Is this brown hair stuff and bubbles OK?

[meegwell]

My 90g/30 sump is a few months old and has its first few post cycle inhabitants in it. the rock is a mix of live rock and fiji dry. water is all in check - 0 amonia 0 nitrate 0 nitrite - I dont know if its a big deal or just normal for this new a tank but im starting to get this brown hairy stuff (I assume its an algae but I wont call it that since I dont know) growing all over the rocks. At the same time, certain rocks, not all and a mix of live v. fiji dry, got coated in tiny air bubbles. Is this all normal or should I be worried or proactive? I just started chaeto in my fuge less than a week ago. I have a small cleanup crew, some hermits and about 8 turbos.

I hope these pictures do the situation justice:












Any input on the bubbles and the brown hair would be appreciated.

[michaelr]

Yeah that stuff is fine. Its cyanobacteria. The bubbles are just oxygen being produced by it photosynthesizing.

[meegwell]

sweet. thanks.

[shaginwagon13]

Originally Posted by michaelr

Yeah that stuff is fine. Its cyanobacteria. The bubbles are just oxygen being produced by it photosynthesizing.

+1

Try to increase flow and water changes.

Try to reduce overfeeding. You might also want to run carbon.

[smy168]

Cyano is not ok, it's a pain and once you get it, you can only try to keep it at bay. Out of control they can coat everything from corals to rocks.

follow above advice:
*increase water flow, specifically where the cyano is
*cut down on feeding
*cut down on lighting sched
*some water changes but you don't have to do large ones.
* maybe a sock of Chemi-Clean

There are threads about cyano, not detrimental but a long term nuisance.

good luck

[msaba]

agree with above, take measure now, the conditions that allow it to exist will only lead to more problems as the tank matures in a ll likelihood

[Tripwyr]

Originally Posted by smy168

Cyano is not ok, it's a pain and once you get it, you can only try to keep it at bay. Out of control they can coat everything from corals to rocks.

follow above advice:
*increase water flow, specifically where the cyano is
*cut down on feeding
*cut down on lighting sched
*some water changes but you don't have to do large ones.
* maybe a sock of Chemi-Clean

There are threads about cyano, not detrimental but a long term nuisance.

good luck

Cyanobacteria is everywhere, it isn't like Ich or other parasites which are introduced into your aquarium by poor practices. Cyanobacteria is what changed our atmosphere to support life 3.5 billion years ago, it is the most beneficial organism on the planet.

The above advice is solid on control, but once controlled it will simply come back if you revert to old habits. Cyano is never eliminated.

[meegwell]

I do 10 pct water changes every weekend and I only feed a small pinch of food once per day. That said, the tank, being new, has only had two fish- small clown and medium goby- until yesterday I added some more so the feeding will likely change. The rocks in the picture are close, inches, from an MP40 in reef crest mode high ...the little hairs are dancing back and forth. Where I do lack is in tank turnover flow....im aware of this issue, caused by an overflow box issue and a pump issue...this will be fixed soon as a new pump is on the way and ill fix both issues at once hopefully greatly increasing turnover through the sump and fuge.

The chaeto in my fuge is brand new and with the pump change i will also be doing a much needed increase in fuge flow...its currently a little more than a trickle.

I run a sock but ive never used any additives...but again im only at the beginning stages here and trying to be proactive.

Lighting schedule is total eight hours total... 1 hour of T5s only on the outside of 6 hours MH and T5...blue LED moonlight at night for a bit.

Thanks for the input feel free to add more based on this info.

[smy168]

10% water changes are fine, I never felt large water changes are the answer to controlling cyano

I'm a huge "flow" person, every part of the tank needs to have medium to high flow because detritus can get caught anywhere in a reef system, especially behind rock walls and crevices and that's part of the nutrients that help feed cyano. Try changing the settings on the MP10 to cross the MP40. I don't plan on running reef crest on my MP because I feel it's more a bounce that a circulation.

Yes, increase the flow going into the Fuge.

A sock of Chemi-Clean would help a little .

You can safely cut down the light schedule to 6 hours with 4 hours of MH for a week. Corals are hardier than you think.

What are you feeding?

Any "cleaners" in your system?

[Sk8r]

Go to my blog, read the entry titled Algae---it's got a section on dealing with this pest: easy to remove. Everybody gets it sooner or later.

[meegwell]

Originally Posted by smy168

10% water changes are fine, I never felt large water changes are the answer to controlling cyano

I'm a huge "flow" person, every part of the tank needs to have medium to high flow because detritus can get caught anywhere in a reef system, especially behind rock walls and crevices and that's part of the nutrients that help feed cyano. Try changing the settings on the MP10 to cross the MP40. I don't plan on running reef crest on my MP because I feel it's more a bounce that a circulation.

Yes, increase the flow going into the Fuge.

A sock of Chemi-Clean would help a little .

You can safely cut down the light schedule to 6 hours with 4 hours of MH for a week. Corals are hardier than you think.

What are you feeding?

Any "cleaners" in your system?

Up until now I have been feeding only a pinch of dry brine shrimp - only because I had only the two fish - I am researching a more appropriate and better quality diet now for my new inhabitants.

The quantity would be the issue here I assume, so here is an exact representation of the daily pinch I was giving these guys...




No, I dont feed them the beer cap.

I do have a limited cleanup crew - about 5 hermits and 5 turbo snails. They are all working all the time. I know I need more and the turbos are probably helpful here they seems to climb all over the rocks chowing down. I may go pick some more up today. I check w/ the CUC sites and threads to see how many but would welcome suggestions in this area.

Sk8r: Thank you I bookmarked your threads and will be reading them shortly Ive learned a lot from your postings and Im sure this issue will be no different.

Thanks everyone again - hopefully I get it under control before I have any real issue. The tank generally looks good and Im pleased with my progress so far.

Meegwell

[meegwell]

Originally Posted by meegwell

Up until now I have been feeding only a pinch of dry brine shrimp - only because I had only the two fish - I am researching a more appropriate and better quality diet now for my new inhabitants.

The quantity would be the issue here I assume, so here is an exact representation of the daily pinch I was giving these guys...




No, I dont feed them the beer cap.

I do have a limited cleanup crew - about 5 hermits and 5 turbo snails. They are all working all the time. I know I need more and the turbos are probably helpful here they seems to climb all over the rocks chowing down. I may go pick some more up today. I check w/ the CUC sites and threads to see how many but would welcome suggestions in this area.

Sk8r: Thank you I bookmarked your threads and will be reading them shortly Ive learned a lot from your postings and Im sure this issue will be no different.

Thanks everyone again - hopefully I get it under control before I have any real issue. The tank generally looks good and Im pleased with my progress so far.

Meegwell

added ten new turbos and twenty new hermits, turned the MP40 back to constant 80%..which is were it was before this breakout, dont know if its related. Brown diatoms coating my sand before my eyes. Sand was perfect a day or two ago.

[meegwell]

This stuff is all clearly brown, with no hint of red...and it is on the sand bed as brown patches.

Can someone comment as to whether it might be diatoms vs. cyano and what might be a clear indicator to differentiate?

Thanks...

[Robertstock]

I get this stuff also, and also brown in color. I have good water movement and good water quality and the brown patches seem to be in areas of low water movement. The brown patches also seem to lay over the sand like a crust.

I'm inclined to think these are diatoms and not cyano since cyano will expell oxygen froming bubbles thoughout the brown patches.

[meegwell]

Today, the bubbles are not nearly as prevelant but the sand is definately getting covered. The stuff stirs up easily and the crabs and snails seem to be cleaning it. Its not pretyy by any means.

[davesolo29]

sounds like a diatom bloom to me. diatoms are fed by silicates. usually in your substrate. once the silicates are consumed by the diatoms, the diatom bloom will die off.
what is your lighting schedule like? what kind of lighting are you using?
Do you have any coral in your tank yet?
IF not, i would cut your lighting schedule way back until the cyano bloom is gone. Fish dont need light to survive. At this point, the light is only for people viewing.
Get rid of the cyano, let the diatoms die off, then slowly start adding more time to your lights.

[biecacka]

Cyano or maybe dinos. If its Dino's try to remove ASAP as they can be toxic to some critters in your tank. Scrape blow off as much as possible and if you can remove some the rock maybe dip it in peroxide
Corey

[ajcanale]

+1 on dinoflagellates as a possibility

[biecacka]

Dino's are the devil..... Such a pain. I'm going 5 days out to try n rid mine
Corey