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Cyanobacteria? Reading? -- 9/24/07 Hello WWM, <Geri in MA> I believe I have Cyanobacteria in my 55 gallon marine tank <I assure you, it is most everywhere> and I have tried everything to get rid of it. I vacuumed it off the substrate, did a partial replacement of substrate, cleaned the filters, sump, skimmer, glass and ornaments, and dipped the live rock in conditioned water using a toothbrush to scrape it off. <Uhh, what about addressing root causes?> Just when it appears to be completely gone, it starts creeping back. It appears on the substrate first as a coppery red dusting and then starts to cover everything in the tank and filters. I am at my wits end. Do you recommend using a bacteriostatic to stop it from multiplying? <I do not> I have fish, snails, crabs, shrimp and live rock. Can you recommend anything else to do to kill this stuff? <All sorts... competition, predation, nutrient deprivation...> What is causing it? <Mmm, life... and propitious circumstances that favor it over other life forms> I also have green slimy stuff that looks like cyano too but the hermit crabs eat at it every night and keep it in check. Thank you for any advice you can give me. Geri in Newton, MA <Read here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bluegralgae.htm and the linked files above, where you lead yourself... Bob Fenner> Re: Yellow Watchman Goby... Now BGA control 9/13/07 Thanks a lot for the reassurance. It is always hard when you are a beginner aquarist and have low confidence. I have a had an Octopus bimaculoides with some damsels in the past. I have never lost a fish yet (keep fingers crossed) except the octo which seemed to live his full life with me. Your website is a real inspiration and I thank you for your support. Paul P.S. I have a wicked Cyanobacteria problem for months now, PH 8.1, nitrates less than 5 mg/l, Hardness 2.5meq/l, temp 75F. Berlin airlift skimmer producing a cup every 3 days. I keep a log and do monthly 5% water changes, <More frequent, higher percentage> my fish load is quite light I think in comparison to most tanks, four small fish in 75 gallons with 40 pounds of live rock and fluidized bed filter, <This may be a large part of the problem> return pump is a QuietOne 2200 with a 4 foot head (the return is quite vigorous) , I have two additional pumps in the tank to reduce dead spots, 3 20W compact fluorescent actinics from Coralife. I am really stumped, each fish gets five grains of food twice per day, I use Sera. I then make sure the shrimps and serpent get a few grains. The shrimps make sure NOTHING is left uneaten, along with the hermits. Any recommendations? I will do whatever you say! <Please read... http://www.wetwebmedia.com/cyanocontrolfaqs.htm and the linked files above. BobF>
Banded Cat Shark - Some Questions... too small sys., BGA control, using WWM 8/30/07 Mr Fenner (and crew), <Etay> first i would like to say that i accidentally stumbled on you're site while searching for some background info on the banded cat shark and found it loaded with important and viral <Heee!> information. I since then read other FAQ's and marked this site as i feel i will return to it often !! <Okay!> ill start with some background info before the questions :) i have a 100 gallon reef tank, currently housing: lg. coral banded shrimp ( separated due to super friken aggressive dude and killing all my fish all the time!! ) <CBS can be this way> copperband butterfly (med) tomato clown (lg) blue devil damsel ( only one left because of the damn shrimp ) yellow damsel various cleaning inverts. filtration: 3 inch high live sand bed <Mmm, should be more or less... see WWM re> red sea Berlin turbo skimmer 12W UV unit 10Gal sump containing everything w/ some bioballs under skimmer return Magnum Canister ( broke a leak 2 weeks ago, need to replace with a red sea Oceanclear ) latest tests (yesterday): SPG: 1.023 pH: 8.2 NH3: 0.0 HO2: 0.0 NO3: < 0.2 Cu: < 0.5 mg/L <I hope so... should be zip, zero, nada> Alk: 3.5 mEq/L ( 175 ppm CaCO3 ) tank conditions are usually stable, i perform monthly 25% changes and rarely check water for anything more the spg and pH unless there are visible issues. I have had a banded cat shark long ago (~6years), when i was still in Israel, unfortunately at the time i was totally unaware of the sharks sensitivity to electrical currents and i guess that caused it to get really unwell and eventually die :( it exhibited symptoms of sporadic twitching and laying on its back on the bottom of the tank... Israeli electricity runs 220VAC and not 110VAC, which may have increased the problem even more... <May be...> After that i figured i should not try again, I have been diving since age 15 and have seen other sharks in nature, i feel these beautiful animals should not be captured for display by those who are incapable of caring for them, i certainly was not. <We are in agreement> That said, last week when visiting the fish store i saw he had a newly hatched banded cat shark and he mentioned the egg was there for 4 weeks now and no one got it.. i was hesitating for a while because i feel my tank is much more suitable than the store and the animal will die there eventually... Eventually i decided to get the shark <Not to go in the 100 detailed above I hope> and with it all that i could think i need; - I got the grounding probe which i so needed last time! (and good that i did, before installing i checked the water against ground - 35VAC!! ) <Mmm, where is this stray voltage coming from? I would systematically unplug all items... check their polarity, assure that they are all wired through a GFCI... before running the tank another day> - I got fresh squid and shrimp but have not yet made feeding attempt - the animal hatched 3 days ago, i figured ill give it till end of week to acclimate... - after reading your FAQ i will be ordering the supplement tablets you use. <Mazuri likely> I am aware of the fact this tank is way to <too> small for this shark, <So... what are you going to do?> i have little rock arranged in a center island form so at this size it can still circle it on the sand and have several caves to go under. Me and my wife are planning to buy a house this year and i am planning to install an in-wall 300-400gallon aquarium, which should be more than sufficient. if this does not happen and the shark gets too big to start getting abrasions by rock i will have to donate it to the NY aquarium or anywhere else it can be cared for... <... will likely be too late... all too common circular "logic"> so, as to my questions: 1. i have never medicated my tank at any circumstance, i feel if a fish gets ick, lack of stress and good environment is the best i can do, if it does not survive i feel bad but i do not want copper traces or any other thing that can hit my corals ( mushrooms only really ) to be in the tank. I have recently got some red slime growing in my tank and was wondering if the UltraLife red slime remover is a reef safe as claimed <No...> and more important shark safe and if i can safely use it to remove the red slime. <No... and what happened to your laissez-faire attitude re disease above? I would investigate causes and fix them...> the seller argued it is antibiotics mostly and should not harm any reef animals but i am not convinced. <... Please read both: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/maralgcidefaqs.htm and: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bluegralgae.htm and the linked files above... The chemical trtmt. is very likely to result in the loss of all livestock> 2. i have not been testing my tank as extensively as yesterday unless something shows signs of trouble, should i be keeping more close tabs at readings with this animal? <Oh yes> 3. how do you know if its a boy or girl? :) <Posted... the presence/absence of claspers...> 4. how after to feed? last time i was offering every day, the shark would eat but not everyday, but always by morning it was gone somewhere... wondering if this is not too much? <posted and posted and...> 5. any additions/changes to the filtration systems i should be thinking of? any special concerns when planning the filtration system for the new planned tank? mainly i wanted to know about the red slime remover... tanks for all the helpful info!! regards, Etay <Have just skipped down. These answers and much more useful/important related material is already posted on our site. Please don't abuse our trust... Learn to/use the indices, search tool... You have much to take in... and quickly. Bob Fenner> BGA Question 8/24/07 Hello Crew. I'm sorry to bug you yet again, but I have the start of a BGA problem that I want to nip in the bud. I have read all the WWM information on BGA and believe I have taken/am taking appropriate steps to try to eliminate it/keep it in check (as discussed below). Nevertheless, it seems to be getting worse. I have had my tank up and running for about 6-7 months and until recently have never had a problem with BGA. I have a 110g display filtered by a wet-dry trickle, a Coral Life Super Skimmer, a 30g refugium (7 lbs live rock, 3-5" DSB, and Chaeto), and 70lbs live rock in the display. I also keep about 2 cups of Kent Reef Carbon in the sump at all times, swap it out for fresh every month. Lighting is by 6 Current T5 HO lights (4 54W 10,000K and 2 54W 460nm actinics), with a photoperiod of 12 hours. The fuge is on a reverse daylight cycle. I have three power heads in my tank circulating 820 gph (2 MaxiJet 1200s and 1 MaxiJet 900) in the top third of my tank, plus a drilled vertical return pipe (Little Giant 1325 gph), which I can tell from watching my hairy green shrooms and macro (in the lower third of my display) create pretty decent random flow. It appears, although I have not been swimming (hee hee), that circulation is good throughout the tank. <All reads as good...> I have 5 fish: a Sailfin Tang; a Brown Combtooth Blenny; a Gold Stripe Maroon; a Royal Gramma; and a Citron Goby. As for inverts, I have 2 cleaner shrimp, a Sally Lightfoot, 24 or so hermits, a dozen snails, 6 hairy green mushrooms, 5 red mushrooms, 2 orange Ricordea, a BTA, two small unidentified tree corals of some sort, and a Lemnalia. Obviously, I also have various LR hitchhikers, including two crabs and (based on my review of "Odd Invert With Eight Tree Branch Shaped Tentacles! Holothuroid 8/21/07", a small cucumber). <Indication of all going well here...> I do 10% water changes with Instant Ocean that I mix a week before in a 32g covered Rubbermaid, circulated by a power head. Mix and top-off water is RO/DI, and my TDS meter shows 0 ppm coming out. I have not recently tested my phosphates, but I did before I started using RO/DI a few months ago and it was 0 or very close to 0. Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all 0. Calcium is 400, alk is 4 meq/L, and pH is 8.2. The only things I dose are Kent CB Calcium/Buffer every night (I don't add the buffer if the alk seems okay), and Iodine once per week with water changes. In the last few weeks, BGA has started to overtake my substrate. Most of my LR is pacific, but I do have 3 pieces of Florida aquacultured rock, and the BGA has started to cover one of those pieces <I wonder why there?> and the Caulerpa that is growing on that piece. All LR has been in the tank for several months. I try to siphon the BGA off the substrate when I do my water changes, but it's not all that effective and, in fact, I think it may actually help the BGA proliferate. <Yikes> I feed 2 times per day--a pinch of Formula One flake (I've tried Formula One pellets, but the fish won't touch them) or Spirulina flake followed a few hours later by half a cube of frozen Mysid shrimp or squid, which I thaw and drain before introducing into my tank. For the tree corals, I target feed Cyclop-eeze every few days. For the BTA, I target feed frozen Mysid, fresh cut-up oyster, or cut-up squid about once per week. I just added the Lemnalia to my tank and have added some DTs once since introduction (by the way, is there a better food for this coral/should I rely instead on my fuge, which is teaming with pods?). <Mmm, if this Nephtheid appears "fine" otherwise, I would not add more food here> Although it doesn't seem like I overfeed, I know that almost everyone does so I'm trying to be careful. I have installed a Tunze Osmolator to keep my skimmer (which is in my sump) at optimal performance, and I get a decent (although not a copious) amount of dark green skimmate each day (probably 1/2 cup or so, sometimes less and sometimes more). <Okay> I soak my frozen food (once thawed) in Selcon. Is it possible that the use of Selcon every day is polluting my water and causing the BGA? <I would not use daily... once a week likely will suffice> If so, how often should I soak the frozen if not every day? The only other thing I can think of is that the BGA started to proliferate around the time I switched to the Kent CB (was previously using Purple Up). <I am not a fan of this product... nor are a few other WWM Crew> I find it hard to believe, especially with frequent testing, that this product could be at fault. <Might be a contributor> Can you think of anything else? <Mmm, this system is relatively new at 6,7 months old... Likely "just" succession at play here... I would cut back on feeding, turn the lights on your refugium on for a few more hours per day (overlapping the main/system light period), and be (or at least try to be) patient here> I thank you in advance for your help. Andy <Thank you for sharing, writing so well/thoroughly. Bob Fenner>
Mysterious Coral Bleaching, Not Such A Mystery (Antibiotics Administered To The Display System) -- 08/08/07 Dear WWM Crew, <<Hello Bill>> Please lend me your thoughts. <<Sure thing>> Recently (within the past week) I noticed two Montipora corals in my tank that have been acclimated and growing well begin to bleach. Within the past two days a few small Pocillopora and Acropora began to bleach as well and polyps hid. <<Mmm, an environmental issue of some sort>> I've checked the tank parameters - everything seems rather on par -- 75 gallon tank -Alkalinity - 4.2 (may be a bit high?) <<Considering you Calcium is over 400...yes, a bit>> -Calcium - 420 -Nitrate - 0 -Temp - 74 - 76 night and day <<Probably fine but a little on the cool side in my opinion>> -SG- 1.024 <<Better than many I've seen but bumping to NSW levels (1.025/1.026) is best>> -Lighting - 2 * 250 10K, 4 * 96 actinic. All the corals have loved the light to this point. <<Unless the bulbs are 'very' old this is likely not the issue>> I think my problem may be one of two things, or a combo of both. I used a cycle of "Chemi Clean" Cyanobacteria remover which threw my protein skimmer way out of cycle. <<Ugh! It has done much more harm than that I fear...you have likely wiped out much of your biological filtration. You didn't list an Ammonia reading but you need to check this right away...as well as preparing/performing large water changes and adding chemical filtration (Carbon/Poly-Filter/Chemi-Pure) to try to keep the buildup of nitrogenous compounds under control until bacteria has a chance to repopulate>> It is creating massive amounts of micro-bubbles so I haven't been able to run it properly. <<Possibly overcome by the increased organics load...perhaps you can adjust it 'down' a bit>> I am doing a third partial water change today (in the last week) to try to remove excess chemicals so I can get my skimmer running normally (not overflowing the collection cup constantly). <<The water changes probably explain why your Nitrate reading was zero. Do try to get the skimmer back in service...perhaps throttling it back a bit to slow down the overfilling of the skimmer cup>> There is also one leather coral in the tank, could the lack of chemical filtration for the past two weeks, or that in conjunction with the leather emitting toxins be killing these previously healthy corals? <<Is definitely a contributor...at the very least is exacerbating the situation. Get some chemical filtration going!>> Any advice? <<Yes...don't administer antibiotics to your display system...and start reading here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bluegralgae.htm>> Thanks! Bill <<Regards, EricR>> Re: Mysterious Coral Bleaching, Not Such A Mystery (Antibiotics Administered To The Display System) - 08/10/07 Eric, <<Bill>> Thank you for the thoughts and advice. <<You're quite welcome>> I will NEVER use any Cyano "solution" again. <<Are surely trouble...>> The day before I received your email I placed carbon and Chemi-pure in my sump. <<Excellent! Though do consider a purposeful reactor/canister filter for such to achieve maximum effect>> Yesterday the skimmer began working again (it wasn't working at the lowest flow setting previously) for the first time after another partial water change and two days of the carbon/Chemi-pure in the sump. <<Mmm...a good sign>> Question - now that the skimmer is running how long should I leave the carbon/Chemi-pure in the sump for additional filtration as I do not want to remove trace elements for too long? <<I prefer to 'always' have some chemical filtrant in my system (I employ two reactors with cut-up Poly-Filter on my 375). I feel the benefits far outweigh any small loss of trace elements...and the latter is of very small/no concern really with regular water changes. In fact, there have been writings on the possible buildup of trace elements to toxic levels in our 'enclosed' systems as many of these elements can enter our tanks through different avenues, not the least of which is the foods we feed>> Thanks Again, Bill <<Always happy to help. Eric Russell>> Winning the Cyano War 8/8/07 Hello WW Crew, and 'thanks' for your input on this one. <Welcome> I am currently waging war on Cyanobacteria, of which I have suffered some severe plagues in the past but I believe that I am now winning this war. Over the past week, I have witnessed an occurrence which I have not seen before to such a degree. I'll get to it in a minute, but first, some specifics: The tank is a 46 gal. bow; Emperor 400 running for circulation/chemical media/filter pads; CPR Bak-Pak; ~ 55 lbs. of live rock; ~ 2' sugar sand bed; <Would be better thinner or deeper...> powerheads = water turnover of about 20x/hr. The system has been running for 7 years. The livestock includes a smaller Ones-spot Rabbitfish (3.5' -- to be moved eventually), a Tomato Clown, an Azure Damsel, an Emerald Crab, 3 Pacific Nassarius snails, and 3 giant Tongan snails (these are a delight, by the way, rising out of the sand rapidly when they detect food has been added to the tank). In a diligent effort to reduce the cyano I have done the following: changing activated carbon every two weeks; added Chemi-Pure Elite two weeks ago and rinse it weekly; added 1 pouch of Algone 3 days ago to further help reduce nitrates from 60 ppm; cleaning skimmer and filter monthly; blow off the LR daily with a baster or powerhead; reduced feeding (especially after removing a killer Yellow Dottyback this past weekend); I vacuum LR while performing a 10% water change weekly with RO/DI water, utilizing Red Sea's Coral Pro salt. I offer no additives other than 1 capful of Purple Up daily. SG = 1.025 to 1.026 consistently; ammonia = 0; Nitrite = 0; Nitrates high at 40-50 ppm; <... too high> Phosphates not detectable; (have not checked for Silicates); Calcium ~ 400; temp is 79-80° F. during the daytime. I feed moderately the following: 6 days a week various frozen foods including Mysis, algae mixtures, crab, shrimp, plankton, squid, Cyclop-Eeze, etc. I drain the juice from these frozen food preparations soaked in Selcon & garlic; once or twice a day a small pinch of Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef, Formula 1, or Formula 2 flakes that can be consumed in less than 1 minute; occasional treats like Seachem's Nutri-Diet small whole shrimp or finely chopped shrimp/seafoods from store. I am afraid to say this'¦..I have never had any disease or signs of disease in this tank. The only source of elevated nitrates that I can determine is the possible die-off of the blue-green algae (which in turn feeds that which is still living/growing). <Ah, yes> The big change that I have noticed over the past week is that during the night all the LR is covered with a fine to course white film'¦..lots of it! The coralline doesn't even shine through. Now, some portion of this is the fine sugar sand substrate which the Tomato Clown enjoys fanning into the water column, for some reason (what's that all about?); however, the largest portion of this material seems to be a mix of detritus and other organic/inorganic matter. What can this possibly be that covers the décor every night? <Detritus from biological and simple chemical activity in the rock...> Is it die-off from the Cyanobacteria or do you have any clues here to help determine what else might be occurring? The cyano is not near as prevalent as before and the coralline is spreading rapidly. If I could solve this one mystery I might truly say that I am winning this war. Thanks again to my friends at WWM. David A. Bell <I cannot encourage you enough to add a refugium... with a DSB here. Bob Fenner> Red slime algae... reading 8/7/07 Hello, I have a 55 gal salt water aquarium. I am having a terrible time with red slime algae growing on my sand. My aquarium is setup with: 40 lbs live rock 40 lbs live sand 2 65 watt actinic compact fluorescents <Please see WWM re... I would switch at least one of these out for more white> 2 65 watt daylight Bak pak protein skimmer canister filter w/ 2 ChemiPure bags & 1 bag phosphex <Not a big fan of canisters for marine systems as primary...> 1 tang <Not enough room> 1 cardinal 1porcipine puffer <Ditto, definitely> 4 damsels 1maroon clown <Too aggressive for this setting...> 1BTA <Mmmm, needs more light... this tank is a standard... 22 inches deep...?> 3 mushrooms 3 feather dusters 8 snails I have had the red algae off and on now for about three months. I have used ChemiPure red slime remover <I wouldn't... please see WWM...> which works for about three days to a week. Then it returns stronger than ever. <... the root causes/circumstances that allow this BGA have not changed...> The slime seems to only be growing on my sand and no place else. I do a 20 % water change after each treatment w/ Ro water. I do not add any additives to my water such as phytoplankton or ZooPlex. All levels are at 0. I have cut my lights back to 8hrs a day but I do not know if this is to low for my BTA. <Yes... see WWM... bad for the Anemone and won't help with the algae> Also my BTA has turned brownish looking and does not have bubble tips anymore but looks healthy. It has looked like this since about a month after I purchased it. I have had it now for about 5 months. any suggestions on how to make it look better or become healthier. If you could please help w/ the slime algae problem I would greatly appreciate it. I have talked to many people and read over more material than I can intake nothing swims to work. Please Help. Brad <.... please learn to/use the search tool and indices on WWM... Your answers are all there and so much more... Perhaps start reading here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/cyanocontrolfaqs.htm and the linked files above. Bob Fenner> BGA HELP! 7/25/07 Good evening my fellow reefers. I hope all is well. One question regarding my BGA problem. I have read all the archives and other info pertaining to high nitrates and high phosphates being the main problem with the slimy fast growing bright green algae bloom I have. My tank has been "alive" for almost a month now. My diatom is slowly going away but giving into the BGA. 46 gallon bow, 25 pounds live rock, 20lbs live sand, 7 pounds GARF GRUNGE <Mmm, am compelled to state that I would not waste my money on this pounded dead rock...> on the way in attempts to stabilize the tank. <Won't> As I found out that a 46 gallon is just to <too> small for any kind of tang, I will be adding another 15 lbs of live rock here pretty soon and just making it a full reef tank. <Good> I originally wanted some room for the tang to swim but have been turned against it. All readings are great. Ammonia-0, Nitrite-0, Nitrate- under5(if that) , phosphate-a big fat 0 . <Can be rapidly absorbed by the BGA, other metabolic processes... Like "terrorists", not a static dynamic> Im using Chemi-pure elite and have been all along. <Ahh, likely this has been ad-sorbing the HPO4...> Finally the question- is my BGA just a product of the tank maturing. <Likely a principal factor, yes> I have heard that every reefer will encounter some form of this... mainly being the red kind however. <Mmm, comes, occurs in many colors...> I have done one 5 gallon water change and one 7 gallon. The 7 gallon was just done last weekend. I have a simple set up mainly using the live rock and a Aqua C Remora Pro for the filtration. I have a power filter for the Chemi-pure and the occasional polyfilter. In a couple of months I will upgrade to the Hang On Tank Refugium. But that's it, so if you could give me any insights as to what, why I am getting this bloom. Thanks. <Can't discern anything striking from your presentation here, but the changes you are initiating... This too shall likely go. Bob Fenner> Re: Pretty algae doesn't grow, BGA cont. 7/25/07 Thanks, Bob, for your reply. <Welcome Tom> I've been reading and thinking. <Ah, good> One thing I've done is replace my three AquaClear 30 powerheads with four new Maxi-Jet 900s. Those, plus a Penguin 170 (without Bio-Wheel), and Aqua-C Remora now provide a lot of circulation. <Allright> My 96w 50/50 bulb is less than 5 months old, so it still should be OK. I use an Eheim automatic feeder, and when I observe the feedings (two per day), they sure look conservative to me. My source water is RO/DI. Lastly, I have three other tanks (38 gal, 20 gal, 15 gal), and none of them has this Cyanobacteria problem. <Always interesting eh?> But I wonder if there is one other clue here. In my problem tank, I have added crushed coral on two occasions. I don't think I have more than an inch on the bottom, so it is pretty easy to siphon clean. However, it seems like my skimmer stops producing for a few weeks after adding the crushed coral. It also seems like I have had to supplement inordinately to keep my alkalinity and calcium up. <Mmm, a likely candidate...> As to my other problem-free tanks, they are all different in a variety of ways, but none has crushed coral. Two are bare bottomed, and the other has an inch of fine aragonite sand. <Ahh!> Is there something about crushed coral that could be the source of my problem. <Yes...> Just a hunch. I wanted to see if it rings a bell for you. Tom <I do encourage you to siphon out/remove the current crushed coral, and replace it with sand here. Bob Fenner> Re: Pretty algae doesn't grow, Cyano cont. -- 07/25/07 Thanks again, Bob. <Welcome> I will siphon out the crushed coral, and probably replace it with sand after the Cyanobacteria is gone from the rocks. <Good plan> Your site has a number of exchanges that implicate crushed coral as a problem. Usually it is seen as a detritus trap. In at least one case, it sounded like the crushed coral was a source of phosphates, which I take to mean something different from simply trapping detritus. <Yes, this is so> I'm curious why an inch of crushed coral might trap detritus better than an inch of fine sand. <A matter of size of material that can fit twixt mostly... Differing microbes... that live in hypoxic to anoxic worlds> Or why crushed coral could be a source of phosphate, while aragonite sand is not. <Differing solubilities, physical structures by and large...> Any thoughts? <All sorts> Tom <BobF> Green Slime Algae Question !! 7/22/07 Thank goodness you guys are around. Without you, who knows where us novice reefers would be. I've gone through the whole algae archive, alot <No such word> to read as you know, and am still slightly confused on one issue. Quick tank footprint here...46 bow, 25 lbs live rock, 3 green reef chromis, hermits, snails, no coral yet... <Research needs, compatibility ahead of purchase...> tank has been "alive and bio cycled for 4 weeks now". Meaning I used completely cured live rock from my LFS. They had it in their tanks for 4 weeks guaranteed, and never had the ammonia nor nitrite show up any of my test. I wanted to wait as long as possible before I added my first coral. This will only be a Zoanthid and mushroom tank with a few mobile inverts and fish. My diatom bloom as pretty much disappeared and had noticed this morning that I was getting the first hint of coralline algae already. As this is pretty early in the stages for this, I was pretty darn excited. As I got home the same day...a prolific green slime algae problem sprung. Now all I can find info on is this "blue-green slime algae which would suggest to many nutrients, time for a water change. I hate this term blue-green algae as mine is bright, bright, very fluorescent green( glow in the dark green ) algae. Looks very slimy. Is this the infamous blue-green. <Likely...> Although I have only done one 10% water change, tomorrow happens to be my next on the schedule, does this mean that's all my tank needs. <Mmm, only one approach... what do your water quality tests show?> Is something else out of whack. My Remora Pro is skimming wonderfully, I am using a week old (brand new) Chemi-pure Elite which is supposed to remove phosphate. <A good product. Of use here> Using DI water to top off and used this to set up tank. I have heard somewhere that there is a green coralline, but this stuff I have is no where near incrusting, very slimy. <Indicative of BGA> Can you help? Because I never saw the ammonia and nitrite spike, should I already have done more water changes for a 4 week old tank. Haven't purchased a nitrate test yet. I know, know, its next on my list. But only a four week old tank. could that be the problem already? Again, I wanted more room for fish to swim and only have 25lbs of live rock for a 46 bow. Again, your help is much appreciated. Thanks. <... Where are the spaces between your sentences? Please review your English before sending... And do review here: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/bluegralgae.htm and the linked files above. Bob Fenner> Re: Green Slime Algae Question !! -- 07/22/07 Geez
Bob, a little hard on me don't you think. At least I spelled check
which is more that I can say for most of the emails you guys receive.
<Heeeeee!> It could have used a few more corrections I grant you
that. I will try harder in the future to send a more correct email.
Anyway, one more question I have if you could be so kind to answer it
for me. You guys are very helpful. Is it detrimental to scrub the BGA
off the live rock. <Can be... better to "scrub n'
vac"> Will that hurt the "good" bacteria I so
desperately need on them. Or is this the correct way to go? <Mmm,
not always... in your case... apparent "light" situation,
adding macroalgae might "do it"... definitely adding a
refugium with such, a DSB... would> More frequent water changes are
needed as I have 1/2 pound live rock per gallon. I plan on adding 10
lbs very soon to get closer to the suggested pounds per gallon. Thank
you for your time and help. <Keep reading. RMF>
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