the nutrients in the tank, making the water very clean and as long as you can keep the cyano away from the corals itself, they tend to thrive

Bagu, Cyano is usually caused by a combination of excess Nitrates, Phosphates and Lighting.

True indeed TI, but I need to add two things to your list there. Once Cyano gets established, it can also use Silicates for energy (much more nefarious to track down), and worse yet, it can even fix Nitrogen gas itself (N2) directly for some time. It also thrives on red light, not blue. So while the initial cause of a cyano outbreak is almost always elevated phosphate levels with a little red light coming out of your lamps, it CAN stick around even after the phosphate is gone. Sometimes if Cyano outbreaks persist, it's a good idea to try tank black-outs for ~48 hours to kill the cyano and end the vicious nitrogen fixing cycle. That of course assumes you've conqured your phosphate problem, cause if you havent, cyano dies (mostly), phosphates rise, and cyano comes right back...

Infinite reserves of patience helps a lot

 

[TigerIssey]

I am keeping my fingers firmly crossed and will be using double dose of phosphate remover for a little while at least. I have managed to keep it away from the corals so far, I am hoping that this combined with everything else will help against the battle. It seemed a lot easier to clean it this time than before doubling the phosphate remover so this is leaving me a little optimistic.

My fingers are crossed and I have been extremely patient so far, let us hope that that persists. Just as I say, a little worried about being away for 2 weeks. Will give the tank a de-cyano-ing just before I go, it may be an idea to up the numbers of turbos a little aswell, will see how it is going next week. I can always leave the light timers on a very short period for the time I am away, there will be no one here to view in the evenings so it will not matter, just as long as the corals get enough light.

 

[Anguilla82]

just as long as the corals get enough light.

on that note what is the general concensus on how long a lighting period corals need?
at the moment i'm running the halide for 8h per day.

 

[Trod]

The hard work was certainly worth it T, what a good job you've done tank looks gorgeous now Got fingers crossed for you that it doesn't return.

I'm sure your mum will do you proud, I left my son in charge of tank when I went away and everything was fine.

Go and have a great time and don't worry about tank, where you going, is there fish watching involved