Cyano or Coraline Algae?

[skywurz]

I have this Zoa that is unhappy. Its had red algae on it but recently i notice the algae was spreading. So before it gets out of hand i should probably figure out if its friend or foe.

 

[drawman]

Cyano. You could siphon it out with a water change.

 

[Sosuke]

Red slime algae, from rise of nutrients usually

 

[skywurz]

Ok ive nuked it from orbit

 

[Mikeltee]

A little cyno wont hurt you. It's a sign that you are overfeeding. Listen to your tank and it will respond. If it gets out of control hit it with chemi-clean. There are no negative repercussions to this and a lot of people dose it every few months as preventative maintenance. Regardless of how you chemically get rid of it, you will need to adjust the source problem or it will be back aka buy more fish or feed less...

 

[skywurz]

A little cyno wont hurt you. It's a sign that you are overfeeding. Listen to your tank and it will respond. If it gets out of control hit it with chemi-clean. There are no negative repercussions to this and a lot of people dose it every few months as preventative maintenance. Regardless of how you chemically get rid of it, you will need to adjust the source problem or it will be back aka buy more fish or feed less...

I think it may be the phytoplankton ive been dosing. I think i let it sit too long in the heat so instead of feeding pods ive been dosing gunk. I swapped it out with a fresh bottle yesterday and am monitoring it.

 

[jsker]

I am going for diatoms with your fairly new system.

Check you nutrients and light settings. Dial back the whites if you can. Depend how old your system is? it might just be part of the system cycling.

 

[ca1ore]

Yup, cyano is pretty common, particularly in a young system. Mange nutrients and have plenty of flow and it usually goes away.

 

[skywurz]

I am going for diatoms with your fairly new system.

Check you nutrients and light settings. Dial back the whites if you can. Depend how old your system is? it might just be part of the system cycling.

Oh yeah i have been battling diatoms ever since i started the tank. Since its a new system im just waiting for it to go away.

 

[Mikeltee]

There is no need to dose unless you are trying to grow your specimens fast in order to sell them. This should apply to 1% here if that. Stop dosing and set your tank up to self sustain itself. I've had my tank for 12 years, and never dosed anything and never had a problem. Over the 12 years I have learned this...
Appreciate those small frags and enjoy watching them grow because when they grow out you will be bored because you cant add anything new, you have been staring at the same thing for years and years, and you will wish that you could start over... which you can by selling the colonies. There is no need to rush this process. Dont buy colonies... buy frags and stop obsessing over your parameters and let nature take its course.

 

[skywurz]

There is no need to dose unless you are trying to grow your specimens fast in order to sell them. This should apply to 1% here if that. Stop dosing and set your tank up to self sustain itself. I've had my tank for 12 years, and never dosed anything and never had a problem. Over the 12 years I have learned this...
Appreciate those small frags and enjoy watching them grow because when they grow out you will be bored because you cant add anything new, you have been staring at the same thing for years and years, and you will wish that you could start over... which you can by selling the colonies. There is no need to rush this process. Dont buy colonies... buy frags and stop obsessing over your parameters and let nature take its course.

Well im trying to get my pod population established thats why im dosing plankton. Im also weighing getting a claim as a filter feeder it would need the same type of plankton dosed. Otherwise i only dose soda ash after water changes to slowly get it to the sweet spot. My alk was only 6.5 before i started doing this.

 

[Mikeltee]

A skimmer is all you need. I dont add any plankton, algae, etc or anything that the mainstream retailers are pushing down our throats nowadays to separate us and our money. Hell I havent even done a water change in a year! I havent tested my parameters in 5 years! My tank will tell me if my parameters are off. Take all those fancy devices that you have and sell them. I'm sure theres plenty of suckers out there that will scoop it right up.

Get a good skimmer, make sure you have good flow, don't overfeed, and have a proper cleanup crew for the animals that you house. It's as simple as that! No need for anything else my friend. You have now been enlightened. Do as you please with this information.

 

[Sosuke]

You would have to start dosing if you wanted a clam, they suck up a lot of elements and not to mention are probably better off in a more established tank of 6+ months

 

[Sosuke]

A skimmer is all you need. I dont add any plankton, algae, etc or anything that the mainstream retailers are pushing down our throats nowadays to separate us and our money. Hell I havent even done a water change in a year! I havent tested my parameters in 5 years! My tank will tell me if my parameters are off. Take all those fancy devices that you have and sell them. I'm sure theres plenty of suckers out there that will scoop it right up.

Get a good skimmer, make sure you have good flow, don't overfeed, and have a proper cleanup crew for the animals that you house. It's as simple as that! No need for anything else my friend. You have now been enlightened. Do as you please with this information.

+1 would only add phytoplankton for animals that would actually need it supplemented. As your tank gets older the pod population will increase on its own, unless you get a mandarin. What Mikeltee said about not testing is probably IMO better off for tanks that have been established for a while (like a year or over) because new tanks are unstable and you want to make sure you know exactly what's going on in the tank at this young stage.

 

[Mikeltee]

Sosuke is absolutely right about the testing. Once your tank is STABLE you wont need to test. if you follow proper procedures to a Tee and not try to rush things than you will still not need to test. I ran my tank 5 years and never tested anything but ammonia when I was curing my rock. The only reason why I tested afterwards is to verify parameters when my tank was full of mixed corals and the colonies were getting large. At that point I added a kalk reactor. You are years away from that point though my friend.

 

[skywurz]

You would have to start dosing if you wanted a clam, they suck up a lot of elements and not to mention are probably better off in a more established tank of 6+ months

This is what my research has told me about clams so i am waiting before pulling the trigger on one. This is also why i have been trying to dial in parameters to make sure i can sustain them. I added 5 jars of Algae Barns pods to my refugium trying to jumpstart my pods. They came with plankton to help establish them. I've also started culturing my own plankton in preparation.

 

[Marc2952]

A little cyno wont hurt you. It's a sign that you are overfeeding. Listen to your tank and it will respond. If it gets out of control hit it with chemi-clean. There are no negative repercussions to this and a lot of people dose it every few months as preventative maintenance. Regardless of how you chemically get rid of it, you will need to adjust the source problem or it will be back aka buy more fish or feed less...

Really because my nutrients have been bottomed out even though i dose phosphates and nitrates and got cyano?

 

[Robert Binz]

Red slime algae, from rise of nutrients usually

In this case his tank is very clearly still in the ugly phase from a new cycling. It has nothing to do with a rise of nutrients, it’s the natural cycle and he’a just gotta wait for it to sort out

 

[skywurz]

Just to be clear my numbers are.
Temp: 77F
PH: 8.2
Salinity: 33.3 ppt (Did not turn off my ATO when i removed 3 or so gallons getting the Cyano)
Ammonia: 0.00 ppm
Nitrite: 0.00 ppm
Nitrate: 0.00 ppm
Phosphate: 0.00 ppm
Calcium: 507 ppm
Alkalinity: 7.9 dkh
Magnesium: 1380 ppm