So this is new... floating black stuff

[susan ingram]

Ok so this just happened. Looked into the tank and saw some black stuff attached to sand floating up to the surface of the tank.
Looked down to the bare bottom and saw this. Fish seem to be ok. Fighting an algae bloom right now. Any ideas and is it poisonous to the fish.. have 2 chromis & a blenny in the 75. Tanks been up for 6 months. Thanks everyone!!! Oh and just I have seen a few bubbles rising every few days. Small in size.

 

[Anubisxii]

Bump

 

[Tired]

Looks like a very thick cyano bloom. Siphon that stuff out!

What are you doing to fight the algae? If you're trying to starve it, stop. You'll starve the helpful algae (that competes with the pests) and also your corals.

By the state of your rock, I'm guessing you started with dry rock. What size tank is it, what cleaners do you have, and what are your exact water parameters? Phosphates and nitrates in particular.

 

[susan ingram]

Thanks. That’s what I thought it was. The rock pictured came from a stable tank. I did purchase live rock when we started out. Just added a new CUC.. urchin and a few snails and crabs.

Have been feeding a few times a week brine shrimp. Phos. is high around 12. Nitrates as well. Not using any chemicals in tank at the moment to control algae. All other parameters are with in range.
Ammonia 0 Salifert test & API
Nitrites .25
pH 8.2
Salinity 1.024

I had fine sand and having trouble getting the remainder out.

Thanks!!!

 

[Tired]

Sorry, your phosphates are 12ppm? Because that would explain an algae problem. 1.2 would be high but workable, 0.12 would be decent, maybe a little high.

Nitrites should be 0, I"m sure you know.

You need to be doing some water changes to get the phosphates and nitrites down. Try not to let nitrates get below about 5ppm. Remove that cyano as much as possible every time you do a water change.

Brine shrimp has very little nutrition. Feed mysis shrimp or a mix of foods instead, preferably at least once a day. Small portions, just frequently.

Don't use any chemicals to control the algae. They just poison it into temporary submission, they don't fix what caused it to bloom in the first place. Algae blooms are reasonable in new tanks or ones that were recently adjusted. Keep your nitrates and phosphates reasonable (but not zero! things will starve), stock an appropriate cleanup crew, manually remove large amounts of algae, and it should sort itself out.

The rock pictured looks very white, though. That doesn't look like established rock to me. When you say live rock, do you mean rock that was in an aquarium at some point, or rock that actually came from the ocean? You want the ocean stuff, loads of biodiversity.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Bacterial- loosen up and siphon. Add 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons as well as liquid vibrant

 

[susan ingram]

Aquarium rock. I do have coralline on a few of the other pieces which I started out with. To control the algae, I have been turning down everything on my AIs to 5% with the exception of uv which remains at 30%. It worked until I turned everything back up to 30%. I will try that again as well. Thanks for the assist! Much appreciated!!

Oh and I can’t get the chromis to eat anything but the dried brine shrimp... I was feeding them frozen mysis and photo plankton but they weren’t having that.

Forgot to mention I also have a gsp added about a month ago.. no growth and a small mushroom coral that was on the new rock.. noticed it about a week after putting in the new rock.

 

[Tired]

Don't use vibrant. Balance, reasonable water parameters, and proper cleanup crew will deal with the stuff just fine. Vibrant just hinders your biodiversity further, and won't do anything to keep the problem from coming back.
Cyanobacteria isn't technically algae, but can be dealt with similarly to it. Though be aware that it can be toxic to fish in large enough amounts.

GSP not growing usually means nutrients are too low. Are you sure your test kits are right? Or you might not have enough light, if you're trying to get rid of the algae via dim lights. No clue what 5% looks like on an AI Prime, but you should be careful not to go any dimmer than is good for corals.

Try mixing the brine shrimp with some mysis. Maybe dried mysis?

 

[susan ingram]

Ok will do!! Thanks & welcome to R2R!!!

 

[susan ingram]

Bacterial- loosen up and siphon. Add 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10 gallons as well as liquid vibrant

I’m not familiar with vibrant, I have used Seaver’s Prime & Stabilize in the past. Will check into the Vibrant. So you are in agreement I am guessing.. cyno? I am asking just to cover all my bases! Thanks!!