OK to let scarlet hermits control cyano?

[muppet]

I've got a month old tank with just a CuC in there. 14 gallon biocube with LR.

I had an algae bloom that is still waning. I thought I had diatoms on the back wall but now the brown "arms" waving in the current are sprouting tufts of green on the ends(?) I scrape that off periodically and the snails OCCASIONALLY will go up on the back wall and graze, but they prefer the LR/sandbed to the glass or the plastic back wall.

So, on one of my LR I've got this sheen of cyanobacteria that comes and goes. It never gets particularly large, and is usually of a pretty stable size smaller than a nickel. Yesterday it bloomed up to a half dollar or so, and I siphoned some out but wasn't too successful with the siphon. I stirred up a lot of the sandbed and ended up with a detritus cloud that filled my whole tank. My fire shrimp didn't seem too pleased with that.

Anyhow, I've noticed that when the cyano gets any larger than a fingerprint, the 5 scarlet hermits in my tank will all march over to that particular LR and absolutely devour it within an hour or two.

If they're happy to eat it, I'm happy to let them. Any pitfalls here to just letting a very small quantity of cyano grow and get cut back over and over?

[Uncle Salty 05]

A detritus cloud is a sign you don't have enough circulation in the tank to keep it suspended long enough for your filter to remove it.
You need to vacuum your gravel and get the detritus out of the tank, that is the source your cyano is feeding on.

[muppet]

Will do. Thanks.

I wish I was better at getting my siphon going. I'm afraid to remove too much water with it and end up effectively doing a water change mid-cycle, which I was told not to do by the reef guy at the LFS.

I'm adding a 4W koralia powerhead to the tank as soon as it arrives, which should be today or tomorrow.

[Uncle Salty 05]

You're welcome.
When you vacuum don't push your siphon down into the sand just take what is loose on the surface, you don't want to disturb your sand bed too much.
You could actually filter the water by pouring it through a filter pad repeatedly and then put it back in but I honestly don't think a small water change will do any damage if done properly. Mix and aerate well at same temp and specific gravity.
Good luck!

PS. you can start a siphon by placing the whole thing under water to fill it.
Put your finger in the hose (while keeping the tube submerged) until it is over the vessel you are siphoning into and then just remove your finger - instant siphon.

[muppet]

My siphon is much too large for that (it includes a squeeze pump, which is why I disturbed the sand bed with it). I've asked my wife, a nurse, to swipe me some air tubing from a nebulizer. :)

[Uncle Salty 05]

You can pick up a mini for $5 or less.

http://www.petco.com/product/2406/Marineland-Siphon-Kleen.aspx?cm_mmc=CSEMGooglebase-_-Fish-_-Marineland-_-157325&mr:trackingCode=29FBEB15-8381-DE11-B7F3-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA