cayno outbreak

[woodzy128]

My tank is almost 4 months old. I run a brs reactor with gfo and carbon. I change the carbon every two weeks and the gfo every month. I do 20 gallon water change every two weeks and my system is just over one hundred gallons. I have a cayno outbreak befor my last water change. my phosfate was .19 before the water change and .05 after. shouldn't my gfo be taking care of the phosphates? how do I get that to zero? how much phosphates are needed to grow cyano? I don't want to do light out for 3 days but if I have to I will. Any help would be great thanks!

 

[Mike J.]

Are you burning candles or using air fresheners near the tank? Best way to get rid of red slime algae is to constantly siphon it out in the middle of the light cycle when it is in full bloom, without blowing it around. Also red slime algae usually grows on top of detritus. It will help you to locate areas of detritus build up and help you to clean your tank. Cyano is not necessarily related to phosphate and nitrate.

 

[ReeferIX]

Remove as much as you can, increase flow to problem areas, and lights out for 3 full days have always worked for me. I would be cautious of using chemiclean or other chemical treatments.

 

[Mike J.]

I've been keeping saltwater tanks for decades and have never resorted to "lights out". IMO by doing that you are perpetuating what I call the vicious cycle - dead algae = detritus = more algae.

 

[ReeferIX]

Dead spots from limited flow, + excess food = Cyano. To fix: remove what you can increase flow

 

[Mr tap water]

Hi there
As above I believe increasing circulation so there's no dead spots and siphoning off is the main key but it could also be caused by an imbalance of phos and nitrate as for turning off the lights for certain amount of days I think you would only get rid of it temporary and would come back eventually again until you find out what's causing it

 

[reeffirstaid]

Have you started dosing with any soluble carbon sources? These have been implicated in the growth of cyanobacteria. Phosphate can fuel cyanobacteria growth, and .19 is getting up there quite a bit. I would think reducing phosphates would make a difference, and siphoning it out will remove it, until the phosphates are lower. As for your GFO removing phosphates, in reality it should, though flow is a very important factor in how GFO functions. The granules at the top of your reactor should be lighting tumbling.

 

[joekidwell]

Removing phosphates and increasing flow solved my canyo. Purchase some macro algae, test rodi tds, from what I understand gfo works slowly in removing phosphates but if there are too many incoming phosphates it will never really lower it.

 

[Pete polyp]

Being 4 months old its probably just a stage in your tank and will go away eventually. I do agree with the manual removal and practicing good husbandry. Cyano happens.... Don't sweat it.

 

[howaboutme]

Being 4 months old its probably just a stage in your tank and will go away eventually. I do agree with the manual removal and practicing good husbandry. Cyano happens.... Don't sweat it.

+1

Many of us overthink this situation. You have a young tank, the 4 month mark is notorious for cyano outbreaks. If you practice good husbandry like what's been suggested, it will go away eventually. In my experience, they usually take between 4 to 8 weeks w/o chemicals. Be patient. The 3 days lights out doesn't solve the issue, it will get you ahead of the game but it's not an end all be all.

 

[woodzy128]

It started in my fuge, then spread to the dt. I put a small power head in the fuge and siphoned out what I could on water change day. Which was sunday. It got worse on monday and today its out of control in the fuge! It's not that bad in the dt but it's getting worse. I am religious when it comes to water changes. Using reef crystals with RO/DI water. I thought it might be a stage of the tank but don't want this **** everywhere!

 

[woodzy128]

only carbon is in a BRS reactor

 

[Pete polyp]

I would leave the fuge alone. Its better to have it growing uncontrollably in the fuge than in the display. That's what having a fuge is all about... The nastier the better

 

[ReeferIX]

I run high capacity GFO from BRS and it brought down my phosphates from .10+ now down to .00 within 2 weeks. If you have any Cyano anywhere I would remove it. It can spread fast if conditions are right. Remember Cyano is a bacteria and it needs nitrates, phosphates, and organics to thrive. As stated before when running GFO in an reactor you want flow in the reactor only to turn the GFO once a day or so; not tumbling like bio pellets. You can also mix with carbon if you want, but it is kind of a waste since GFO last about twice as long as carbon.

 

[woodzy128]

I thought the GFO in the reactor is suppose to tumble slowly but not churn to fast or it will turn to dust . Thats what BRS said in there video. I have a dual reactor with the carbon too. I was wondering if I should try the high capacity GFO, Just ordered a new one!