cyanobacteria?

[jercon_85]

Hi i'm a newbie to this site and the hobby. I Just recently purchased an aquapod 12. I used live sand and have some live rock in the thing and a clown fish to start it up. The live rock has a bunch of brown stuff all over it and some brown blotches in the sand. Not sure if it's cyanobacteria or algae. With my luck probably cyano. I already turned up the flow to help get the stuff off the rock but don't know what else to do. What do i do?

[hammondegge]

you can reduce the length of time that your light is on. that and flow will do it.

[jercon_85]

how many hours a day should i run the light?

[GaryP]

Micro hermit crabs will eat it. 1-2 per gallon is a good estimate of what you will need for stocking the hermits.

Its not unusual to have a cyano bloom in a new tank, especially a nano without a skimmer. Its usually an indication of high organic content. The hermits will also help cut down on organics by eating any detritus.

Cutting back on light is rarely effective in controlling nuisance algaes. As a matter of fact I think it may actually hurt. The other algaes that are competing with the cyano for nutrients are shutting down too. They are competing with the cyano for nutrients. The cyano will always win that contest.

[GaryP]

By the way, guess what we are going to be talking about at this meeting this weekend?

[jercon_85]

cyanobacteria? :)

[GaryP]

Well, nuisance algae in general.

[GaryP]

By the way, welcome to MAAST.

[hammondegge]

how many hours do you run the lights ?
as Gary said, it is really common to have these cyano outbreaks with fairly new setups. i have found that it is easier to deal with after 6months. however in our seahorse tank where i cannot increase the flow enough to stop the outbreak i found that by reducing the photoperiod it did reduce it significantly. i found that first thing in the morning it was non-existent and by lights out it formed thick mats so i just reduced the light timer until it barely grew throughout the day. mine is set at about 8hrs under a 175w 14k lamp.
if you want to give it a try just reduce the period by 1/2 hour each day until it is effective. . 15mins can make a huge difference.
flow is without a doubt the best way to get it. if you can increase it. generally your animals like a whole lot more flow than you may think. i have one mixed reef tank that is turning over 30x/hr and it is the happiest. g'luck

[hammondegge]

Welcome to Maast!!!!!!!

[GaryP]

A few more things. Change out your activated carbon to help reduce your dissolved organic carbon levels. If you can add a skimmer, that will help too. If you are not already doing weekly water changes, you need to start. Finally, make sure your alkalinity is where it needs to be.

Dosing with Chemi-Clean is a short term solution, but it will come back. The root cause needs to be addressed. The cause is high organic levels, low circulation, and detritus buildup. As always, nuisance algae problems are usually and indication of other problems with water quality.

I'm not quite sure how cutting back lights improves water quality, but I'd like to hear it.

[JeremyGlen]

OK. First off, How old is the tank exactly? How soon did you get the clown? These questions I am just wondering for fear of the clown kicking the bucket if the tank wasn't cycled.

Next, the algae your seeing is brown right? These are DIATOMS. I believe that everyone in this hobby asked someone about the brown algae when they started their first tank. I have come to believe that the brown algae is just a given with any new tank. It is just a "thing" that happens to everyone's tank. I am even dealing with an outbreak in my tank that I moved with me to SM.

Once your tank matures some more and the bacteria level gets up to par, the brown stuff will begin to change to green. I am having a problem with it because I only brought about 10 lbs of my old sand and added a new 20lb bag when I moved the tank. That is the only thing I have changed from before and even have more flow than I did. Once your sandbed matures, the algae goes green and you get the fun stuff like Cyano, which is always red, green, or somewhere between blue and purple, or hair algae if you haven't taken care of the problems they are telling you to monitor and change.

Like with anything in this hobby, it will just take time and there is nothing you can do about it except clean every day or two. Asthetically, you can get hermits to stir the sand up and keep it from growing. Personally, I found that leaving it on the glass and stuff helped it go away faster, but thats me. Get your flow going good and keep your lights on for no more than 6 to 7 hours and you may see some improvement.

I'm dealing with this same problem with a friend that lives a couple doors away. Also, when I worked at an LFS, I had people coming in all the time after they just set up their tank and I told them the same thing. I don't remember any of them telling me that it didn't work itself out in a couple of weeks at the most.