Update On My Tank

[maidenfan]

tank been running approx 3 months now and its come along way anyway decided to sit with the tank as it is now for a while and let everything mature and settle down so prob won't be posting on here so often but i will be watching and learning 8)

my latest stats are as follows

temp 24c
ph 8.2
am 0.00ppm
nitrite 0.00ppm
nitrate 5ppm
sg 1.023

10% weekly water changes using RO water

2 common clowns doing really well

clean up crew all ok doing their jobs

lost one of my tube worms blew his head then peppermint shrimp ate him has this happened to others??

still getting algea build up on substrate LR and glass ok so put phosphate filter media in wet and dry filter see how it goes. external fluval filter recently put polyfilter foam in chamber to further filtrate system hope this begins to control algea soon

noticed last few days getting spirobid worms on glass and power heads and just the faintest sign of coralline forming on glass and powerhead too

still got my hitchhiker crabs watching them closely don't seem to be causing trouble yet

anyway thanks for all your help so far and good luck to all those new to this like me

 

[BWBettas]

Nice looking rock setup! although you don't seem to have much space between the glass?

Bret

 

[maidenfan]

sorry the pic doesnt show the ends of the tank there is space side to side the right hand rock is closer than the left to the glass when i get a decent pic of the tank and stand together will post it
cheers

 

[SkiFletch]

Looks great so far, keep it up . And your nuisance algae problems don't seem that severe as your pics look really clean. Great work

 

[maidenfan]

cheers ski

just quick question i'm led to believe that the light helps feed the algea so what is the min amount of time i can have my lights on taking into consideration light is needed for other organasims in the tank currently they are on for about 10 hours a day

 

[SkiFletch]

Good question, but not necessarily the answer. Nuisance algae will unfortunately survive at lower light times than most other light-requiring organisms. You pretty much need to straight up black out the tank for a period of days to eliminate nusiance algae that way. A method only advisable when you can QT fish and dont have corals or featherdusters present. Really the only way to stop nuisance algae without resorting to chemicals is removing essential nutrients for it to grow (phosphates, nitrates, silicates, and dissolved organic compounds DOCs) and let a properly selected cleanup crew eliminate the starved remains. A VERY difficult proposition in a nano tank.

 

[mj32]

Looks like a great tank there - cant wait to get mine to look something like that

 

[xNOTLOCx]

well hmm im going out to get some mgnetic glass scrapers, but my algae is sooo bad right now i cant see inside my tank it had a bloom, wich i guess will keep soem of my tank member happy but i needa scrape it and get a clean up crew ha ha lol, im not in a rush tho, algae doesnt harm that much or does it? if u guys want pix of the algae ill put one on... its brown algae so im not sure what type .... my urchin seems to love it he is always on the glass eating away mostly at night...

 

[maidenfan]

ok guys i need your help again

i'm still getting this rusty brown algea on just my sand iv'e tied it down to 3 types

diatoms
cynobacteria
dinoflagellates

steps i've taken so far
removed all media from wet and dry trickle filter in hood just using it to help circulate water
removed bio media from top basket in fluval external replaced that with phosphate remover rowa sponge media topped off with poly filter media[ did this 7 days ago]
moved largest powerhead to front of tank to try improve water movement across substrate[did this last night]

latest stats not showing anything out of the ordinary had to add ph buffer last week had dropped to 8.0
last reading up to 8.2 sg 1.023 am 0.0 nitrite 0.0 nitrate between 5-10ppm
anyway here is a couple of pics this has taken around 24 hours to accumalate after disturbing the sand last night.

 

[SkiFletch]

cyanobacteria... welcome to my world. I've had some rogue cyano for a long while... what I've done to eliminate it from the display tank consists of phosphate chemical remover, carbon, cerith snails, and allowing it to grow in my sump. If you want a more detailed explaination check my diary Still fighting it today although I am winning the battle now

 

[maidenfan]

glad i'm not alone ski do you think the steps iv'e taken will help?

 

[Navarre]

Yep definately Cyano.

Its not actually an algae but in truth its a form of bacteria. It thrives in low flow areas of a tank so if you can increase the flow here it will not like it at all! Its also doing so well because you probably have unstable water or high nutrients. This can only be fixed with time and patience. Nearly all of us get cyano during our time as marine hobbiests and its usually in the early days of a new system. Once the system matures and becomes stable you should find it slowly dissapearing.

Cut back on feeding, increase flow, never stir up the sand to dissipate it as this will only make water born and spread all over the tank.
When you do a water change, syphon out the area effected and dump th water. Then replace with 100% good quality RO water (or your cyano simply wont ever go away).

It will take a few months but it will go slowly if you follow these steps.

 

[maidenfan]

ok thanks for replies guys

last night did 15% water change with my own RO water syphoned as much of the cyno as i could

going get another power head ASAP to try and improve water movement

question:

will it hurt to increase water changes to twice a week?

my snails don't seem intrested in the cyno is that normal?

i'm just glad i'm not the only one to have this prob thanks again

 

[SkiFletch]

will it hurt to increase water changes to twice a week?

no

my snails don't seem intrested in the cyno is that normal?

yes, very few snails IME have eaten mine. The only snail's I've had decent luck with are cerith snails and nassarius snails. The nassarius dont eat it, but they bury it under the sand when they burrow... Indirect benefit Cerith snails do eat it, along with hair algae. They're slow, but my favorite snail cause they eat anything

 

[steelhealr]

My astreas ate it. Here's the proof:

SH