Algae

[fancy_fish101]

I have this cyano and this green algae. Not sure what to do about it.
Nitrates are at 10 and phos at .04.
Tank is 7 months old sense I moved it. But been set up for a a year and half. Including before the move.
I’ve been dosing nitrate and phos for a while now to keep levels up.
Any advice or suggestions to get my sand clean will greatly help. Thank you.

 

[I never finish anythi]

Is the sand new or did you keep the old sand ? If it's the old sand how did you go about moving it?

 

[fancy_fish101]

Is the sand new or did you keep the old sand ? If it's the old sand how did you go about moving it?

It was the old sand. Nothing just moved it over. The algae was t showing like this till a few months after.

 

[Reefer Matt Verified Media Partner]

Both may be cyano, as it comes in many colors. There is the natural way of increasing flow, keeping nutrients at proper levels, and adding pods and more cuc.
Or using chemiclean, which will get rid of cyano in a couple days if used as directed. Both can be effective, but if using chemiclean, I suggest you do a large water change afterward, and keep nutrients above 0 to avoid a possible dino outbreak.

 

[fancy_fish101]

Both may be cyano, as it comes in many colors. There is the natural way of increasing flow, keeping nutrients at proper levels, and adding pods and more cuc.
Or using chemiclean, which will get rid of cyano in a couple days if used as directed. Both can be effective, but if using chemiclean, I suggest you do a large water change afterward, and keep nutrients above 0 to avoid a possible dino outbreak.

I can’t keep pops really. My 6 line eats all them. And I do keep nutrients the same well try. I’ll try to increase flow. I don’t like using chemicals to get ride of stuff.

 

[MikeCRK]

Chemiclean is antibiotic not 'regular' chemistry take some of the pulp out, rub it between the fingers, if it smells like bog, 100% cyano. Cyano are bacteria, antibiotic works on bacteria

 

[Dan_P]

I have this cyano and this green algae. Not sure what to do about it.
Nitrates are at 10 and phos at .04.
Tank is 7 months old sense I moved it. But been set up for a a year and half. Including before the move.
I’ve been dosing nitrate and phos for a while now to keep levels up.
Any advice or suggestions to get my sand clean will greatly help. Thank you.

Just to clarify, tank was set up 18 months ago, and then it was moved 11 months ago. Just before the move, how much cyanobacteria and hair algae were there on the rocks and sand? What livestock did you add after the move? The growth looks like it has been around awhile.

 

[fancy_fish101]

Just to clarify, tank was set up 18 months ago, and then it was moved 11 months ago. Just before the move, how much cyanobacteria and hair algae were there on the rocks and sand? What livestock did you add after the move? The growth looks like it has been around awhile.

I moved the 7 months ago not 11. The growth has been around for 4-5 months now. I added acros and 6 line and some other corals. Also, there wasn’t very much growth when I moved the tank. Tank was very clean then. And just added a file fish a few days ago.

 

[fancy_fish101]

Chemiclean is antibiotic not 'regular' chemistry take some of the pulp out, rub it between the fingers, if it smells like bog, 100% cyano. Cyano are bacteria, antibiotic works on bacteria

Oh ok. Good to know.

 

[Dan_P]

I moved the 7 months ago not 11. The growth has been around for 4-5 months now. I added acros and 6 line and some other corals. Also, there wasn’t very much growth when I moved the tank. Tank was very clean then. And just added a file fish a few days ago.

Thinking out loud…

Every addition of luvestock has the potential to inoculate the system with more pests. It seems that the aquarium was fairly clean and new before the move. After the move the system had a restart, an increase in live stock, AND inoculation of nuisance algae. I would find it difficult to judge that you did anything “wrong” except maybe, possibly being late in responding to the first signs of nuisance algae growth.

By the way, nice rock scape.

Maybe snails for the hair algae. Not sure about the algae and cyanobacteria in the sand. Can you just remove it and then keep raking the sand to make it less algae friendly?

 

[MikeCRK]

Not sure about the algae and cyanobacteria in the sand. Can you just remove it and then keep raking the sand to make it less algae friendly?

the worse! that only spreads the cyano around. The option would be syphoning it out with a small pipe. Another option is H2O2 but you need to be very cautious to not harm corals.

There is also an option from freshwater tanks (not sure if that would work here) to totally black out the tank for two days (wrap it up with black foil and add airing stone inside. But this method doesnt work for everyone and it is tested in freshwater tanks (plants can live few days with no light).

There is no good or bad with cyano. Those are everywhere, literally everywhere. What can be done is not to give them conditions to grow, and this would be where I would start with. Then after eliminating that one - clean up the rest. Otherwise this will be a never ending story.