Algae Reactor (Cheato) to control Cyno

[Haggisman14]

Hey everyone, so with my on again, slightly off, and more so on again battle with cyno, and doing lots of research, I have a feeling that if I go the route of creating a cheato reactor, and run that on a light schedule of about 10-16 hours, the growth of the cheato should take away what is fueling the growth of my cyno. Would that generally be a good assumption?

I know nothing is guaranteed in this hobby, but from the research I've been doing, it looks like a pretty good solution.

One other question I have is I would be using a maxijet 1200 pump to power the reactor, and it would be placed in the middle chamber of my biocube. It would then pump water into the reactor that is BELOW my tank, and then the outlet from the reactor would dump back into chamber 3 (the return chamber) of my cube. I'm attaching a picture, but since the pump will be up high in the tank, and the water will be returned to that level, I believe there won't be any pressure on the pump and circulation won't be an issue, correct? I believe you only have to deal with head pressure when the pump is sitting lower than where your pumping to.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[Diesel]

My question is did you test if it is cyano?
Algae reactor, lots of cheato, refugium etc etc did nothing or less in my testing against cyano.

 

[Haggisman14]

I didn't test specifically, but from everything i've researched it should be. It creates a mat daily, it comes on strong during the day, and after lights out recedes, and then comes back with force the next day. When I siphon it out, within 2-3 days it's all back, and sometimes stronger.

 

[Diesel]

Ever thought it could be spirulina?
As every one knows that cyano is a form of bacteria not algae.
If cyano treat it with Ho2o but test first.
It's easy, take some of the matt out and put it with tank water in a clear cup, add a few drops of Ho2o to it as much as 3ml and wait and watch.
If the color changes on the so called cyano then we talking cyano here.
If not we are talking some sort of algae.
Threat algae with algae but threat cyano with a bacteria.
I always had good luck with feeding the tank oyster feast as that will promote the No3 that will fuel your positive bacteria load.

 

[Haggisman14]

Hi Ben, thanks for the info. Can spirulina be red? B/c whatever it is, it definitely is a deep red color.

If it is cyno, and that feeds off of nitrites, wouldn't the cheato reactor help combat that problem by help reducing nitrites and phosphates in the water?

I know the cheato won't itself get rid of the cyno, but I assumed that the addition of the cheato, and what it will remove from the water column would help prevent the cyno from coming back.

 

[Diesel]

Spirulina comes in many form of colors.
All I can say is test.
Either a scoop or with Ho2o.
What are your nutrients levels as we speak?
Do you have also a close up pic of the red matt in your tank?

 

[Haggisman14]

Ask and you shall receive (should have included from the beginning).

 

[Diesel]

Nutrients level

 

[Pntbll687]

Looks like cyano, but without testing can't be 100 positive.

But adding a cheato probably will not impact cyano that much. Chaeto will reduce the nutrients in the water, phosphates and nitrates. I believe cyano feeds on silicates in the water, but I could be wrong.
What is your lighting schedule? And type of light?
Did you rinse or soak the rock/substrate before adding?

The best success I have had against cyano was the following.
1. Manually remove as much as possible
2. Reduce white light to a max of 2hrs a day. Blues did not seem to grow cyano
3. Repeat as necessary
4. SLOWLY ramp lights back to normal

I would take the water I had removed with the cyano and run it through a filter sock, and return to tank. I didn't perform water changes, just in case my source water was the problem. It took about a month of treating to be 90% free of cyano. I get a patch every now and again.

 

[Haggisman14]

Looks like cyano, but without testing can't be 100 positive.

But adding a cheato probably will not impact cyano that much. Chaeto will reduce the nutrients in the water, phosphates and nitrates. I believe cyano feeds on silicates in the water, but I could be wrong.
What is your lighting schedule? And type of light?
Did you rinse or soak the rock/substrate before adding?

The best success I have had against cyano was the following.
1. Manually remove as much as possible
2. Reduce white light to a max of 2hrs a day. Blues did not seem to grow cyano
3. Repeat as necessary
4. SLOWLY ramp lights back to normal

I would take the water I had removed with the cyano and run it through a filter sock, and return to tank. I didn't perform water changes, just in case my source water was the problem. It took about a month of treating to be 90% free of cyano. I get a patch every now and again.

Thanks for chiming in!

Original rock/substrate not rinsed, as it was used to start my cycle when the tank was new last fall. New BRS rock that was added was quickly rinsed off prior to adding.

Lighting is a Kessil 160 tuna blue. I keep intensity @60%, and and spectrum at 55% towards the white side. Lighting schedule is whites for probably 8 hours, and blues for about 2-3 hours at the end of the day when i'm home from work.

I"ll try siphoning out the cyano, and then putting the water back into the tank...don't have a filter sock, but have filter floss pads I can run it through.

 

[mcarroll]

Looks like cyano, or cyano + something else.

What do you test currently for NO3 and PO4?

I suspect you're lacking PO4 in the water, which is throwing favor on the cyano, which can get it from the rocks....and throwns shade on everything else that needs to get it from the water, like corals.

Test your water and let's go from there...

 

[Haggisman14]

I'll see if I can get some readings tonight.

Diesel "I always had good luck with feeding the tank oyster feast as that will promote the No3 that will fuel your positive bacteria load." - I don't have Oyster Feast, but would feeding the tank more LRS Reef Frenzy acheive the same goal you speak of?

 

[Haggisman14]

Here are my current levels with API Test Kit

Nitrate NO3 - 0ppm
Nitrite NO2 - 0ppm
Ph 7.9
Phosphate PO3 0-.25. I didn’t have the color card, so went off of a card I found online.

Thanks for all the assistance!

 

[mcarroll]

Phosphate PO3 0-.25. I didn’t have the color card, so went off of a card I found online.

Need you to make the call on this....was it closer to "colorless" for 0.00 ppm or closer to the color for 0.25?

If both Nitrates and Phosphates appear to be zero, then I believe that's going to favor nothing good at all – cyano, but maybe worse too if things are left like this.

For such a new tank (with what seem fairly bright lights), you will need at least the minimums of 5 ppm NO3 and 0.03 ppm of PO4. Higher levels of PO4 would be much safer....0.10 ppm.

Definitely make sure you're feeding the tank adequately, but I would not overfeed. If you do anything to rectify the situation do it as directly and discreetly and with as much control as possible. Add only nitrates and phosphates because those are the two essential macro nutrients that are missing according to tests. Use something like Seachem's Flourish line to replenish them until the tank stabilizes and you don't see a need anymore. (Shouldn't take too long.)

 

[Haggisman14]

Thanks for the input! I would say my phosphate was definitely closer to the colorless (will be buying a new test kit now)

After reading what you suggest, would these products be good to does phosphates and Nitrates?

For Nitrate Dosing
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/neonitro-balanced-nitrogen-supplement-brightwell-aquatics.html

Phosphate Dosing
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/neophos-balanced-phosphorus-supplement-brightwell-aquatics.html

However, I was also reading some posts of people that had low levels in their tank and started adding Reef Roids and Oyster Feast

@Randy Holmes-Farley , I would appreciate your feedback too!



I'm also thinking of getting this test kit to make sure I'm testing correctly, and getting numbers right.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/red-sea-algae-control-multi-test-kit-no3-po4.html

Would there be any reason why these numbers are zero'd out? My corals seem to be doing well, acans are fat plump and happy, my one hammer has split, and one acro that I had that had almost died after a double does of PriziPro has come back from the brink.

I am running an Aquamax HOB 1.5 skimmer on the back 24/7, should I back that down...could that be the culprit?

Thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

. I believe cyano feeds on silicates in the water, but I could be wrong.

Cyano has no use for silicate. You may be thinking of diatoms, which is the only pest we have that uses silicate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the input! I would say my phosphate was definitely closer to the colorless (will be buying a new test kit now)

After reading what you suggest, would these products be good to does phosphates and Nitrates?

For Nitrate Dosing
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/neonitro-balanced-nitrogen-supplement-brightwell-aquatics.html

Phosphate Dosing
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/neophos-balanced-phosphorus-supplement-brightwell-aquatics.html

However, I was also reading some posts of people that had low levels in their tank and started adding Reef Roids and Oyster Feast

@Randy Holmes-Farley , I would appreciate your feedback too!



I'm also thinking of getting this test kit to make sure I'm testing correctly, and getting numbers right.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/red-sea-algae-control-multi-test-kit-no3-po4.html

Would there be any reason why these numbers are zero'd out? My corals seem to be doing well, acans are fat plump and happy, my one hammer has split, and one acro that I had that had almost died after a double does of PriziPro has come back from the brink.

I am running an Aquamax HOB 1.5 skimmer on the back 24/7, should I back that down...could that be the culprit?

Thanks!

I wouldn't expect that dosing nitrate and/or phosphate will reduce a cyano problem, unless it encourages something else (say, green algae) that physically takes the space that they cyano is growing on, or maybe, like is hypothesized with dinos, that they something else that grows may be sucking up a limiting trace element.

 

[ihavecrabs]

Thanks for the input! I would say my phosphate was definitely closer to the colorless (will be buying a new test kit now)

After reading what you suggest, would these products be good to does phosphates and Nitrates?

For Nitrate Dosing
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/neonitro-balanced-nitrogen-supplement-brightwell-aquatics.html

Phosphate Dosing
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/neophos-balanced-phosphorus-supplement-brightwell-aquatics.html

However, I was also reading some posts of people that had low levels in their tank and started adding Reef Roids and Oyster Feast

@Randy Holmes-Farley , I would appreciate your feedback too!



I'm also thinking of getting this test kit to make sure I'm testing correctly, and getting numbers right.
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/red-sea-algae-control-multi-test-kit-no3-po4.html

Would there be any reason why these numbers are zero'd out? My corals seem to be doing well, acans are fat plump and happy, my one hammer has split, and one acro that I had that had almost died after a double does of PriziPro has come back from the brink.

I am running an Aquamax HOB 1.5 skimmer on the back 24/7, should I back that down...could that be the culprit?

Thanks!

I would recommend a low range test kit for Phosphate. Unfortunately 0 isn't great and 0.25 isn't great either.. trying to get as close to colorless without being colorless and then guessing the reading would be a best guess.

As far as your skimmer, it would be removing DOC that would have otherwise turned into nitrate. Backing it off will certainly improve the nitrate number, but probably not all that quickly though. #reefsquad any recommendations here as I have always added KNO3 or NaNO3 for nitrate?

As far as phosphate, your best bet is to dose to get to your intended level (with an low range test kit) and then to stop and continue testing. Sometimes increased feedings will be enough, sometimes you'll have to dose a little more.

 

[Haggisman14]

So I currently have BRS reef chili, and LRS Reef frenzy. I hadn't been feeding those as much as I thought the reason for my cyano was too much feeding, but maybe I'm not feeding enough.

I'll start working both of those back into my feeding regimne, maybe every other day type of thing (Monday Reef Frenzy, Tuesday regular flak, Wednesday Reef Chili, Thursday, Friday Flake, Saturday Reef Frenzy, etc)

I"ll also try keeping the skimmer off during the day, and just running it at night.

Thanks for the insight guys. If it seems I'm missing any of your points, please let me know!

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I use this stuff for dosing nitrates. It's pretty cheap, food-grade, and the bottle makes about 2 liters of solution at my chosen concentration.

While it's hardly a rule, from my time in the hobby cyano generally has meant excess phosphates. It sounds like you don't have a chaeto reactor yet. If you would first like to try a phosphate reducing media like GFO or a liquid additive like Phosphate RX, that may solve your problem. If you go the chaeto route, I would dose nitrates until they're measurable (1 - 5 ppm) and see if the chaeto can take up the nutrients.