Where are good sps tank?

[apt220]

Iggy, sorry to hear about your battle with cyano.

Just wondering what kind of algae is growing on your scrubber? Is it the desired green hair algae?

Also, have you tried cutting back on feedings?

[iggy]

Hi thanks for support!

What I call a problem might be a concern for others. I have always had red turf and bit of cyano. Healthy turbo snails go after turf. I do grow large tan and white feather dusters better than people that migh be trying to.

Ran a bit of iron gluconate last week to see effect. I got clear and immediate response from ATS showing it was iron limited in growth. It was greener and slimier this week. Some sps greens look brighter. No effect on tank otherwise. I cut Iron in half and will continue.

I have also started Microlift Special Blend at 20cc/day mixed with zeovit coral snow. After 5 days I am optimistic still. I am not adding a direct carbon source other than ATS. I beleive coral snow to be a mineral flocullant. My best guess is bentonite clay in a chalk slurry. It is unusual for me to add soMething not 100% known. Snow I consider optional but will make bacteria stick. Microlift stinks but hope it is still viable.

I am cutting back feeding too. Still skimming with little product. Colors of sps look great with green acro tabling with blue tips. I'll use this to track cyano progress in a few weeks.

[iggy]

I remember when ATS initially reduced diatom films. It looked like it was working but it was not clear for 2-3 full weeks.I am having the same situation with reducing cyano. As mentioned I always had a bit and red turf algae. I used these steps to reduce it.

Assumed foothold in tank that had low nutrients was from spiked phosphates, DOC, and yellow light.

Week 1 - Cyano on rocks only in front and problem spot in left back

Added 10 turbos to go after red turf at same time.
Siphon off one spot with soft sheet. Rest was hard attached film on rocks
Replace halides >18months with new 14K bulbs. Eliminated yellow/red shift
Diatom filter Tetra Diatomagic for 1/2 day with carbon coating after 1 hour.
Reduce liquid foods during time of treatment expecting 5-6 weeks.

Week 2 - No Noticable change

Added Iron Gluconate Solution 1% at 6 cc/day spread out with Eheim Liquidoser. Thought was cyano would go uneffected and reach low nutrient levels if ATS grew faster.

Week 3- ATS confirmed growth was iron limited (and in second week as well.)

Cut iron dosage in half. Cyano might have been effected by lower liquid feedings / bluer light.
Started Microlift Special Blend 120 CC day one and 20 CC daily till 16 oz bottle depleted.
Intended to use with Zeovit coral snow but was stopped by recent storms.

Week 4 - May be seeing rock veins under cyano
Little or no skimmate collection anymore. Will know effect in 2-3 weeks I guess. No further changes until then

[SantaMonica]

It's the food. Cyano is very affected by liquid food additions, because the pulse of nutrients gets to the cyano before the water even gets to the overflow to get to the scrubber. So the cyano might see a spike of P = 2 for a half second, but this is all it takes. Only dosing live food would fix this. I'm dosing 48 ml per day of thick blended oysters, and this is causing what looks to be dark purple coralline, although I know it's cyano because the tangs try to eat it (but can't; it's to firm). When I stop the dosing, it goes away. It's mostly in the front bottom. It actually looks good.

[apt220]

I just think that you are taking this little cyano/red turf algae concern to a whole new level and complicating it bigtime. Cyano feeds off whatever nutrients your system can't handle. Cut down on your feedings even more and let your scrubber catch up or maybe build a more efficient/bigger one. You are adding a lot of stuff to your system and while it's kinda fun experimenting and adding things to your system to see how it reacts, you should be letting your system equilibrate. As the saying goes, nothing good in this hobby happens quickly. Just my opinion of course.

[SantaMonica]

It might be noted that cyano is on all natural reefs.

[iggy]

I did not mention I stopped oyster feast too.

It might seem complicate but I tried to make sure ATS is phosphate limited, and trying to reseed rock that were primarily eco dry rocks. Growth is good overall and maintenance is easy.

Montipora reponds well to excess feeding and wanted to correct issue before proceeding.

I agree it is phosphates in all likelyhod, or phosphates incorporTed in DOC.

[apt220]

It might be noted that cyano is on all natural reefs.

Yeah that is true, but since we have closed systems, we need to be selective of what we let survive/thrive in our tanks. Cyano is just ugly, too. Other examples include acropora eating flat worms and red bugs that are found on natural reefs, but we really would prefer not to have those in our tanks. Although some tanks do just fine with them, it's not really desirable.

[iggy]

I can tell cyano is now dissapearing in tank from top to bottom and right.

When bottle is empty I will go to 1x per week dosing.

[iggy]

Cyano is mostly gone now. Colors are great and clarity is as well.

Getting an enormous amount of white specks growing in sump and back of tank wall. They may be baby feather dusters or some type of barnacle. Baby snails are everywhere too.

I attribute this to ATS feeding them along with a good salt mix. I never had feather dusters before I switched to Tropic Marin. I switched to tropic marin 2 years ago and ATS last Spetember.