Been fighting cyano for too long

Dburr1014 · Nov 12, 2023

Tavero said:
Not true. Corals prefer ammonia but they can use nitrate too by expending a bit of energy. Same goes for algae, plants and some bacteria. Randy wrote explanation about that in his chemistry section.

He won't get rid of them by switching to dosing ammonia.

100%
They do prefer and will use ammonia before nitrate. This was my point I was getting across. Also with the point, if your feeding fish that excrete ammonia why dose nitrate. It's not working, try something else.

I didn't expect the OP to start dosing ammonia. If that's what it sounded like, my apologies.

My biggest point in my text is to try something different because what he's doing is not working.

"The definition of Insanity is doing something over and over and expecting different results."
Albert Einstein

coral reeftank · Nov 12, 2023

dieselkeeper said:
Plan on cleaning power heads and cutting back on lighting.

Melanurus wrasse. He eats anything, including nori.

Probiotic bacteria, MB7 is good or do you recommend something else?

It seems to be affecting corals. One monti for sure. Keep it above zero to feed corals. Use to vacuum sand bed where cyano was present, but noticed cyano would always come back spot first. This is why I will clean my power heads to help with flow.

Mb7 should be fine if that’s what you have on hand. I would say zeobak is my personal favorite since it’s been the cornerstone of many successful systems and a key component of the zeovit system

dieselkeeper · Nov 12, 2023

Tested water. Nitrates at 5.3, phosphates at 0.04. I cut dosing nitrates in half so it can drop to 1 ppm. So not to feed the cyano. Also reduced lighting to 6 hours. I will siphon out the cyano and start the clarifier.

Spare time · Nov 12, 2023

Dburr1014 said:
Coral need ammonia/ammonium, not nitrate. We only test for nitrate because it's left over.
Bacteria need the phosphate and coral eat the bacteria. This is how coral get phosphate.

You have an imbalance.
Keep doing what your doing and you will get the same results.

We are saying change your ways.
Try sunnyx way.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/extreme-water-clarity-and-cyano-eradication-made-easy.916381/page-3&ved=2ahUKEwjQ2-_c3L6CAxV2vokEHb6yBmwQFnoECBsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0ItkSOd0jnSa4kXZ_JqJUB

Corals can use nitrate.

Spare time · Nov 12, 2023

I'd consider adding more copepods for a bit since they should eat cyano if I understand correctly. Maybe try culturing them.

dieselkeeper · Nov 12, 2023

.

Spare time said:
Corals can use nitrate.

Idea here is not to feed the cyano, but still feed corals.

Dburr1014 · Nov 12, 2023

Spare time said:
Corals can use nitrate.

Dburr1014 said:
100%
They do prefer and will use ammonia before nitrate. This was my point I was getting across. Also with the point, if your feeding fish that excrete ammonia why dose nitrate. It's not working, try something else.

I didn't expect the OP to start dosing ammonia. If that's what it sounded like, my apologies.

My biggest point in my text is to try something different because what he's doing is not working.

"The definition of Insanity is doing something over and over and expecting different results."
Albert Einstein

I know that, I addressed a reply to another person already and conveyed my thoughts again here. ^

Tavero · Nov 13, 2023

Dburr1014 said:
100%
They do prefer and will use ammonia before nitrate. This was my point I was getting across. Also with the point, if your feeding fish that excrete ammonia why dose nitrate. It's not working, try something else.

I didn't expect the OP to start dosing ammonia. If that's what it sounded like, my apologies.

My biggest point in my text is to try something different because what he's doing is not working.

"The definition of Insanity is doing something over and over and expecting different results."
Albert Einstein

I agree. I just wanted to make sure there are no misunderstandings. My tank also has a lack of nitrogen and I'm dosing a calcium nitrate/Ammoniumchloride 9:1 mix. I wouldn't feel comfortable to use only ammonia.

Also in my experience, as soon as a pest (cyano,dino) has established itself, adding nitrogen and phosphorus will just feed it and increase the spread.
When I was dealing with cyano I got rid of it instantly with cyano solution (Erythromycin) and it never came back.
Just 6 months ago I would recommend it 100% because it had no visible side effects. Now I'm not so sure anymore. All corals were looking great but my zoas were degenerating and after several experiments, which I and other forum members conducted, I came to the conclusion that this cyano treatment messed up my biome so specifically, l wasn't able to keep zoas alive anymore.

Amstar · Nov 13, 2023

BetterJake said:
+1

The DIY 'Coral Snow' & MB7 seems to be keeping my red cyano in check

Is this the coral snow you are using? I have MB7 already

ColoredRock · Nov 13, 2023

Amstar said:
Is this the coral snow you are using? I have MB7 already

this is what I used.... dont think there would be difference but not sure.

Dburr1014 · Nov 13, 2023

Both seem to be good grade. Good grade is good.

Dburr1014 · Nov 13, 2023

Dburr1014 said:
Both seem to be good grade. Good grade is good.

LOL, that makes no sense.
Food grade is a good grade. I swear it said food grade when I posted it.

dieselkeeper · Nov 19, 2023

Update after 5 days. After cutting nitrate dosing in half to 35 ml per day, nitrates at 5.1 ppm. Glad to see that. But phosphates went from 0.04 to 0.9 ppm. Not worried about it at this time. If it keeps going up, at what point should I worry?

Dburr1014 · Nov 19, 2023

dieselkeeper said:
Update after 5 days. After cutting nitrate dosing in half to 35 ml per day, nitrates at 5.1 ppm. Glad to see that. But phosphates went from 0.04 to 0.9 ppm. Not worried about it at this time. If it keeps going up, at what point should I worry?

I think you mean 0.09?
That is okay and a good spot to be. Just keep it there.

officialreefbros · Nov 19, 2023

Have you tried the DIY coral snow with Microbactor7 in it? I battled probably not the best method but I let my tank get dirty and used a lot of reef roads to beat it

dieselkeeper · Nov 19, 2023

officialreefbros said:
Have you tried the DIY coral snow with Microbactor7 in it? I battled probably not the best method but I let my tank get dirty and used a lot of reef roads to beat it

This is what I'm currently doing.

dieselkeeper · Nov 19, 2023

Dburr1014 said:
I think you mean 0.09?
That is okay and a good spot to be. Just keep it there.

You are correct. For some reason I thought it was 0.9

dieselkeeper · Dec 7, 2023

Still fighting. Been at it for a month. Cyano comes back on the sandbed after a couple of days after siphoning. I did some research on Old Tank Syndrome. This seems to be the reason I cannot beat this. It's 99 percent on the sandbed. The solution is a "rip clean" of the tank. Does anyone know is there something else I could other then a rip clean? Vacuum clean the sandbed every week with water change? The reason I ask is the tank is 210 gallons. I don't want lose any live stock due having it in temporarily in a rubbermaid stock tank. This gonna take some time to accomplish.

dieselkeeper · Dec 19, 2023

Update on my battle. I decided to hold off on the tank tear down. Instead I've been moving corals to vacuum all of the sand. Doing small sections at a time but vacuuming deep. Still doing the coral snow with bacteria.

ColoredRock · Dec 21, 2023

vawela said:
I have been getting cyano for a few weeks and my lfs suggested that it was due to my flakes. I changed the flakes to spiriulina but it hasn't gone away. i have 5 fish in my 50g reef. i do water changes, about 8g every 2 weeks. can it be my nori that i feed my tang?? please help, i am in great need of it!

What do your water parameters look like.. can you give us can you give a little more information on your tank.. how Mature (old) is it....