What is this?

ArowanaLover1902 · Apr 18, 2018

Its been on the sandbed for a bit its very unsightly and I'd like it gone. Its not slimy like cyano (not that I've totally ruled that out) and it doesn't grow on the rockwork at all, is it just diatoms? How should I get rid of it. Also attached is a graph of my reef parameters.

ArowanaLover1902 · Apr 18, 2018

Theres also this stuff on two of my zoas, what is it?

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 18, 2018

Sorry , I can’t make out what’s in the zoas.

Looks like a cyano in the first one. Again a bit hard to say.

My first thought is look at the foods you’re feeding. Coral foods and aminos number one.

ArowanaLover1902 · Apr 18, 2018

I feed liquid phytoplankton, liquid zooplankton, and reef roids. I also give a few pellets to the fish 1-2x a week. Is it hair algae? If I cut the lights for about 2 days do you think that'll kill it? I could add some chaeto to the fuge too, that way it's current food would be consumed. That's what I did last time I had cyano (without the chaeto)

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 18, 2018

Yea chato would be a good start for sure.
Honestly I’d stop any of the phyto dosing and coral foods unless you have NPS and bivalves or feather dusters.

Corals don’t “need” to be fed much in all honesty.

My assumption is it’s the dissolved organics building up on the sand bed And rotting.

ArowanaLover1902 · Apr 18, 2018

I do have a feather duster, would it be a good idea to target feed him a bit. I'll step up my clean up crew too. I'll also order in some chaeto as soon as I take the time to redo my sump

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 18, 2018

Yea, I have a lot of nps and bi valves. Dusters can be a trick to spot feed. I rotate my foods Over the week. Besides that , One trick I use is to simply blow off the rocks and let it dust up the tank. That way there are particles in the water and it doesn’t add a lot extra nutrients.

IMO , spot feeding can help , but having food in the water is better. They can feed longer.
So it’s kind of a balance and reuses the food you may have already put in.

looneywun · Apr 18, 2018

its cyano. try chemiclean it should clean it up

ArowanaLover1902 · Apr 18, 2018

Alright just did as much manual removal as possible (its hard, I feel like more of it may just get buried under the sandbed, which I suppose is fine too (already low nutrients and its there, so I assume if it can't get light for a few days down there it'll die and cut back a great deal). I'll order in some chemiclean. I feel like a big part of the problem is that I have very little coraline algae, I hope that starts soon, my rocks would look so much better.

saltyfilmfolks · Apr 18, 2018

ArowanaLover1902 said:
Alright just did as much manual removal as possible (its hard, I feel like more of it may just get buried under the sandbed, which I suppose is fine too (already low nutrients and its there, so I assume if it can't get light for a few days down there it'll die and cut back a great deal). I'll order in some chemiclean. I feel like a big part of the problem is that I have very little coraline algae, I hope that starts soon, my rocks would look so much better.

What Light is it ?
Do you have a build thread?

Young tanks are funny. As far as nutrients go, it’s like building bacteria in your gut kinda. The older it is the more there are. Especially if one starts with dry rock. So with little bacteria there’s more food for unwanted bacteria (and other organisms)like cyano.

BigJohnny · Apr 18, 2018

ArowanaLover1902 said:
I feed liquid phytoplankton, liquid zooplankton, and reef roids. I also give a few pellets to the fish 1-2x a week. Is it hair algae? If I cut the lights for about 2 days do you think that'll kill it? I could add some chaeto to the fuge too, that way it's current food would be consumed. That's what I did last time I had cyano (without the chaeto)

yea just cut back on all the coral foods. try cutting them in half or dose every other day if previously dosing daily.

quick question though, are you saying you only feed your fish 1-2x a week, and pellets at that?

ArowanaLover1902 · Apr 18, 2018

I have no clue what light it is, its some knockoff china brand that I got from the guy who built the tank. It works great for coral growth and I have separate dimmers on the white and green vs red and blue, I run it with full red and blue and very low white and green. I have about half live rock. I do have a build thread, its attached in my signature.

I don't dose, and I will cut back on everything. I do only feed a few pellets a week, and they are all extremely healthy. I only have a few fish though
- My royal gramma has the best pigmentation of any I've ever seen (sadly he may have to go, he's mean). I've been doing it for almost a year too.
- My clownfish who I only have because my little sister likes nemo who looks great and is always happy
- My yellow watchman goby he is always perching on a rock or hiding in his cave, one of my favorites
- My lawnmower blenny, this is my problem fish, I never ever see him eat the pellets but somehow he is often incredibly obese (gut sticks out) he has incredible colors (I didn't know lawnmower blennies had blue spots sometimes) and his little "eyebrows" are in perfect shape (I think they are a good indicator as I've never seen them in unhealthy ones (petco)
I'd feed more if they wanted it (and I think I have enough evidence to say they don't) and always switch to every day when I add a new fish (not that the gramma doesn't just kill them after a day or two)

P.S. - Sorry I don't currently have any good pictures of the other two fish, the blenny is mainly nocturnal (and evening/morning/coral food time) and I just don't have any recent pictures of the goby.