Cyano and nitrates

StikHedRon · Sep 15, 2014

So my tank has always been 0 nitrate on a Red Sea test kit. I've been trying to raise them to 2ppm with sodium nitrate. Well every time I do I get cyano on my sand bed in certain areas. How can I keep an elevated nitrate level without the cyano? My po4 is 0 on the HI736 and I ren brs high capacity gfo all the time. I will gladly offer any info needed.

MounteeFrag · Sep 15, 2014

Following

fishroomlady · Sep 15, 2014

you can try to increase flow in those areas, that may help keep it at bay

mike007 · Sep 15, 2014

Why would you want to raise nitrates? If you are having results why add sodium nitrate? I cannot believe that raising 2 ppm would cause a cyano problem.There has to be other issues causing it. I would also be concerned with what impurities it might contain. I do know that iron in excess can cause some issues.

Heavy Metals (Pb): <10ppm

Chloride (Cl): <0.1%

Sulphate (So4): <0.02%

Iron (Fe): <10ppm

StikHedRon · Sep 15, 2014

I'm wanting to raise it to hopefully add some nutrients for my sps. What else could cause the cyano?

mike007 · Sep 15, 2014

Sps corals will do fine with good lighting , clean water and they will feed off the food you feed your fish. There are many reasons for cyano problems such as low flow ,old bulbs in your lighting, phosphates etc. I would double check your phosphates with another test kit and if you have a abundance of cyano it will give you false results due to the bacteria is using it to survive.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 16, 2014

If the cyano correlates strongly with nitrate dosing, then it is probably getting adequate phosphate some other way and is being growth limited by nitrogen sources.

The substrate itself may be releasing adequate phosphate, causing it to grow there.

Are you organic carbon dosing? Cyano often thrive in organic rich water.

saltyphish · Sep 16, 2014

following

StikHedRon · Sep 16, 2014

No, I do not dose vinegar, vodka or sugar. I do dose KZ Cyano clean to try and help but it doesn't really do anything.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 16, 2014

If you stop dosing nitrate, does the cyano go away?

StikHedRon · Sep 16, 2014

Slowly. Seems to stick around for a few weeks. I'll suck it out with a hose and it won't come back till I dose again. I'll raise the nitrate level to 1-2ppm then bam comes back.

mike007 · Sep 16, 2014

ronhaskovec said:
No, I do not dose vinegar, vodka or sugar. I do dose KZ Cyano clean to try and help but it doesn't really do anything.

I have been dosing kz cynoclean myself for several weeks now with no results. I have also been using coral snow, zeozym, biomate, bak and other kz additives. Iwill give in more time before I give up. I have tried everything that I have researched to rid the cyano and nothing seems to work.

StikHedRon · Sep 16, 2014

Yeah I've been doing cyano clean and zeobak per instructions.

mike007 · Sep 16, 2014

Just to give you a heads up I was at Macna and I asked several experts about this Issue and got several different answers. I was told to quit doing weekly water changing, increase flow etc. I have been in the hobby over 40 years and I have tested all my parameters and they are okay. There are so many variables and different types of cyano. I don't think no one can identify the exact cause of his problem when all tank parameters test to correct levels. I have tried everything and nothing seems to work.

NanaReefer · Sep 16, 2014

mike007 said:
Just to give you a heads up I was at Macna and I asked several experts about this Issue and got several different answers. I was told to quit doing weekly water changing, increase flow etc. I have been in the hobby over 40 years and I have tested all my parameters and they are okay. There are so many variables and different types of cyano. I don't think no one can identify the exact cause of his problem when all tank parameters test to correct levels. I have tried everything and nothing seems to work.

Exactly the reason for me shutting down my 3yr old 26g. Tried everything over a 6month period. Nothing and I mean nothing worked!
Bought a new tank, new rock & new substrate. Nothing but the corals went into the new tank.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 17, 2014

I agree that stopping water changes for a period as a test is a fine plan.

More aggressive GFO is also reasonably likely to work, unless the cyano is getting phosphate directly from sand that has a lot of phosphate bound to it (or detritus in it).

StikHedRon · Sep 17, 2014

What does stopping the water changes do? Currently I do about 8% a week and don't miss a change.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 17, 2014

It is an empirical observation some have made, but it may make some sort of trace element, such as iron, limiting for cyano growth when it runs out.

If you take this approach, don't dose any trace elements during that time either.

StikHedRon · Sep 17, 2014

Thanks Randy... I will stop with the weekly water changes and see how things evolve in the near future. I do not dose any Trace Elements of any sort. Just Alk and Cal with the occasional AA dosing.