So, just out of curiosity, I am having a cyanobacteria outbreak and I think it has a lot to do with the ‘poo’ that is sitting on my sand bed. What is a good way to get rid of it without over disturbing my sandbed and causing even more issues?
I bought a small gravel vaccuum thinking i may be able to control that enough to vacuum it out without poking into the bed at all. I keep a very close eye on my water parameters and nothing has ever been out of the ordinary after the cycle. My sandbed is anywhere from 4" to 6" deep. I am using a skimmer that was intended for twice the size of my tank. Since I haven’t been around for a while, I will post a reminder about what my system looks like.
55 gallon display tank
approx 22 gallon sump
8 gallon refugium included in that sump
ASM G1 Protein Skimmer
around 50lbs of live rock
as for livestock, i have two 2 1/2" percula clowns and a black combtoothed blenny and a few soft corals, not much to be honest. I feed about a 1/4 to 2/3 of a cube of frozen brine shrimp per day, so I don’t think I am over feeding. Any suggestions to help keep the sand clear of poo?
A trick I used to use was to buy a fine mesh fish net and sweep along the sand to stir the poo up off the bottom, then sweep the net back and scoop it out. A gravel vacuum won’t work, the sand is too light. Doesn’t sound as though you are overfeeding.
Put a kink in the hose for your gravel vac and control the flow rate by how tight you hold the kink. This will allow you to suck out the light detritus without sucking out all the only slightly heavier sand. Be sure to only stick the vac in the sand bed a little so you don’t disturb the anaerobic layer underneath. Some sand sifting critters will help keep that stuff from settling too.
increase the flow at the sand bed if you are having a detritus build up there. that said, it’s certainly a symptom of excess nutrients, so i would evaluate your nutrient import/export and siphon it out as mentioned.
you can always use chemiclean. i’ve used that on a few tanks with good results. i would usually tell people not to use chemicals but i was forced to do something on a freshly installed public tank and it worked great. i tested the water for a couple weeks after and there was no spike- no beneficial bacteria was compromised.
i would also get some different food, since brine shrimp is very low in nutrition.
I am using RO water, but do not have a DI stage for it. I have been giving this same water to my Dad and Stepmom for my brothers tank and they aren’t having any sort of issue with cyano. So I do not think it is my water.
+1 on mr x!
i also killed cyano w/chemiclean. twice. no ill effects even on clams. following direx are paramount!!! i feed less now. very little cyano.
Are you using a TDS meter to check tour filtered water? Do your filters in your unit need to be changed? Usually it is not just one cause in the growth of cyano, but a combination of items. Poor lighting, low water movement, and high temps can assist in cyano growth.
I am sure evryone with a saltwater tank has tried to address this problem. just my :TWOCENTS, trying to help out.
I do not use any filter media in my tank at all. I have even removed the foam dampener from the protein skimmer exit tube.
One thing I am curious about. My sump and refugium seem to have a lot of junk in them. Even the chaeto has what looks like a lot of detritus IN it. It isn’t dead chaeto or anything like that, its almost as if the chaeto is working as a filter media. Is it ok to pull the chaeto out and just run it through the fresh water in my kitchen sink to try to get that stuff out? or should I mix up a batch of saltwater and dunk it in there a few times?