Snappy parameters

Delphinus · #1 01-24-2006, 04:30 PM

Kind of sounds like it could be cyanobacteria but it could also be dinoflagellates. Diatoms are more of a light brown dusting and I don't think you usually see a lot of bubbles associated (but you do with cyano and dinos).

You do not want dinos as it's an absolute nightmare to deal with. Very persistent, resilient to any form of treatment, and usually toxic to invertebrates (if your snails start dropping dead you might have dinos). And just incredibly gross to look at. They grow incredibly fast as well - you can vacuum the stuff out and within hours it will look as if you've done nothing.

Cyano on the other hand is usually a nutrient loading issue. Test your NO3, usually you'll find NO3 to be the cause of cyano (although there are other causes, but this is, IMO/IME, one of the more common causes).

Snappy · #2 01-24-2006, 09:27 PM

It's not cyano, must be the other.
CRAP!!!!

Delphinus · #3 01-24-2006, 11:19 PM

I didn't see anything that resembled a dinos bloom, so I'm still hoping that's not what you have.

Here is some reading I was able to dig up.
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_crail.html
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/eb/index.php

Also if you do a search on "dinoflagellates" or "dinos" you should get some reading, several folks on Canreef have been through this. I've suffered dinos blooms twice -- the first time I was able to knock it under control by starving the system of light for as long as I could stand (my goal was to make it a week, but I got impatient). The second time, starving the system of light didn't really work, but then I moved and the tank was so badly disturbed that the dinos just kind of went away on their own.

I really, really hope this is not what you have.

Snappy · #4 01-25-2006, 05:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

I didn't see anything that resembled a dinos bloom, so I'm still hoping that's not what you have.

Here is some reading I was able to dig up.
http://www.reefs.org/library/article/t_crail.html
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-05/eb/index.php

Also if you do a search on "dinoflagellates" or "dinos" you should get some reading, several folks on Canreef have been through this. I've suffered dinos blooms twice -- the first time I was able to knock it under control by starving the system of light for as long as I could stand (my goal was to make it a week, but I got impatient). The second time, starving the system of light didn't really work, but then I moved and the tank was so badly disturbed that the dinos just kind of went away on their own.

I really, really hope this is not what you have.

Now I think if I left it alone and didn't do the water changes it would turn to cyano but it is brown not red but acts the same way with the air bubbles when photosynthisising (sp). Maybe it is cyano trying to get hold but not able to? Just before I do a water change I blast the areas with a small power head to wash off the outer layers. It seems to help a bit.

Delphinus · #5 01-25-2006, 03:58 PM

That sounds more like cyano then. There are a lot of different colours cyano can be, red, brown, green, black (and, presumably, "cyan" given the name although I haven't seen that particular flavour).

A dinoflagellate bloom is rarely, if ever, contained to a few sporatic spots .. they can double in population in a matter of hours (if not minutes) so you can well imagine how fast a tank can be completely overwhelmed. Then they completely disappear at lights-off only to start again the next day at lights-on. Cyano, on the other hand, will also ebb and flow with the photoperiod but seems to be a lot slower.

Cyano feeds on nitrates (maybe to an extent PO4 as well). Do you grow out any chaetomorpha anywhere? Chaeto can be useful tool for sucking up some of that NO3/PO4.. (If you want some let me know I can get you a handful of it .. that's all you'd need. I grow mine in an aquaclear lit by 2x9w PC's and the stuff doubles in size about every two weeks.)

Snappy · #6 01-26-2006, 06:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

That sounds more like cyano then. There are a lot of different colours cyano can be, red, brown, green, black (and, presumably, "cyan" given the name although I haven't seen that particular flavour).

A dinoflagellate bloom is rarely, if ever, contained to a few sporatic spots .. they can double in population in a matter of hours (if not minutes) so you can well imagine how fast a tank can be completely overwhelmed. Then they completely disappear at lights-off only to start again the next day at lights-on. Cyano, on the other hand, will also ebb and flow with the photoperiod but seems to be a lot slower.

Cyano feeds on nitrates (maybe to an extent PO4 as well). Do you grow out any chaetomorpha anywhere? Chaeto can be useful tool for sucking up some of that NO3/PO4.. (If you want some let me know I can get you a handful of it .. that's all you'd need. I grow mine in an aquaclear lit by 2x9w PC's and the stuff doubles in size about every two weeks.)

Unfortunately I don't have a refugium. But that might be a great idea for my frag/sea horse tank. I will look into that.

maverick_8teen · #7 01-26-2006, 08:46 AM

Snappy! Im new to SW...Really new. I noticed that you had mentioned in the first post that you said "at the reef meet on the 14th". I was wondering about that. I live in Calgary and i didn't know there was any such form of meeting about SW. I am still in the process of learing all i can about SW Tanks and i think it would really help me out by being able to talk with people one on one and in the same area as well. Anyway to make it short, i was wondering if you could tell me about that. Where it is, what i need to do, etc etc. i would really appreciate it.