Does it ever end?

[dmorel]

This afternoon I see this all over one rock in my tank.
I assume this is the dreaded cyno...

It looks like hair algae, but red...

UGH. I can't seem to win with this tank.

Pic below, advice appreciated, sanity lost....


http://morelweb.com/URS/redcrap2.jpg

[Gary Majchrzak]

No biggie.We all have had it,and will probably develop some again.My best advice is to attack it at it's source: EXCESS NUTRIENTS.Siphon that cyano out with a hose.You can return the water that is sucked up along with the cyano to the tank.Sometimes doing water changes just feeds cyanobacteria and makes the problem worse.Once you find the "Nutrient Overload Threshold" of your reef system,red slime is EASY to control....at least until something happens like a big anemone croaking while your'e on vacation this summer!:beachbum:

[kcolagio]

Things that help cyanobacteria:

1) excess nutrients
2) slow water flow
3) excess nutrients

Things that can be done to get rid of it:

1) syphon it out
2) increase water flow in that area
3) get a queen conch

I tend to syphon it out when I can and let the conch get to it the rest of the time. If it is on the sand, you can also remove about 1/4 inch of the sand under the cyano with it to help get the nutrients out.

Hope that helps some.

[ReeferMac]

If it is on the sand, you can also remove about 1/4 inch of the sand under the cyano with it to help get the nutrients out

And then simply rinse the sand out with saltwater (fresh or old, up to you), and add the sand back into the tank. Not that we've done this before or anything... :D

- Mac

[dmorel]

I will try to siphon off as much as I can, think I will try the airline with a toothbrush attached trick (I think that's a playfair trick, that or kevin, can't remember...)

NOTE: I just read this post over, and from here on in I am pretty much just whining and venting my frustration, so at worst take it for what it's worth (read nothing...), and at best don't bother reading it.

My problem is not that I have cyno, or what to do about it, I am just getting frustrated constantly having some other thing to fix.
While I know it's a time intensive hobby it's sometimes a little over bearing. I really do want to sit back and enjoy the tank sometimes, but it's hard to do when this coral has suddenly started bleaching for no reason that I can think of, and then there seems to be some hair algae, oh look an aptasia, Oh no, I didn't glue that well enough cause now it's in the sand, is todd's torch ever going to recover
5 minutes of ah, that's beautiful
Look my first ever fish just died by randomly jumping out of the tank after 14 months...
You see where I am going with this...

I know I know, it takes time to establish things, to get the routine down, it's a fact of the hobby, but I have been battling po4 non stop for the last 6 months, and NOTHING I have done has reduced it.
I have added a refugium, then added better lights for the refugium, used phosphate sponges, changed skimmers (I'm honestly not sure the new skimmer is puling enough out, I may not have it tuned properly) and I am now making my water with a 4 stage ro/di unit.
I am desperately trying to cut back on feeding, but I don't want to starve my fishes either. They get noticeably agitated if they don't get fed at least once a day.

Maybe I am trying too hard to have a tank as beautiful as the ones I see when when I go to the meetings (kevin, keith, dave p, todd's) and I am SO not close to that. I keep thinking that in time it will come, and sure my tank looks better now then it did 6 months ago, but there seems to be some magic corner I can't turn. I keep thinking that there's one little piece of the puzzle I don't have yet. The *****ing about my phosphate is kind of like that, I keep thinking that's the only thing I don't have under control, if I could just nail that down I would have it! But the worst part is, I know that's not true either.
Blah.


I just spent an hour in the yard pitching buckets full of tennis balls to my kid who is actually becoming a decent little batter.
That made me feel better.

Off to siphon **** out of the tank.

-dm

[Zmann]

current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flowcurrent flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow current flow !!!!!

[BCooksey]

Dave, I think ZMann is suggesting you increase you current flow. But then again... I feel your pain. I'm worse than you though. I have all of your complaints but my reef is only 8 months old. I'm just waiting for the cyno bloom with the new halide. BTW, did you guys hear the Tom got the boot?

[dmorel]

Are you serious?

Hmmm, if he ends up at living seas this is going to get very very weird.

BTW, I have 5 power heads (three on a wavemaker) plus a mag7 return pump in my tank.
I like to think I have enough flow, but then again, it's no ocean.

That being said the area where I got the cyano was an intentionally low/moderate flow area.

The airline/toothbrush trick worked absurdly well. I put the end of the tube in the middle of the bristles and used zip ties to fasten them together...

[kcolagio]

Oh how I feel the pain....

I've been at this for 6 years....and just now is my tank coming under (what I would consider) control....but you know what, along those 6 years, I have learned so freaking much that it makes it all worth it.

OK...almost all worth it.

Well...maybe not even that close, but you get the idea. ;)

I can actually look at my tank now and say that I like the way it's going. I think too many people shoot for "perfection" (read: What I dream a tank looks like) and never get it, so they aren't happy. I try and shoot for "well, it's a lot better than it was last month, and that was better than any time over the previous 6 months!".

Don't measure your success by someone else's yardstick....they never are the same. Measure rather by how it is progressing, and realize that there is no perfection (I bet you thought I was going to say "realize there is no spoon"!).

OK, enough philosophy, time for gossip....Tom who got the boot?

[Zmann]

mag 18 on 2 sea swirls on a 40g

[Zmann]

Dave point one of the power heads at that crap and watch it disappear

[dmorel]

Originally posted by Zmann
Dave point one of the power heads at that crap and watch it disappear

Made it go away with tootbrush/airline gizmo, pointed powerhead at area that got it, well sort of over it... I have a semi low flow area there for corals sake, but there is definately more movement there now.

thanks,

-dm

[BCooksey]

kcolagio, Tom at CF got fired.

[kcolagio]

OK....that's who I thought you meant.

Any idea why? That's kinda a cliff hanger you know...."Tom got fired".

Shouldn't this be under the "gossip" topic? :D

[dmorel]

Originally posted by kcolagio
Oh how I feel the pain....
Don't measure your success by someone else's yardstick....


As in...
Judge Smails : "How do you measure yourself against other golfers?"
Ty Webb: "By height."

Originally posted by kcolagio

(I bet you thought I was going to say "realize there is no fork"!).


There is no spoon.
Or perhaps the infamous quote while playing the star wars video game baked out my mind in high school...
"Use the fork luke" which was followed by a bout of laughter so intense my buddy matt threw up. Ah, the good old days...

Originally posted by kcolagio

OK, enough philosophy, time for gossip....Tom who got the boot?


Careful some of us have degree's in philosophy. (By some of us clearly I mean me.)

Tom, the long time fixture at Caribbean Forest.
This is some serious gossip...

[kcolagio]

Fork? Did I say Fork?

*scans upward* nope...I'm sure it said spoon. :)

OK....Tom, formerly of CF is no longer there. Are we sure he got fired?

Maybe he's working with them and starting another store somewhere....

maybe his wife got a job elsewhere and they moved...

maybe he bought them out and doesn't want to do grunt work anymore....

maybe, maybe, maybe...who has some facts in this mess?

Maybe I'll copy this to the gossip thread.....yep, I will.

[dmorel]

Originally posted by kcolagio
Fork? Did I say Fork?

*scans upward* nope...I'm sure it said spoon. :)



No fair using the edit feature!!!
Newman!

[kcolagio]

Doh! I'm busted.