Here's a quick rundown..
The Tank and Filtration:
40B (36x18x17) / Eheim 2217
Lighting:
Finnex Ray 2 24" (rear light) + Current Satellite+ LED (I use the yellow button for light strength, full spectrum). The lighting is run from 8am until 6pm(ish). I turn the lights on when I go to work, turn off when home. So about 10 hours of light a day.
Stocking
Tank inhabitants are 3 female adult african clawed frogs.
The Plants
1. Valsineria
2. Bacopa Monerii (the red cyanobacteria's favorite target)
3. Anubias
4. Java Fern
5. Duckweed, tons.
6. Water Sprite
As you can see from the list, this is basically a "weed" tank full of fast growers that becomes out of control and excess plants are removed regularly.
The Maintenance
30% (15 gallons) removed weekly, SeaChem Prime is the only conditioner I use.
The Problem
Pretty sure I have a (red) cyanobacteria problem in this tank. The glass of my tank gets a rusty-red film on it, I can scrape it off with a credit card, some times it takes a few good scrapes (the scraped stuff is black and smells like wet grass), it does not always come off easy. I have a magnet cleaner, it has a hard time removing it some times. I manually remove what I can but it seems to come out.
Quick side story, it used to be worse, a lot worse. I moved and did a 100% water change pretty much and it was gone overnight, it has come back in recent months though not to the same extent -- but I want to be rid of it completely.
It seems to attack my bacopa plants the most. These plants have been removed and treated with hyrogen peroxide (all I had in the house to try), it has cleaned the plants, they were placed in a 5 gallon bucket outside for a few hours. Something kind of alarming, the water turned pink, they are still outside, in a bucket soaking in non-pink water (rinsed them all off with the hose) may/may not add these back in the tank at some point.
Oddness, the slow growing Java Fern has nothing growing on it. The other slow grower Anubias I scrape clean regularly.
Solution Ideas
As stated, the main victim being the bacopa has been removed. The glass has been completely cleaned with a credit card and is clear now. I did a 50% water change, I also broke down my Eheim today (regular maintenance) and replaced some of the filter padding that was falling apart (I did preserve the BB with the intact blue sponge media which is in good shape). Also stated, I manually removed as much of it from the glass as humanly possible, I cannot see any now.
How could I keep this from coming back? My tank's plant mass is dense, I think this may be cutting off water flow, I've moved my plants around and away from the spray bar, the tank should have better water movement now. I am considering removing the Finnex light, I love it but it's strong.. can the Current Satellite LED+ keep my tanks thriving?
I've also considered phosphates being part of the problem, however the plants should be taking care of this. NH3/NO2/NO3 is under control according to my API Master Kit, 0/0/10ppm are my usual monthly readings.
Anything I am missing here? My tank currently looks great but I fear cyao will return.. I've been Googling up a storm on this stuff but it's mostly concerning reef tanks, this 40B was converted from a saltwater tank ironcally but I doubt this is the problem since I bleached this tank for weeks before making it freshwater.
The Tank and Filtration:
40B (36x18x17) / Eheim 2217
Lighting:
Finnex Ray 2 24" (rear light) + Current Satellite+ LED (I use the yellow button for light strength, full spectrum). The lighting is run from 8am until 6pm(ish). I turn the lights on when I go to work, turn off when home. So about 10 hours of light a day.
Stocking
Tank inhabitants are 3 female adult african clawed frogs.
The Plants
1. Valsineria
2. Bacopa Monerii (the red cyanobacteria's favorite target)
3. Anubias
4. Java Fern
5. Duckweed, tons.
6. Water Sprite
As you can see from the list, this is basically a "weed" tank full of fast growers that becomes out of control and excess plants are removed regularly.
The Maintenance
30% (15 gallons) removed weekly, SeaChem Prime is the only conditioner I use.
The Problem
Pretty sure I have a (red) cyanobacteria problem in this tank. The glass of my tank gets a rusty-red film on it, I can scrape it off with a credit card, some times it takes a few good scrapes (the scraped stuff is black and smells like wet grass), it does not always come off easy. I have a magnet cleaner, it has a hard time removing it some times. I manually remove what I can but it seems to come out.
Quick side story, it used to be worse, a lot worse. I moved and did a 100% water change pretty much and it was gone overnight, it has come back in recent months though not to the same extent -- but I want to be rid of it completely.
It seems to attack my bacopa plants the most. These plants have been removed and treated with hyrogen peroxide (all I had in the house to try), it has cleaned the plants, they were placed in a 5 gallon bucket outside for a few hours. Something kind of alarming, the water turned pink, they are still outside, in a bucket soaking in non-pink water (rinsed them all off with the hose) may/may not add these back in the tank at some point.
Oddness, the slow growing Java Fern has nothing growing on it. The other slow grower Anubias I scrape clean regularly.
Solution Ideas
As stated, the main victim being the bacopa has been removed. The glass has been completely cleaned with a credit card and is clear now. I did a 50% water change, I also broke down my Eheim today (regular maintenance) and replaced some of the filter padding that was falling apart (I did preserve the BB with the intact blue sponge media which is in good shape). Also stated, I manually removed as much of it from the glass as humanly possible, I cannot see any now.
How could I keep this from coming back? My tank's plant mass is dense, I think this may be cutting off water flow, I've moved my plants around and away from the spray bar, the tank should have better water movement now. I am considering removing the Finnex light, I love it but it's strong.. can the Current Satellite LED+ keep my tanks thriving?
I've also considered phosphates being part of the problem, however the plants should be taking care of this. NH3/NO2/NO3 is under control according to my API Master Kit, 0/0/10ppm are my usual monthly readings.
Anything I am missing here? My tank currently looks great but I fear cyao will return.. I've been Googling up a storm on this stuff but it's mostly concerning reef tanks, this 40B was converted from a saltwater tank ironcally but I doubt this is the problem since I bleached this tank for weeks before making it freshwater.
