I am so glad that my tank, Bonsai, is happy and thriving again. For almost 2 months, I have been trying to control Cyanobacteria bacteria (red slime algae) that was trying bloom and ruin the tank. Traces of Cyanobacteria are always present in a reef tank, but excess nutrients or improper lighting can cause a bloom that will quickly overtake and destroy a tank. At first the red slime was noticeable just under the sand bed. I tolerated that until it started to creep up the tank wall and eventually a little spot on the sand. I reduced the lighting and tried to carefully siphon out the colony without causing it to further disperse and multiply. That did not work. Every day it would grow a little more. My red legged hermit crabs were occasionally attacking my snails for their shells. I tried to remove the dead snails as quickly as possible, but I suspected that the extra nutrients from a dead snail could be the cause of the problem. I removed the the crabs, but the Cyanobacteria spots kept growing. So far, no corals were affected, but I felt pressure to resolve this before everything became smothered by red slime. Even though I was doing extra water changes, the Cyanobacteria kept growing. I realized, that I better check the quality of my fresh water. I was using "RO" water from the grocery store. I tested that water and lo and behold, it was loaded with Phosphates! Problem identified. I changed my water source to true Kent Marine RO water. After one dose of Chemiclean and two 20% water changes with pure RO water and Tropic Marin salt, I have not seen a trace of Cyanobacteria for two weeks. I am sure the battle is not over, but I feel a lot more confident that I can prevent this problem in the future.
As you can see in from the pictures, my corals continued to grow, reproduce and thrive even as I was pulling my hair out worrying the tank would fail. The hammer coral grew a third head, I can see new growth on the scroll coral. The brown polyps are reproducing like crazy and I have to keep cutting gold capnella frags so it does not take over the tank. I am very pleased about the progress. I am now at a place where I can step back and watch the corals battle for territory in their 10 gallon ecosystem.
Jon
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| Yellow Scroll Coral |
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| Neon Green Horn - Hydnophora rigida |
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| Striped Pulsing and Silver Pom Xenia with Blue Mushroom |
I am so glad that my tank, Bonsai, is happy and thriving again. For almost 2 months, I have been trying to control Cyanobacteria bacteria (red slime algae) that was trying bloom and ruin the tank. Traces of Cyanobacteria are always present in a reef tank, but excess nutrients or improper lighting can cause a bloom that will quickly overtake and destroy a tank. At first the red slime was noticeable just under the sand bed. I tolerated that until it started to creep up the tank wall and eventually a little spot on the sand. I reduced the lighting and tried to carefully siphon out the colony without causing it to further disperse and multiply. That did not work. Every day it would grow a little more. My red legged hermit crabs were occasionally attacking my snails for their shells. I tried to remove the dead snails as quickly as possible, but I suspected that the extra nutrients from a dead snail could be the cause of the problem. I removed the the crabs, but the Cyanobacteria spots kept growing. So far, no corals were affected, but I felt pressure to resolve this before everything became smothered by red slime. Even though I was doing extra water changes, the Cyanobacteria kept growing. I realized, that I better check the quality of my fresh water. I was using "RO" water from the grocery store. I tested that water and lo and behold, it was loaded with Phosphates! Problem identified. I changed my water source to true Kent Marine RO water. After one dose of Chemiclean and two 20% water changes with pure RO water and Tropic Marin salt, I have not seen a trace of Cyanobacteria for two weeks. I am sure the battle is not over, but I feel a lot more confident that I can prevent this problem in the future.
