Sick and Tired! Endless Algae Problems

[Science/G]

Extreme Water Clarity and Cyano Eradication, Made Easy!

Edit 10/092023: Note that I have tweaked the formula a bit. You can find an updated video here: Coral Snow Link: Coral Snow Hello all! I have been reefing now for about 25 years, and over those many years I have picked up many tips, tricks, and best habits/practices. From a hobbyist and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Science/G]

The coral snow/ bacteria method works. A small uv like a green machine will help out as well. Sand sifting stars could also be a part of the mitigation plan.

 

[SurfTrack]

We need Alk, Ca , MG, PH and Salinity numbers from reliable test kits so that we can address the cause versus the symptoms. If you have a LFS nearby they should be able to do it for you. Your issue could also partly be a lack of desirable bacteria which is a common issue when starting out with dry rock.

Will look into testing for those levels. I can tell you that my nitrate is unsurprisingly zero and my phosphate is low but detectable.

I used a few pounds of live rock rubble. I have plenty of copepods, sponges, and all types of critters. My next step might be dosing nitrates directly to give the beneficial bacteria a better chance.

 

[Tritie]

I ended up with the dinos that don't go into the water column at night so my UV wasn't any help. I tried phyto, pods, dosing phos as it was 0, dosing silicates, black outs as I heard a prolonged black out might get them in the water column. Eventually, I pulled the sand bed. No more dinos.

 

[Science/G]

I agree with @Tritie observation. Bare bottom and a lot of flow will mitigate dinos and cyano.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Cyano/Dino issues are a dissolved organics (DOC) issue. Those bacteria use the N&P in the DOC rather than the free N&P in the water. That means you have to approach it differently than algae. It needs DOC and light to grow so you need to limit both.

Get a small power filter that you can fill with Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) and put as much in it as possible. Start running that filter. This will lower dissolved organics available to the pest bacteria. Suck out all the Cyano/Dino that you can. Turn out the lights, cover the tank to reduce light from the surroundings, and leave them off for 3 days. After that, replace the GAC in the filter. Turn on the lights and feed the fish just a little bit... very little bit. Leave the lights on until Cyano/Dino start to show up again. Then suck the new Cyano/Dino and turn the lights off again. Each day, repeat the light on/feed fish/light off process until the Cyano/Dino doesn't come back when the lights are on. Limiting food input during this process is important. That is where the DOC comes from.