Cynao in fuge but not DT?

[Canyon08]

Hey all. So I’ve been running my tank for about a year now and recently I have a bit of a cynao problem in my sump but none in my DT, which is having some diatoms issues. You can see my most current params in my build thread if nutrients are of concern. What could be the cause of this? And any ideas on how to remedy would be greatly appreciated!! TIA!

 

[lapin]

Cyano likes light and no flow. A well lit fuge is perfect place for it to hang out

 

[Canyon08]

Cyano likes light and no flow. A well lit fuge is perfect place for it to hang out

So should I increase flow in my fuge, like add a wave maker? If so would that hurt my pod population? My light is just an off the shelf grow light from Lowe’s.

 

[Dan_P]

Hey all. So I’ve been running my tank for about a year now and recently I have a bit of a cynao problem in my sump but none in my DT, which is having some diatoms issues. You can see my most current params in my build thread if nutrients are of concern. What could be the cause of this? And any ideas on how to remedy would be greatly appreciated!! TIA!

When macro algae are stressed or dying, they release release substances that cause cyano bacteria to grow rapidly. This is a very robust effect and easily reproducible.

Macro algae become weak when there is insufficient nitrate and phosphate. Depleted micro nutrients like iron, cobalt, manganese and molybdenum also cause macro algae too peter out.

Light level plays a role as well. Too low and the plant starves, too high and the plant can run out of carbon dioxide and other nutrients.

 

[Canyon08]

When macro algae are stressed or dying, they release release substances that cause cyano bacteria to grow rapidly. This is a very robust effect and easily reproducible.

Macro algae become weak when there is insufficient nitrate and phosphate. Depleted micro nutrients like iron, cobalt, manganese and molybdenum also cause macro algae too peter out.

Light level plays a role as well. Too low and the plant starves, too high and the plant can run out of carbon dioxide and other nutrients.

Well now I’m wondering if my red ogo isn’t being out competed by the chateo. The red has definitely lost size and color since I added the chateo, which is looking good and growing. My nitrate was at 1.86 and phosphate at .19 last I tested. Should I up my nitrates by feeding more, remove filter sock, or turning off skimmer? Any suggestions?

 

[Dan_P]

Well now I’m wondering if my red ogo isn’t being out competed by the chateo. The red has definitely lost size and color since I added the chateo, which is looking good and growing. My nitrate was at 1.86 and phosphate at .19 last I tested. Should I up my nitrates by feeding more, remove filter sock, or turning off skimmer? Any suggestions?

Is the cyanobacteria growing on the Chaeto?

 

[Canyon08]

Is the cyanobacteria growing on the Chaeto?

Yes some not as bad as the red ogo but yes

 

[Garf]

Well now I’m wondering if my red ogo isn’t being out competed by the chateo. The red has definitely lost size and color since I added the chateo, which is looking good and growing. My nitrate was at 1.86 and phosphate at .19 last I tested. Should I up my nitrates by feeding more, remove filter sock, or turning off skimmer? Any suggestions?

Just to confuse things, algal exudates from one species may help or hinder another species, nobody knows why. Your welcome.

 

[Canyon08]

Ahhh yes. Of course it does Bc nothing in this hobby is ever simple

Just to confuse things, algal exudates from one species may help or hinder another species, nobody knows why. Your welcome.

 

[Dan_P]

Yes some not as bad as the red ogo but yes

Healthy algae is very clean, not immaculate, but ckean looking, fairly rigid and less like cooked vegetables.

The Ulva I grow petered out and did not perk up until i started dosing Chaeto Gro. Dosing nitrate, phosphate and iron did nothing.

Side note. The recommended dose of Chaeto Gro was too high, resulting in my Mexican turbos to stop eating. I stopped the dosing until they recovered. I started dosing again but added a daily dose once per week. Ulva is doing fine now and cyanobacteria growth is no longer an issue but it is still around in spots.

You will have to do some detective work to figure out what your system needs. You might suction out the cyanobacteria while you conduct your investigation.

 

[Canyon08]

Healthy algae is very clean, not immaculate, but ckean looking, fairly rigid and less like cooked vegetables.

The Ulva I grow petered out and did not perk up until i started dosing Chaeto Gro. Dosing nitrate, phosphate and iron did nothing.

Side note. The recommended dose of Chaeto Gro was too high, resulting in my Mexican turbos to stop eating. I stopped the dosing until they recovered. I started dosing again but added a daily dose once per week. Ulva is doing fine now and cyanobacteria growth is no longer an issue but it is still around in spots.

You will have to do some detective work to figure out what your system needs. You might suction out the cyanobacteria while you conduct your investigation.

Wow thank you for the info! So what do you think by dosing chateogro made your turbos stop eating? I feel mine have slowed down or at least seem uninterested in the little tufts of hair algae I have growing. That’s very interesting to me. As you stated about the cooked vegetables thats about how my ogo is now. It was quite thick and vibrant before I added the chateo. But sounds like I’m off to get some chateogro and give that a try. Thanks so much! I’ll post back on this thread once I get it in and see how it goes.

 

[Dan_P]

Wow thank you for the info! So what do you think by dosing chateogro made your turbos stop eating? I feel mine have slowed down or at least seem uninterested in the little tufts of hair algae I have growing. That’s very interesting to me. As you stated about the cooked vegetables thats about how my ogo is now. It was quite thick and vibrant before I added the chateo. But sounds like I’m off to get some chateogro and give that a try. Thanks so much! I’ll post back on this thread once I get it in and see how it goes.

Couple more thoughts.

It might take weeks for the macro algae to regain its health and reach a point where you can detect a noticeable difference. My Ulva seemed to stopped wilting and the non-wilted portion started to grow. I am not certain, but it seems the portions that had wilted and developed holes did not come back. I made an effort to regularly remove the small pieces of wilted algae that floated about so they would not feed the cyanobacteria. And I regular removed the cyanobacteria film.

I have discovered that Mexican turbos are heavy eaters. I have 15 (I bought too many) and they are as big or bigger than a golf ball. This group can eat an 8x8 inch sheet of dried seaweed in less than 3 hours every day, that is about a 2x2 sheet each. That would be equivalent to a much larger piece of Ulva.

The recommended dose of Ulva reduced the snails appettite to less than a quarter sheet of seaweed and they were much less active. By chance I came across a post that wondered if high cobalt (high ICP reading) was toxic. I did a search with Google and finally found a paper that established the toxic limits for a range of marine species. The toxic concentrations widely varied but that was enough information. I stopped dosing and within 1-2 weeks the Mexican turbos were eating again and very active. They also cleaned up up the algae that started grow over the surfaces. As I mentioned above, I am dosing the recommended daily dose once per week. Ulva still appears to be growing well and needs to be harvested and fed to the snails.

Back to your snails. I can only speculate on a remedy you might try. Feed the snails. They might not be getting enough food. Also, Mexican turbos live in water below 72-78 F. If your water is on the high end of this range, who knows, maybe it’s getting to them.

 

[Canyon08]

Couple more thoughts.

It might take weeks for the macro algae to regain its health and reach a point where you can detect a noticeable difference. My Ulva seemed to stopped wilting and the non-wilted portion started to grow. I am not certain, but it seems the portions that had wilted and developed holes did not come back. I made an effort to regularly remove the small pieces of wilted algae that floated about so they would not feed the cyanobacteria. And I regular removed the cyanobacteria film.

I have discovered that Mexican turbos are heavy eaters. I have 15 (I bought too many) and they are as big or bigger than a golf ball. This group can eat an 8x8 inch sheet of dried seaweed in less than 3 hours every day, that is about a 2x2 sheet each. That would be equivalent to a much larger piece of Ulva.

The recommended dose of Ulva reduced the snails appettite to less than a quarter sheet of seaweed and they were much less active. By chance I came across a post that wondered if high cobalt (high ICP reading) was toxic. I did a search with Google and finally found a paper that established the toxic limits for a range of marine species. The toxic concentrations widely varied but that was enough information. I stopped dosing and within 1-2 weeks the Mexican turbos were eating again and very active. They also cleaned up up the algae that started grow over the surfaces. As I mentioned above, I am dosing the recommended daily dose once per week. Ulva still appears to be growing well and needs to be harvested and fed to the snails.

Back to your snails. I can only speculate on a remedy you might try. Feed the snails. They might not be getting enough food. Also, Mexican turbos live in water below 72-78 F. If your water is on the high end of this range, who knows, maybe it’s getting to them.

This makes a lot of sense. My water temp runs high. Usually 78 sometimes bumps close to 79 on hot days. Several months back I lowered my temp (can’t remember why) to about 76 and noticed all my CUC seemed to get a lot more active. For whatever reason I increased it back to 78 it’s been that way ever since but the CUC is definitely not as active as they were. I also have stopped feeding them thinking they would eat the algae in the tank if I did, I may start adding a small piece of dried Ulva to see if that will get them to eating. I’ll also try slowly lowering the temp again and manually removing the cyano and dying parts of the ogo. Also going to order some chateogro to see if that gets things going too.