Battling Cyano with good parameters?

NortheastReefer97 · Feb 25, 2021

Set up an Evo 13.5 4ish months ago and have been battling cyano for about a month now. I know it’s likely a bit of new tank syndrome, but I'm getting nowhere, and it just killed my nice chalice. It is especially frustrating as my parameters seem to be quite good and i’m very regimented with maintenance....

Lights are on 9 hours a day, upgraded return pump and jebao wave maker. 20% weekly water change, with a toothbrush scrub on the rocks prior and using the wc hose to suck it off the sand. Using Redsea test kits and coral pro salt.

Water parameters as follows:

Current:
Temp: 78f
Sg: 1.024
Po4: 0.02
No3: 0.5
No2: 0
Am: 0
Dkh: 9.5
Mg: 1240ppm
Ca: 440ppm

Parameters as of 5 days ago:
Temp: 78f
Sg: 1.024
Po4: 0.01
No3: 10
No2: 0
Am: 0
Dkh: 9.6
Mg: 1260ppm
Ca: 450ppm

Parameters as of 10 days ago:
Temp: 78f
Sg: 1.024
Po4: 0.03
No3: 5
No2: 0
Am: 0
Dkh: 9.3
Mg: 1240ppm
Ca: 420ppm

Parameters as of 3 weeks ago:
Temp: 78f
Sg: 1.024
Po4: 0.02
No3:
No2: 0
Am: 0
Dkh: 9.5
Mg: 1240ppm
Ca: 440ppm

Spare time · Feb 25, 2021

Cyano can get nitrogen from the atmosphere so 0 ish nitrate can aid them as it is bad for their competition. 0 nitrate is also bad in general. Just feed more and use chemiclean. Also keep in mine that 0.02ppm phosphate is possibly 0 given error range on test kits.

HuduVudu · Feb 25, 2021

Don't fixate on the numbers. Use them as a general indication.

Focus on good husbandry and be patient. Things will work out slowly and with time.

NortheastReefer97 · Feb 25, 2021

Spare time said:
Cyano can get nitrogen from the atmosphere so 0 ish nitrate can aid them as it is bad for their competition. 0 nitrate is also bad in general. Just feed more and use chemiclean. Also keep in mine that 0.02ppm phosphate is possibly 0 given error range on test kits.

Hmm ok, ive only got a tailspot in there and feed a quarter cube of mysis 1x and red nori that i blitzed into flake size 2x a day which i thought was over feeding to begin with. So is it high or low no3 and po4 that causes cyano? I was under the impression that it was high params that caused it.

NortheastReefer97 · Feb 25, 2021

HuduVudu said:
Don't fixate on the numbers. Use them as a general indication.

Focus on good husbandry and be patient. Things will work out slowly and with time.

Thats what I was doing, and I've stayed the course because the parameters were consistent and i figured it was NTS but it’s killed livestock now so i need to be more proactive about it. Isn’t obsessing over water parameters what good reef husbandry is all about? Lol

Spare time · Feb 25, 2021

NortheastReefer97 said:
Hmm ok, ive only got a tailspot in there and feed a quarter cube of mysis 1x and red nori that i blitzed into flake size 2x a day which i thought was over feeding to begin with. So is it high or low no3 and po4 that causes cyano? I was under the impression that it was high params that caused it.

Low NO3 may be a reason for cyano as they don't care how much nitrate is in the tank. 0's for nitrate are bad and can result in coral mortality too unless the corals are constantly catching food in the water. This applies to phosphate too. Try to have those between 0.1 and 0.03 and nitrates 5 or greater (obviously not super high but more than 0.

bitwise · Feb 25, 2021

I’d bump up nitrate and phosphate to get them a little more above zero, and try a few drops of micro bacter 7 daily. That worked for me, no other chemicals required

HuduVudu · Feb 25, 2021

NortheastReefer97 said:
Isn’t obsessing over water parameters what good reef husbandry is all about? Lol

No!

NortheastReefer97 · Feb 25, 2021

Spare time said:
Low NO3 may be a reason for cyano as they don't care how much nitrate is in the tank. 0's for nitrate are bad and can result in coral mortality too unless the corals are constantly catching food in the water. This applies to phosphate too. Try to have those between 0.1 and 0.03 and nitrates 5 or greater (obviously not super high but more than 0.

Ah i see now that i had 0.5 for current nitrates but that should be a 5. I think you’re right though and I’ll work on getting my phos up. Thanks for the advice.

NortheastReefer97 · Feb 25, 2021

bitwise said:
I’d bump up nitrate and phosphate to get them a little more above zero, and try a few drops of micro bacter 7 daily. That worked for me, no other chemicals required

Yea that 0.5 should have just been a 5 but the phos is probably too low so ill try to get that up first but ill keep the microbacter in mind if it doesn’t work. Thanks!

RobertTheNurse · Feb 25, 2021

I'm having the same issue. 1.5 NITRATES and 0 phos. No sign of dino or cyano yet (and I hope never). I do have a little rock that has some GHA on it. I'm contemplating trimming it down a bit when it gets out of control. But in my mind, I'd rather deal with GHA than the other 2. If my tank still grows GHA that tells me my nutrients are higher than what my test shows.

Is this accurate? I can't seem to raise my nitrates with increased feeding.

(Don't mean to hijack)

Spare time · Feb 26, 2021

NortheastReefer97 said:
Ah i see now that i had 0.5 for current nitrates but that should be a 5. I think you’re right though and I’ll work on getting my phos up. Thanks for the advice.

Honestly though I would just get some chemiclean and feed a little more food and not stress too much over it.

sarcophytonIndy · Feb 26, 2021

Increase water flow. Also, if you have a sump/fuge, grow chaeto.

JohnMzreef · Feb 26, 2021

Just got over horrible cyano. This is just my humble opinion but it seems to me that cyano outbreak has nothing to do with nitrate/phospate. I believe it is from having too much dissolved organics (carbon) in the water.
What worked for me:
- wet skimming
- cut back on feeding (at least temporarily)
- stop adding aminos (at least temporarily)
- stop adding any other sources of organics (vibrant, vinegar, vodka, etc)
- use microbacter 7
- frequent turkey basting
- increased flow did not really seem to help
- however getting lighting and flow dialed in so that coralline algae is growing seems beneficial
hope that helps
edit: by the way, I did not use chemiclean

jbilliel · Feb 26, 2021

I am another frustrated Cyno fighter. I too have good water parameters, change the water weekly, change the socks frequently, scrub all the dynos off the rocks and coral as often as I can, use vibrant after every water change and still no luck. I have used Chemiclean and the tank looks great for maybe two days and the dang stuff comes back.

It's choking my corals and killing them which is driving me nuts!

How often can you use chemiclean?

JohnMzreef · Feb 27, 2021

jbilliel said:
use vibrant after every water change and still no luck

vibrant makes cyano worse not better

Dolphin2409 · Mar 29, 2021

JohnMzreef said:
vibrant makes cyano worse not better

Is Vibrant feeding the cyano? What’s in vibrant that cyano likes?

NortheastReefer97 · Mar 29, 2021

As an update, I ended up using chemiclean and it took care of the problem with no ill effects, I also kept the tank lights off while this was going on. Be sure to use level scoops and and a bubbler for the full time. I started feeding more after the treatment and now my only problem is cleaning algae off the glass!