Re: bio-diversity
 

I advise against this. I don't think any crustacean, echinoderm or gastropod (aside from perhaps a few species of conch, Strombus spp.) has been shown to eat cyano, and I know none of the ones I had in my tank did. Nudibranchs are a bad choice for any tank (except perhaps in the case of Tridachia crispata or Berghia verrucicornis which eat hair algae and Aiptasia spp. anemones, respectively). Therefore I am of the opinion that this is a waste of money, effort and in some cases animal life. More importantly, I feel it is more important to look for solutions to problems in a tank, rather than just their symptoms.

And of course, as noted, cyano and many other common algael/bacterial pests are part of the natural maturation process of the tank and will likely diminish in time, and aren't worth worrying too much about unless they are beginning to affect the health of your other livestock.

Ken indicated that his algae problem was not limited to cyano, and my suggestions for building up a clean-up crew were on the pretext of his possible intention to start building a reef. I agree, and stated that money need not be spent to get through this phase. As far as not offering any solutions to problems, but only symptoms, I care not to comment as I'm only offering my advice.

... Not really a Calgary club discussion but more of a general reefkeeping. Thus I am moving it to the main forum.

There is alot of debate on weather or not to use Tufa rock in reef aquariums. This is just one thread http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...highlight=tufa

Hi Kennyv, I had a client's aquarium many years ago with red tufa rock in it , the kind they sell at LFS for freshwater tanks and had an algae proble for many years that never seem to go away, despite many different ways to control it. I saw his tank, and saw that everything he did was right so I suggest he get rid of the red tufa rocks and put in live fiji rocks instead. A few months later his tank never had the algae back ever again. If you have only six inches of cyno, then I would simply siphon it out and follow the many good guideline of suggestions from our fellow aquarist. Regards Ken

By red tufa I'm assuming you mean lava rock, which is high in various metals that aren't desirable in marine aquariums. Reportedly white tufa, free of contaminating metals (ie. free of bands of colour) is reef-safe. I haven't used it myself, however.

The Tufa rock I have is sand colored. Its not lava rock...I did a bunch of reasearch prior to buying it and deternined it would be safe. I know my setup is not ideal for a reef tank. I hope in a few months it will stabilize and be an attractive marine fish tank....


Kennyv

tuffa rock is not volcanic at all but the stuff you got contains high concentrations of minerals and such which can leach into the tank. weather it would cause cyno or not but it won't help. for what its worth I wouldent even use white tuffa in a tank.

Steve

Steve, Have you seen it used before? What happened??





Ken

not personally but I have not heard of any long term success stories with it and I have heard several problematic algae stories.

Steve