Help!

[larrytritt]

HAIR ALGAE AND CYNOBACTERIA!!!

I have a 12g JBJ Nano Cube. I purchased it as well as all materials at a lfs - great store w/ great employees - of course, everyone has their own experiences and own ideas - which should I use?

My tank is about 9 mos old. I set it up out of the box with live rock and live sand, so it never needed to cycle ... I still went (a little) slow with additions.

Water tests great, but I have a terrible hair algae and cynobacteria problem. How can I fix this?

Setup: 12g Nano with std JBJ lights, upgraded pump, JBJ sponges, bio balls, carbon (haven't changed) and 2 purigen packs (bleached regularly), live sand and coral and live rock (not sure how much, but a pretty good amount)

Contents: (Lots of other stuff has died over the 9 mos - combination of my screwups and who knows what...) Several snails (astraea, margarita, cerith), and hermit crabs, neon dotty, yellow watch goby, clam, and flame scallop

I cleaned the rocks off and put it all back. The cyno was doing better after I put a conch in, but he died and it's back with a vengance. The hair algae came right back.

I'm ready to give up, but of course, the lfs doesn't want me to do that! How can I get it back to beautiful and enjoy this hobby instead of hating it??

[The Punisher]

Why did you think your tank didn't need to cycle?
You stated that you haven't changed your carbon in 9 months, that's bad. Carbon will eventually go bad and start leaching what it has absorbed back into your water. That could be a big problem. Change the carbon ASAP.
Bio-Balls are known to give people problems. I would start to SLOWLY remove them. Do you clean your sponges regularly? What kind of water are you using? What is your water change schedule?

[larrytritt]

It seemed that the live rock and sand had well established bio. As I slowly added the bio load, it did very well. No real spike in the numbers. I did, however, manage to kill the bacteria with Windex (I think) and saw a true cycle of a "new" tank. That was several months ago. Lesson learned.

LFS said the same today ... I'll get both the carbon taken care of and the bio balls. Any recommendations on carbon? I hate to spend $7 each on the JBJ replacements. How frequently?

I clean the sponges about once a month using water that was just removed from the tank. I do ~bi-weekly water changes - using RO water for evaporation and pre-mixed salt water (both from LFS).

Thanks for the advice! I've got a book and have surfed the forums, but that's like reading a book to learn how to drive a car - experience helps!

[JEFFTHEREEFER]

What are you using for your water--If you are just using treated tap water then that could very well be your problem. Most people in saltwater are using RO/DI water purification water for their makeup water. You could have high phosphates in your tap water

[larrytritt]

Unfortunately, I think I have to rule out a water problem (at least the water that is put into the tank) ... I use RO from the LFS and it's the same water they (and many of their customers) are using in their tanks - high quality!

I'm going to try to include a photo of the tank - you can see the cyno in this, but the hair algae is tougher to see. They're both worse now as well. http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/500/64567IMG_0089_img__WinCE_.jpg

[bertoni]

[welcome]

The hair algae requires food. So one thought is to reduce feeding. You could also try adding a nicer macroalgae to compete with the hair algae. That and some hand-pruning might help a lot. I beat hair algae that way.

How much are you feeding?
For carbon, you can just buy a filter bag and some bulk carbon. I use the Matrix carbon; Kent's is okay as well. There's lots of good brands. Just drop the bag where water will be forced through it and change it monthly or so.

[larrytritt]

I'm feeding frozen Form1 or brine shrimp nightly. Since I only have 2 fish, I'm feeding a small slice - ~1/4 or less of the frozen section.

[larrytritt]

Any other ideas? I'm working on it some today to try to get it back under control. LFS recommended blenny, Phosguard, and macroalgae. Agree?

[Xtasia]

Was your live rock cured? Die off from live rock is a problem.


How long did you let your tank sit with the water, rock and sand, before you added the fish. How long between each addition? Regardless of wether or not it cycled, it would be especially crucial to add the fish with a cycle between each addition so that the tank could build up the bacteria for the existing bioload. With a smaller tank I believe it's even more crucial as there is less water to dilute the wastes.

Have you ever used soap on anything you use on your tanks?

Consider changing your source of water or having it tested. Even tho it's a LFS, I wouldn't trust that the water is fine. They might be cutting corners on their water. Sometimes ignorance, or stinginess is the motivator, not maliciousness.

Have you considered using test kits to figure out what is wrong with your water?

[Xtasia]

Oh yeah, I read at wetwebmedia once.. that its often better to treat the problem, rather than cure the symptoms... and sometimes it's better as a new aquarist, to leave things alone, rather than try to cure everything...

When I had an algae bloom problem, I fed less, reduced lights, added macro, changed the water, and removed what algae I could off the glass.

[bertoni]

So that amount of food is about what I'd feed a 29g tank. You could try cutting way back. Also, adding some Chaetomorpha might help.

[larrytritt]

How much should I cut back on food? Is it better to feed every day or could I just continue to feed what I'm feeding only every other day? (Those frozen things are hard to cut)

[bertoni]

I would feed every day. You could try cutting the amount in half. You might need to add some Chaetomorpha macroalga as a nutrient export mechanism or remove a fish. Not clear to me what you would most like to do.