My self induced cyanobacterial bloom

[SeymourDuncan]

Here's a quick refresher

Overflow goes into stink tank which overflows to sump.

Stink tank contains plant rated lighting and a pile of rock.

I have a skimmer and a small chaeto (like golfball sized) wad so I have a light down on it but its pretty pointless.


One convenient aspect of this halfway tank is that if detritus is building up you can simply siphon it down into the stink tank!


You could use a filter sock too..as long as its swapped out daily.

Lighting options, pinpoint your nuisance.
Some algae grows better under blues some under red. Mostly red though. Overkill isn't necessary either. I found that my dimmest fixture is working better than the 150w halide.

At this point I am curious to see what will progress down south. Will it get thicker or will it some how disappear or get consumed by other life forms?


Stay tuned!

 

[alberthiel]

I am staying tuned .... Seems to work for you and as you say sort of like a scrubber type ... transfer the muck to another tank ... in this case not algae per see but every other nuisance growth ... Interesting .. .

 

[kes]

very interesting indeed. hope this works out in the end

 

[alberthiel]

Staying tuned SeymourDuncan ... what's the latest update btw ... if I may ask ? Last one was from July ...

 

[SeymourDuncan]

So far it has been pretty slimy, in a good way.

I barely have signs of cyano In the display still...however there are still small diatom dustings. I will have to hold off on a picture of the cyano scrubber until tomorrow but I plan on adding another light of a different spectrum in hopes the diatoms may feel more at home there as well...and not on my sand.

I have only small patches of green algae that my tang loves to keep at bay, so I haven't tried reducing it to nothing for his sake.

My thought and feelings as of now: I'm very glad i did this. Its helped more than not, and at the very least gives me a 3rd environment for whatever may not be thriving elsewhere. Any chance at making a new environment should be taken.

 

[Fragmatic Jr.]

I love it! It's all about completing the Eco system! Good job and great info. I'm staying connected to this one. Thanks for sharing the "experiment"!

 

[alberthiel]

I love it! It's all about completing the Eco system! Good job and great info. I'm staying connected to this one. Thanks for sharing the "experiment"!

Yes indeed a very interesting experiment ... sort of a scrubber but for cyanos etc .... and not just algae ... I am following as well ..

 

[alberthiel]

So far it has been pretty slimy, in a good way.

I barely have signs of cyano In the display still...however there are still small diatom dustings. I will have to hold off on a picture of the cyano scrubber until tomorrow but I plan on adding another light of a different spectrum in hopes the diatoms may feel more at home there as well...and not on my sand.

I have only small patches of green algae that my tang loves to keep at bay, so I haven't tried reducing it to nothing for his sake.

My thought and feelings as of now: I'm very glad i did this. Its helped more than not, and at the very least gives me a 3rd environment for whatever may not be thriving elsewhere. Any chance at making a new environment should be taken.

No rush on the pics ... whenever you have some that are good to show progress and what is going on ... that's the right time to post ... Thanks

 

[Eienna]

I thought diatoms actually preferred somewhat lower light?

 

[alberthiel]

I thought diatoms actually preferred somewhat lower light?

Oh no they like the light ...and silicates in the water ...

 

[SeymourDuncan]

...Now the next tests will be whether or not I can get both cyano and diatoms in the same area and what type of lighting will give both the PAR they prefer along with the perfect kelvin combo.

I may have to add a 2nd scrubber dedicated to diatoms alone. They do love silicates, and in my old tank with silicate sand they grew as thick as whale blubber. I could try to replicate that again? I can say for a fact that they are light fiends. I had a 400w halide on a 29 once just for a day and they covered EVERYTHING! I don't want to use that much electricity, but then it also makes me wonder If I am using too much power on my LEDs. Corals look happy

 

[Eienna]

Oh no they like the light ...and silicates in the water ...

Perhaps FW and SW diatoms are slightly different.

 

[Acroholic]

Have you ever considered just doing a 2 day Chemi-Clean treatment and calling it a day? That's what I do, and it works every time. I need to do it once a year or so.

 

[alberthiel]

...Now the next tests will be whether or not I can get both cyano and diatoms in the same area and what type of lighting will give both the PAR they prefer along with the perfect kelvin combo.

I may have to add a 2nd scrubber dedicated to diatoms alone. They do love silicates, and in my old tank with silicate sand they grew as thick as whale blubber. I could try to replicate that again? I can say for a fact that they are light fiends. I had a 400w halide on a 29 once just for a day and they covered EVERYTHING! I don't want to use that much electricity, but then it also makes me wonder If I am using too much power on my LEDs. Corals look happy

6500 K should be just fine to get the diatoms growing in the yukkie tank IMO .... and not sure you need another scrubber .... too much equipment and it gets too much for most hobbyists to deal with and implement IME ... and yes they love light .. you may want to use 2 100 watt equivalent CFT/CFL 6500 K ones and a round metallic shop light to screw them into, one for ach bulb ... Lowes sells them and so does Home Depot ... 2 bulbs should run you about $12 and the shop lights around 1o bucks each ... if you need pics of them let me know ...

 

[alberthiel]

Have you ever considered just doing a 2 day Chemi-Clean treatment and calling it a day? That's what I do, and it works every time. I need to do it once a year or so.

Yes that works indeed but I guess he is trying to find a non-chemical way to arrive at the same result but the 2 days treatment you suggest works very well indeed based on all the feedback that I got on a thread about Cyanos on another forum than this one ...

 

[Eienna]

I managed to end up with both cyano and diatoms at the same time XD bet you could.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

Yeah, Chemi-free is the way for me! keep in mind this was an intentional bloom and not a regular problem for me since i have started the build. Purely educational.

I will try upping the wattage, going to town tomorrow for dinner so i will see what they have in stock. My luck predicts 3300k out the wazoo and no daylight...that's how it is locally most of the time.

 

[Eienna]

I get my bulbs from amazon.com.

 

[SeymourDuncan]

Got a link? I'd like to check them out for sure. Might be right what I need

 

[Eienna]

Got a link? I'd like to check them out for sure. Might be right what I need

Exactly which kind do you need? I'd be more than happy to hunt 'em up for ya.