After a battle spanning most of 2009, I am happy to report that the cyanobacteria plaguing my reef aquarium has finally been beat. I've been holding off on this post for most of the month of January, waiting to see if a relapse might occur. As it hasn't, I'm ready to summarize a struggle that occupied most of 2009 and how I finally won the war.

The biggest problem with a major algae outbreak in the aquarium is how demoralizing it can be for the aquarist. In the end, all the money and hard work we invest in this hobby is for the purpose of having a beautiful aquarium in the home. A tank overgrown with red slime is an eyesore, and after months of ineffective manual removal thoughts being to turn towards tearing the entire setup down, starting over, or getting out of the hobby altogether. The most important thing is to stay diligent, even if the process extends for months.

In this post I'll outline my thoughts around how the cyanobacteria formed in my tank, what methods failed to remove it, and how I finally succeeded.

What Caused the Outbreak
The cyanobacteria began settling in around June of last year. I attribute this to a combination of overfeeding and the loss of a fish that I was never able to remove, leading to a spike in nutrients from decomposition. Additionally, I was having some serious detritus issues, lacking a proper way for exporting the organic matter accumulating within my tank.

Another mistake I made was not removing the cyanobacteria immediately once it began forming on the substrate. I was not aware of how tenacious it can be once it begins growing within an aquarium. Manually removing as much as possible as soon as it becomes visible within the tank should be the number one priority of a reef keeper.

What Didn't Work
Most of my posts on this blog over the last half of 2009 involved various attempts at defeating cyanobacteria:

Rising Nitrates
In April I started to note my nitrates rising. I replaced my RO filters, which needed to be done anyway, but testing revealed this wasn't the source of the nitrate issue. In hindsight it was more likely detritus build up and overfeeding leading to the rise in nitrates.

Zeolites, Purigen and AlgaeFix
In June I tried reintroducing zeolites, to little effect on nitrates. I added Seachem's Purigen chemical filter media, which I believe helped stop the rise of nitrates, and temporarily reduced them. And finally, I tried API's AlgaeFix Marine, a chemical additive that was quite popular on the reef forums and supposedly could magic away any algae outbreak.

AlgaeFix did absolutely nothing against the cyanobacteria, and had only moderate success on the green hair algae. In addition, I noticed a die off in snails and some shrimp after two weeks of the recommended dose. I would not encourage use of this product, regardless of the positive things one might read on aquarium forums.

Bolstered Clean Up Crew
In July I brought in a larger clean up crew to deal with the detritus buildup and hopefully stir up the sand bed preventing cyano from forming. A large number of these snails died off immediately, something I am inclined to link to the AlgaeFix additive.

Manual Removal
By July I'd been reduced to manual removal, a process I performed at least twice a week for the rest of the year. Manual removal involved getting into the aquarium with my hands and a toothbrush, scrubbing the cyano off the rocks so it wouldn't overgrow corals, and removing large mats of the stuff from the substrate. Due to the decaying organic matter and constant water changes for removal purposes, parameters in my small tank were exceedingly hard to keep stable, and a number of corals were lost as a result.

Algae Filter and Vodka
In October I converted my filter into an algae scrubber with Chaetomorpha macro algae. I think this provided a marginal amount of nutrient export, and definately boosted the population of copepods and other beneficial bugs in the tank. But what ended up being the miracle cure was the addition of vodka dosing.

How I beat Cyanobacteria
I absolutely attribute the daily dosing of a small amount of vodka into my reef aquarium to the end of the cyanobacteria problem. Rather than butchering the explanation of how an organic carbon source like vodka effects an aquarium, I will link to an Advanced Aquarist article that will do a much better job:

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2008/8/aafeature3/

For my dosing, I followed the regimen documented by Melev on his (infinitely useful) website. This schedule began with what was merely a drop of vodka per day, and built up to a full dose of nearly 1ml daily. By October 23rd I observed that nitrates, which had been close to 40ppm for the majority of 2009, had been reduced to zero. They have tested at 0 ever since.

I had long assumed that the nitrates were the primary source of fuel for the growth of the cyanobacteria. Confirming this, after the nitrates were testing at 0 I noticed the health of the cyano immediately decline. Once a very thick carpet of deep red coloration, it began to take on more of a browned out appearance, growing much thinner. Eventually it changed form, appearing as strands waving in the current rather than a thick mat covering the substrate. Manual removal went from a daily process to weekly, and eventually became completely unnecessary. By mid-December my tank was free of cyanobacteria.

Another good article on vodka dosing: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

Dosing vodka as a carbon source has cured my tank of nitrate issues, cyanobacteria and hair algae, and (indirectly) detritus build up. The corals, invertebrates and fish have never looked healthier, and I've been able to resume heavier feeding without issue. I would suggest researching this method for anyone dealing with nutrient and algae issues in a marine aquarium.

Labels: Algae, Chemistry, Maintenance, Parameters, Reef Aquarium

An internet buddy got a great video of a crab hanging out on the beach. At first curious, he turns surly around the 1:50 mark and kicks sand into the camera. This sort of behavior should be familiar to most aquarium hobbyists.

Labels: Invertebrates, Video

Battling cyanobacteria for six months can really drain the enthusiasm for aquarium photography, but with some careful cropping I was able to get a few decent shots recently.

Labels: Photos, Reef Aquarium

As a follow up to a post in April, I recently converted the Aquaclear filter into an algae tumbler. Stocked with a small amount of live rock rubble and a large ball of Chaetomorpha algae, lit by a 15 watt compact fluorescent light. After adding this Algae on Thursday, testing for nitrates has indicated that the algae is effective: test results dropped to <5ppm from 20ppm last weekend.



If this continues to be successful, I'm going to look into a smaller LED light source for a more streamlined look. The current fixture splashes some of the warmer yellow colored light into the tank.

Another issue I've been dealing with is dropping pH, which has dropped below 8 at least twice in the past month. I've responded by adding Seachem Reef Buffer every other day, and increasing my testing. I've been considering adding a pH probe to my controller to make monitoring easier.

Labels: Algae, Equipment, Parameters

My father teaches marine biology and oceanography at a college in Maine (an obvious gateway to this hobby), and something interesting is always happening in his lab. This week a friend brought in a species not generally considered native to the Gulf of Maine, a Balistes capriscus, the gray triggerfish.

It is a gray triggerfish, Balistes capriscus, and is about 12" long. They have a wide diet including algae, invertebrate (worms and sand dollars) banacles and arthropods. We're feeding it shrimp right now. It comes to the surface to take it but I've read they can give you a good nip with that beak and strong teeth. Apparantly they can produce some interesting sounds by grinding their teeth that are amplified by the swim bladder. They have been found from Nova Scotia to Brazil but 60 degrees F seems to be the minimum temperature they can endure. Picture is attached.

Labels: Fish, Photos

Just came in my email. A little cheesy and does absolutely nothing to tell me about the features, but it sure caught my interest. I'm really hoping this turns out to be something useful for the sumpless reef keeper!

Check it out here: http://www.fluval-g.com

Labels: Equipment, Link

Reef Builders appears to be on an enviable field trip to Live Aquaria's coral facility in Wisconsin. Having grown up around various aquaculture initiatives that my dad was involved with, I've got an appreciative eye for the fish lab. And you don't get much more high tech than Live Aquaria's coral setup.

Like the smart bloggers that they are, the trip has been broken up into a half-dozen bite sized posts. Here are my favorites:

• Photo gallery of the facility
• Filtration systems
• Packing and shipping process
• Coral gallery

Labels: Coral, Equipment, Link

I have made some small progress against the cyanobacteria, primarily through manual removal. And by manual, I mean scrubbing things with a tooth brush. The scarlet hermit crabs added recently showed absolutely no interest in consuming cyano, so I think we can safely say they are not to be considered an effective solution for those dealing with this problem. The snails that I added are doing well for the most part. Upon their introduction to the tank, Boris made his first appearance in months, immediately slaughtering a turbo snail and taking over the new, larger shell. Several other hermits followed suit.

Suffice to say, I could not rely on this half-assed janitorial crew to solve my problems. I half expect them to unionize and demand four day work weeks in the near future.

Although nitrates continue to test at or close to zero, my working assumption is that the algae is consuming these nutrients prior to testing. The rampant algae scrubbing I have been performing on a daily basis has led to a detritus build up that my filter capacity is simply not equipped to deal with. Regular turkey basting of all surfaces results in a cloud of debris, but my skimmer is not readily capable of dealing with the volume, especially in the larger form of snail poop and dead algae.

Water changes can be effective at removing debris, but I am hesitant to perform more than a small change each week. This is simply not enough turn over to remove all detritus from the tank. As such, I've decided to increase mechanical filtration.



The H.O.T. Magnum from Marineland is an interesting filter, specifically designed for powerful mechanical filtration in a temporary capacity. With standard filter pads, the detritus is trapped in the filter, and presumably broken down for bacteria to consume. I want to avoid a situation where mass amounts of organic material is broken down within the tank, as that would presumably create a rise in nitrates and dissolved matter, fueling algae growth.

The trick is to get this stuff out of the tank quickly. The Magnum filter includes a micron-sized filter core, surrounded by a larger filter pad. It is frequently used to polish the water of multiple aquariums, and is designed to be quickly and easily setup on the side of a tank for temporary filtration. My hope is that a daily ritual of scrubbing algae and basting the rock to suspend organic matter and waste, combined with this filter for quickly removing it, will get my tank back to a pristine state in a hurry.

Labels: Algae, Equipment, Maintenance, Reef Aquarium

The algae war in my reef tank continues. Despite some recent success, specifically in taming a rise in nitrates, the nuisance persists. Dosing AlgaeFix has greatly reduced forms of green algae on the rock and tank walls, but cyanobacteria continues to be an issue.


Cyanobacteria from my freswater planted tank

Also known as 'red slime', cyanobacteria is an obnoxious problem within the aquarium. It first appeared on the substrate, and not fully understanding how difficult it is to remove once it spreads, I was lazy on removing it fast enough. Scooping it off the substrate is simple, as it forms a tight mat that can be removed by hand. Once it spreads into the rocks and corals though, it starts to create strands that are extremely difficult to completely remove from the tank. Leftover pieces quickly spread across the tank mere days after cleaning.

While my water chemistry is good in regards to nitrates, a primary food source for algae and bacteria, the tank still has quite an issue with detritus build up. To rule this out as a possible source of energy for the cyano, I've decided to add some new snails to my tank. I'm hoping the combination and numbers that I've selected with be able to efficiently trim down new algae growth, while contributing to stirring up the sand bed and consuming waste and detritus.



6x Nassarius Snails (Nassarius sp.)
An effective detritus consumer, that will hopefully remove quantities of uneaten organics from the rock and substrate.



6x Bumble Bee Snails (Engina sp.)
Smaller in size, they can get into crevices within the rock, in addition to burying in the sand for food. Plus they look cool.



6x Turbo Snails (Turbo fluctuosa)
An algae removing workhorse for the marine aquarium.

When I dealt with algae issues in my freshwater aquarium, the ultimate solution ended up being the addition of a dozen Amano shrimp, which quickly and efficiently removed all traces of nuisance algae from the tank within a few weeks. Looking for an equivalent silver bullet to deal with marine cyanobacteria has turned up mixed reports. Conventional wisdom states that nothing common to the aquarium trade will consume red slime. However, a few livestock dealers make the claim that scarlet hermit crabs, Paguristes cadenati, will eat it. Being in their commercial interest to market livestock as cures for common frustrations within the aquarium hobby, I remain skeptical.



As an experiment, and because Live Aquaria offers free shipping from Florida when you order $60 worth of 'clean up crew' animals, I am also bringing in 8 of these crabs. I'll monitor them carefully for any evidence of wether they eat this pest or not.

Labels: Algae, Invertebrates, Maintenance, Reef Aquarium

Tonight I tested some algae-specific parameters for the first time since changing my filtration strategy. The good news: nitrates dropped from 40ppm to 0. Phosphate remains at zero as always. Looks like the Seachem Purigen was a success.

The bad news is that I still have algae. After two weeks of doing the API Algaefix, I noticed it was growing back slower after a cleaning, and that some of the stringy algae was less green. Supposedly this is a sign of it working. I plan on continuing dosage for now. I'm hoping that by removing the nitrate, my corals will bounce back soon, and the algae will begin to disappear.

Another item of note, my clownfish have begun to display mating behavior. They've also been regularly digging a small pit in the gravel, which seems odd as I was under the impression that they generally prefer flat, solid surfaces for egg laying.

And finally, after a year of barely keeping SPS alive, I've been considering switching over to primarily soft corals. Live Aquaria has recently stocked up on some very interesting and colorful species, flying in the face of conventional wisdom that all soft corals are brown.

Labels: Algae, Maintenance, Parameters, Reef Aquarium