A common beginner mistake...

[SirFragalot]

I'm pretty much posting this as a lesson learned by me and hopefully prevent others from making the same mistake.

Well, even after knowing better, I managed to cause a minor cyano outbreak due to overfeeding. I didnt really see the start of it due to the crappy lighting I had. Every time somebody would come over to see the fish, (love the look on people's faces), I would toss a little food in to show them off even after regular feeding. I've had my new T5 fixture up for a week now and there is, like i said, a minor outbreak of a brownish algae on some of the rock, glass and sand. I know that it is common to get a cyano outbreak in new systems so I am not freaking out too much since mine is only 3 and a half months old.

Resolving: I am going to cut back my feeding from every day to every two days.

I am going to cut my lighting back from 8 to 6 hours for now.

I am going to try and do this without any use of chemicals, sugar or vodka methods.

I will post with updates.

 

[sgarron]

I've had my new T5 fixture up for a week now and there is, like i said, a minor outbreak of a brownish algae on some of the rock, glass and sand.

Brownish algae coupled with a change of lights sounds more like a Diatom bloom than a Cyano outbreak. A pic would be helpful. Cyano is usually bright red, thick and slimy.

Diatoms are nothing to worry about, they go away on their own in a couple weeks.

 

[SirFragalot]

You know what? I did so much looking into it that I probably confused the two. Am i still feeding too much then?

I give them 1 thawed cube of either mysis or furmula B a day.

 

[SirFragalot]

Here are some pics of what is going on.

Mator who loves the camera.. His fin was like that when I got him.

Bell....our Coral Beauty that wouldnt sit still for the cam..

Jamal..our Niger Trigger who definitly doesnt like cameras..

 

[sgarron]

That's diatoms. Nothing to worry about. That amount of food doesn't seem like too much. Diatoms come and go, especially in a young tank. I personally noticed pretty good outbreaks when ever I changed lights.