J and L's tip of the day
 

" High dissolved organic waste is one cause of cyanobacteria (red slime). " Please can anyone define what "High dissolved organic waste" is ?



-I know ....newb question.:redface:

fish poop, urine, decaying food, etc.

It should actually read "High amounts of dissolved organic wastes".

So..... I am having a cyano outbreak. My tank is only around 4 months old. I am running an ASM g2 and am wondering if I should try to get more skimmate out of it. It only ever pulls about a quarter of the collection cup a week.
The " bubbles" are about a third of the way up the c. cup.

Should I maybe crank up the skimmer so I can get more skimmate?

High dissolved organic waste = George Bush (On a good day.)

Hggc,

You should crank it out more. I find that my G3 pulls out a full container every 3 or 4 days, but that's because I like to keep my fish fat & sassy. (ie. I feed a lot)

Anthony

I would crank up that skimmer and think about how much you feed. There's no need to overfeed. watch the fish dring feeding time to see if they actually eat all the food or if most just settles on the bottom.

Hi hqgc,

Cyanobacteria is an opportunistic slime mold that usually stays at bay unless conditions (tank stress) allow it to flourish. The first step of course is to treat the outbreak (if it's bad) but it is far better in the long run to investigate and correct the causes of stress. Some of these are:

Overfeeding
Poor water circulation (deadspots)
low temps or temp swings
Dead fish or corals left in tank
Poor filtration. This can be broken down further into:
Under skimming
Lack of partial water changes
Lack of mechanical filtration
Lack of gravel vacuuming leading to detritus buildup

Go through the list and correct each issue if it applies. If the outbreak is limited try gravel vacuuming and being patient - I have had several semi outbreaks recede this way. I have treated severe outbreaks with a product called Chemiclean with good results. Follow the directions and don't be tempted to under medicate. Expect to do big water changes afterwords as well. Also, if the causes are not corrected expect to see a repeat performance (very frustrating).
There was a thread on here regarding the use of a medication eurethromyacin (sp?) but I have no experience to share about that.

Hope something helps,
Good luck.

I agree with the above tactics. My own battle was eventually won by upgrading my skimmer after I had tried all the other (cheaper) options.

What kinda skimmer did you buy? I still can't pull out more than a third of a cup out of my g2.