Blog Comments

I tried to get some pictures of corals eating the eggs, like the acans in the front tank.

I turned on the skimmer and lowered the water level as much as I could so it just adds air - no collection cup.

That is really cool Marc. I am curious as to what is needed to raise anemones from eggs?

Marc, that's really cool! I don't think I'd panic yet, you've got a large stable system, so worst case you'll get a little nitrate spike and maybe a little algae. But the big question, are those fertilized eggs going to disperse and take over you tank with lots of baby anenomes?

I got the calcium reactor running again, but that caused a cloud in the tank from the new media. An hour later, I looked at the tank and it was even more cloudy. The reactor is running correctly, so I looked more closely and the BTAs are spawning again. Sure wish my skimmer was on right now, but the Cyano isn't gone yet. One more day to go.

The new Mag 7 arrived on Thursday, and the new regulator arrived Friday. I had to refill the CO2 tank yesterday. I'm going to get the calcium reactor going again later today.

Just an update. Since the meds have been added to the tank, the Toadstool leather has retracted all of its polyps and is probably getting ready to shed. Some areas are looking glassy (shiny), which is part of that process.

This morning, the tank was cloudy as the BTAs decided to spawn. The water is clearing slowly.

Originally Posted by Midnight

If lighting was part of the cause...wouldn't refreshing the bulbs fix the problem? Isn't it the more yellow color that feeds algae and cyano? And isn't it towards yellow that bulbs shift as they age? I am just trying to make sure I understand lighting concepts correctly.

The T5 lighting i was using were half actinic 460nm and the other half where 10k. All the bulbs were about 2 months old so i doubt that was the problem. I dont think they are dinoflagellates or diatoms either, I have had all of the above at one point or another and after you get them a few times they are pretty easily distinguished.

If lighting was part of the cause...wouldn't refreshing the bulbs fix the problem? Isn't it the more yellow color that feeds algae and cyano? And isn't it towards yellow that bulbs shift as they age? I am just trying to make sure I understand lighting concepts correctly.

I had and to some extent do still have this problem. I tried to let it pass over the coarse of about 9 weeks and it just seemed to be getting worse. I finally got feed up and started making changes. First thing i did up the ph and that seemed to be a really big help but it was not curing the problem. Second thing i did was change out from T5 lighting to PC which i really hated to do but it was worth a try. The lighting seemed to be what was fueling this stuff. When i put on much lower lighting (PC) it seemed to be receding. Now several months later I am still running the PC lighting, Weekly water changes and dripping kaulk to keep the ph up high enough to keep it at bay. It will still come back in small spots on the sand but leaves after about a week or so, only to return again and again. VERY frustrating to say the least. Now if I can find a cure for bubble algae but that is another topic.

Marc, I suspect the biggest thing the CO2 does is lower the pH and make things more favorable to the algae that way. If it really is Dino's then I've had success raising my pH to 8.5-8.6 for a week to eliminate it. Be warned though, my toadstool did not like that proceedure at all, but recovered quickly after the pH came back down to 8.3.

Does Chemi-Clean work on the algae that I have? What does it actually do?

Now that makes sense.

It's a guess. Co2 fuels plant growth, and cyano bacteria really isn't a plant although it does react with photosynthesis. Nothing else makes sense that could be fueling it, so I'm just guessing it is CO2 related.

Good to know, I began dosing vodka about a three week ago now and had no clue about that. So is there a correlation between the CO2 and the cyano bloom?? or just a quinki-dink

Yep, I've done all of that for years and years. This isn't a new plague, but it got to the point that I had to either turn off my lights for three days or nuke the tank. Since I've used Chemi-Clean many many times in the past, I've no fear of it. The only reason I'd held out this long is because I dose vodka - when you do that, the skimmer has to stay on to maintain oxygen levels. I'm simply going to not dose vodka for the next three days, and then when I resume, I'll dose 50% of the standard dose, then add 1 ml more every 3 days to get back to the normal dose.

She is a great looking Percula! Great shot too.

I have read that Good flow to the effected area, manual removal, wet skimming, and activated carbon are the way to go for this problem. I have no EXP with a calcium reactor ( they actually scare the crap out of me even though I am going to have to get one sooner than later.) therefore Im not sure how a higher co2 level would create a cyano bloom but I'm in for the science lesson

Thanks for sharing

Fred

I cant believe how much everything has grown just in the last couple of months. Marc you need a larger tank my friend.

Lol... Yeah if I had that tank I would just sit in front of it all my free time!

I can't wait until I have a real job, and a house to set something like this up. Freaking Beautiful!!