Some Maintenance, Update on the Eggs
The snail eggs are starting to hatch. Actually, they started Thursday or Friday night. No idea what happens to them after they leave the egg sack, but they must still be tiny. There’s not any apparent growth while they’re in the egg sacks, just coloration changes. At least, under 10x magnification. I’m sure I’d see more dramatic changes under a microscope!
Routine maintenance over the weekend. Made some water Friday, changed some water today. Did 10 gallons of water change this evening, including changing out the phosban and carbon media. Also cleaned the skimmer and emptied the collection jug. I fed some pieces of shrimp to some LPS – bubble corals, a duncan, a plate coral, and the anemones.
Still seeing cyano in the tank. It seems to cover areas with hair algae, leading me to wonder if the algae is slowly dying off and the cyano is feeding off of it. I’m going to be patient and continue to monitor.
Brief update
Very briefly, skimmer seems to have settled down. It’s in need of a cleaning, but it’s probably back to what will be its normal rate of production. Top off water seems to be working fine, and I will pull out the kalk reactor and clean up the tubing this weekend. Male PJ cardinal released eggs yesterday; this evening he ate with gusto. Seeing less cyano in the evenings, but it’s still there in the mornings – tied to the right MH lamp??? It’s not that old… hmmmm…
Cyanobacteria Photos After Dosing VSV
OK, yet another non-reef night. This time I was hard at work getting a report done for the guy who signs my paychecks… that felt important.
Since I didn’t have time to finish my thoughts on VSV/Bacteria/Algae (and quite frankly want to reread a bunch of resource materials so I don’t say anything foolish) I’ll just present some interesting photos. Will I include any commentary? I don’t know yet… but we’ll both have figured that out by the end of this post.
I have a few areas of my tank with cyanobacteria growth. It isn’t always present, and even over the course of the same day I have seen it spread and disappear. It does seem to reoccur in the same locations in the tank. Recently I noticed in particular that the cyano recedes considerably after dosing my normal amount of VSV in the evenings. Yesterday I decided to take some photos of it, which follow. Interestingly, tonight when I glanced at the tank I didn’t see any cyano at all… although it’s been present the previous 3 or 4 nights. Huh. Guess I took my photos at the right time.
The first photo is taken right before dosing VSV, and the remaining were taken every 30 minutes. In this first photo check out that thick mat of cyano covering everything in the photo frame.
Cyano at 0 Minutes
Cyano at 30 Minutes
Cyano at 60 Minutes
Cyano at 90 Minutes
Cyano at 120 Minutes
Cyano at 150 Minutes
Cyano at 180 Minutes
In the last photo, you are not seeing cyano – you are seeing the red cotton algae that was on the live rock under the cyanobacteria. The cyano is pretty much completely gone. To give you an idea of how much cyano receded, try to find the caulerpa in the first photo (not just the one exposed leaf). My halides shut off after this last photo and I wasn’t able to take any more photographs, but I could see the cyano further recede in the following hour. Most of the recession is captured in these photos.
I’ve read that different concentrations of the VSV components can contribute to growth of cyano. To me, these photos are further empirical proof that different bacteria do in fact thrive on different carbon sources. Obviously there is a bacteria present in my tank (presumably from the Prodibio BioDigest) that was able to outcompete the cyano… or is that not so obvious? Is there something in the VSV that would have killed the cyanobacteria? I find that less likely.
I think I can also conclude that VSV does not necessarily cause cyanobacteria, although in a different concentration than I am using cyano may thrive on it as a carbon source. Now does Prodibio BioDigest introduce cyano? … maybe. I have no idea. I have had cyano outbreaks in other tanks that weren’t dosed with Prodibio products. Frankly, I think it is always present (although not always visible to the naked eye) and any excess nutrients can cause it to rear its ugly head (am I crazy for not finding it too ugly? I guess it’s all relative when my choices are cyano or red cotton algae). Again, it’s one of the most prevalent strains of bacteria out there, so who knows when or how it got introduced.
Now my question to myself is… will cyano outcompete the red cotton algae for nutrients? If so I may try to find a way to encourage cyano to grow. I find it a lot easier to get rid of than the red cotton algae…
Hey what do you know, I provided some commentary.
Saturday Maintenance
Did some work on this blog, and also on the tank. It was a good day. I’ll stick to the work on the tank for this post.
Did a 10-gallon water change this afternoon. That’s twice the volume I usually change. I have noticed a big dent in algae this week, and this afternoon before the water change I stirred up a lot of detritus with a powerhead. Figured, a little extra nutrient export probably isn’t a bad thing. I also added a vial of Prodibio BioDigest and cleaned the skimmer.
I’ve also been noticing a lot more cyano on rocks. It seems to be replacing the algae, so I’m leaving it be for now. I may have added a little too much sugar to the VSV on this batch, so I might “Dilute” it with some extra vodka. I don’t know yet. I figure the cyano will be easier to combat than hair or fuzzy cotton algae, so I’m not concerned yet.
