Macro algea growth vs cyano question

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derek_s

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I have had cheato in my tank for a long while , and it grew quickly before I upgraded skimmers. Now I have added several other types of macros (lettuce, gracilara, etc) and 40 mangrove seelings and upgraded to a MSX 300 skimmer on the 140. All my algea growth seems negligible, at best under 2 6500k (100w equivalant CF flood lights).

Normally I would think that I have very low nutrients due to overskimming, GFO, and high high macro content, but I still have a relatively decent cyano problem.

Is it possible that I am depriving the marcos of what they need to grow steadily, while still introducing what the cyano need to persist (i.e overfeeding)? Is the cyano out-competing the macro?
 
Maybe redirecting a little flow towards the bottom to help keep the nutrients from settling and giving them more time in the water column to get pulled out into your fuge.
Have you switched lights or bulbs recently?
 
Sometimes the limiting agent for macro growth is not nitrates/phosphates but rather other elements especially iron. Try dosing some chelated Fe and see if that helps. I have 2/3 of a bottle you can have if you bring over some ogo and cheato :).
 
i found cyano is usually due to detritus and the like settling in spots rather then over all system nutrient levels.

I would say suck out as much as you can and get some more flow going in the effected area's.

After that try something like a medusa worm or a cucumber.

then if all else fails, chemiclean works great.

I did the above(skiping getting a cuc) and now i have a small bit of cyano on my fuge glass and thats it.
 
FutureInterest;246913 wrote: Sometimes the limiting agent for macro growth is not nitrates/phosphates but rather other elements especially iron. Try dosing some chelated Fe and see if that helps. I have 2/3 of a bottle you can have if you bring over some ogo and cheato :).
Click to expand...

I run GFO, and was under the impression that that added enough Fe. Am I wrong?

And what is ogo? I can give you cheato, but it will be a super small wad because mine has not grown hardly at all. maybe like one fist's size...?

EnderG60;246947 wrote: i found cyano is usually due to detritus and the like settling in spots rather then over all system nutrient levels.

I would say suck out as much as you can and get some more flow going in the effected area's.

After that try something like a medusa worm or a cucumber.

then if all else fails, chemiclean works great.

I did the above(skiping getting a cuc) and now i have a small bit of cyano on my fuge glass and thats it.
Click to expand...

I have 2 vortecs at max speed, so I was hoping flow was right on, but I may have to add a little bit.

Smoothie;246867 wrote: Maybe redirecting a little flow towards the bottom to help keep the nutrients from settling and giving them more time in the water column to get pulled out into your fuge.
Have you switched lights or bulbs recently?
Click to expand...

I just recently switched about half the lamps, the oter half are about 5 months old.
 
I dunno if the iron oxide in GFO is usable by macros. I suspect its not as iron oxide from my understanding is a fairly stable compound.

Ogo = gracialariaiaria (sp?).
 
How about you give me the Iron Oxide, then when I grow out the ogo and cheat I give you big handfuls? ;)

Oh, and when you are dosing Iron, do you need to test for it?
 
Ehh that'll work. It's chelated iron not iron oxide... not sure what that means but form my understanding its a readily usable form of iron. I remember reading about some correllation between iron availability and coral coloration as well... but that's a whole nother ball of wax.

I never really checked the iron levels in my system... I would just look for slower macro growth as an indicator and I'd also look for the cheato becoming "brittle". When I saw those signs I would prune quite a bit and throw some more of this stuff in and things improved. Frequent water changes should be sufficient to maintain iron levels but who knows. Since I've been dosing iron my macros never went asexual on me which is a good thing.
 
Guys, I looked at my flow again and honestly I think it is plenty enough to keep detritus from settling. I have zoas and palys on the botom and their polyps are swaying quite a bit. And the mantly on my clam is blowing around a bit as well.

Any additional ideas?
 
Sounds like you have everything going for ya and shouldn't have this problem. Only other thing I have seen that has caused it with other people is bad bulbs or stronger lighting used for the same amount of time as the ones used before. Like switching watts or even going from 20 to 10k bulbs same watts. Try a soft bristle toothbrush for what is on the rocks (with the vortecs off) and get some small tubing to suck that and what is on the sand bed out. Small 10gal water changes everyweek will help too.
If you go chemical red slime remover works, but it will crack out your skimmer for a week or 2.
 
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