polarbear Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 So I got my 29 gallon biocube back from my brother and it's been up and running for about 2 weeks. I have a cyno out break that I'm trying to deal with. Any suggestions? Also I have some hair algae that I wanted to get out. I was thinking about trying the 3 days of darkness but have never done it before. What's the process? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 What are your params? What's your bio load? Your best off getting to the bottom of the cause before trying to fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 It's common when starting a new tank. It will disappear over time. You can cut back on your light time. Maybe 7-8 hours or less a day. Also cut back on feeding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 My nitrats are real high. I'm going to be doing some water changes this week and weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 Yeah, nitrates and a new tank will cause it. How's the flow in your tank? I'm fixing to add a powerhead to the bottom of my 90 tall because even with a lot of flow in the upper reaches, the bottom isn't getting enough. Right now my most awesome onespot foxface is actually eating the cyano that's growing. He also helped a ton with a hair algae problem I had. (Newish tank also...) Marine SAT helped with the hair algae too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I agree, let it run its course. If you do decide to do the three days of darkness, plan a good sized water change right the next day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 What they said. In the future here's a thread to look at if you're still having problems in a 3-4 months. http://www.austinreefclub.com/topic/16042-red-sea-algae-management-no3po4-x/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 your tank is done cycling, and if your nitrates are high enough to cause cyno and hair algae than IMO you should do something like siphoning a partial water change and reducing your lighting schedule and feeding. how many fish do you have? how may lbs of LR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 I have 4 fish (2 clowns, yellow watchmen, and a pj car.) also have a pistol shrimp and a peppermint shrimp. Hard to tell how many lbs of LR but im guessing 25. The tank is not a new setup. It's been running for over 2 years now. I just moved it from my brothers place to mine now that I have my own house. The flows ok but I'm going to be adding a seio M820 along with my 2 K1. Might leave out the K1 but I'll have to see how strong the Seio is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I'm sorry I was thinking it was a new setup. Definitely do bigger more frequent water changes, with just those four fish you don't need to feed very much at all and you might try the Red Sea stuff for NO3/PO4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessie Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 That makes sense. I think you'll be fine with the 2 K1's. I would siphon the cyno and perform 25% water changes every other day until your nitrates are under control. Add a couple turbo snails or a sea hair and scale back your feeding. Also it would be a good idea to add about 10 lbs of LR. Do you have a good clean up crew? Nassau snails are great at eating left over food and detritus. There is a guy in eBay that sells them super cheap also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jestep Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 If your nitrates are very high, I would do more like an 80% change. You can change 10 or 15% all day long and never make any ground on it. As far as the blackout method. In my experience it works for film algae, diatoms, a little for hair algaes and cyano. If you're trying to get rid of a serious outbreak or bryopsis, or another nightmare algae it's not going to do anything. In any case, if you have no corals in the tank yet, there's really no reason not to do it just to make a little headway on it. I really suggest a large water change though. Just get the crap out of the system and move forward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnj Posted March 9, 2011 Share Posted March 9, 2011 I can't recommend Black Margarita Snails enough for GHA (I can't speak to their effect on Cyano or Bryopsis). I set-up my tank with recycled dead rock and had a major GHA outbreak at about the 6-week mark. I added just 6 BMS (to a 135g tank) and less than a month later....poof, all gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted March 24, 2011 Author Share Posted March 24, 2011 (edited) If I do the 3 days of darkness, do I still keep my regular feeding schedule? Also do I keep the moon light LEDs on? Also I was wanting to clean my skimmer in vinegar. Should I have the skimmer running during the 3 days of darkness or can I clean it during this time? Edited March 24, 2011 by polarbear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wa1tx Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I did not feed and actually unplugged all my lights including the moonlights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+ACampbell Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I recommend you feed your fish lightly. Do not block their oxygen by covering up the tank. Leave your skimmer going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wa1tx Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 IME, fish can go three days without feeding with no issue. If you do feed, go light on the feeding. 1/4 - 1/2 of what you regularly feed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Ok so I'm staring the 3 days of darkness tomorrow. Is there anything else I should know before I do it? The reason I'm doing this is because of a hair algae problem. It's on about 3 rocks and covering it pretty good. It has continued to spread even with the dual GFO and carbon reactor. I want to get this under control. I'm planing the water change on Sunday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mooric Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Not sure that 3 days of darkness will do anything for hair algae. I've only had it help with cyano outbreaks. Hopefully your results are better than mine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bry Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 (edited) Today was my last of 3 days of darkness. I have hair and cyano. I can tell the cyano is unfathomed as it still turned a little dark during they day w/out my lights. There's a couple of windows in the room but not very close and no sun light directly shines into the tank. I obvously have to fight my problem in a different way. I'm getting a BFS dual reactor in a week that will be loaded with GFO and charcoal. We'll lick this problem. Oh, during a lights out phase, you can do all else as normal but why not slow down on feeding as well? Corals and fish will be fine. I just honestly don't think you need to do this so early in your tank's new-ish life. On hair algae I will admit I started using Algae Fix a few weeks back. It certainly thinned it out. First it took out the "grass" that wasn't in direct light then it took out only some of the stuff in direct light. Oddly enough, some hair algae has grown really long in the process. I'm due to take another round of pics later. What great thing handled the hair algae for me more than the chemical warfare was just a few ceriths, random hermits and then MOSTLY the Mexican Turbo Snail. He wiped it completely off one big rock and it isn't growing back (I contribute to Algaefix, water changes and new bulbs.) I've tried to keep him off the other, very grassy, rock so I could see true results of the chemical technique. Algaefix says it works on cyano and I've read a few forums that bryopsis is affected after many doses. Wrong. Cyano got very strong during this time and bryopsis untouched. I don't advocate chemicals to fight this unless you've tried all else. There are anti-red slime chemicals but there are nightmare stories with those too... for that reason I won't even suggest a name. I agree that your tank may need more time to mature as it seems, if I'm understanding correctly, it was moved recently which entails ~100% water change, sand resifted, rocks out of water for a length of time, etc. Aquarium life doesn't handle but the slightes of changes very well. So do keep up aggressive water changes, test for phosphates and nitrates, look at the water flow, check the age of your bulbs and your lighting schedule, wash your food before feeding and get one mexican turbo snail. Sorry if you know all this but I want to help as much as possible. Edited March 31, 2011 by Bry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
polarbear Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Well the tank is not really new and I understand what you mean about the move but the hair algae started while my brother had the tank and only then Towards the last few months he had it. I have a BRS dual reactor now and I'm not really seeing a difference as of yet. I'm going to try the 3 days of darkness to see if it helps then I'll go to the fish store and by a sea hair or something that will eat the left over hair algae. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 IME, sea hairs are worthless. As were turbos. Before you do your three days, which helped IME, pull out as much as you can manually. If possible, pull out what rocks you can that have it and pull it off outside the tank. I mean, spend a good hour or so pulling it out. Then, when the three days is over, do a big water change and pull out even more. Give your skimmer a good cleaning too. Then, continue to do water changes regularly. These were the steps that helped me in my battle. I think it's been mentioned earlier, but you have to find the source that is feeding the GHA. If you aren't using RODI water, start. If you haven't changed RODI filters or have older light bulbs, change those too. Switch to frozen foods rinsed in RODI water if you are feeding pellets/flakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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