Cyano Bloom

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

4 days ago. I noticed there being a lot of particulate in the display water, making it cloudy. The next day the last little bits of my diatoms disappeared. I then notice this next day, that my chaeto, when flipping it, had what looked like detritus, but turned out to be an orangish brown snot.

I added floe to my fuge and it flew off in little flat pieces breaking down, adding to the cloudiness in the display.

I beleive it is cyano, i put in some filter floss ti catch and remove it this last few days, and it gives me a headache if I sit over the bucket cleaning things for a few minutes. It smells like very dirty water.

My issue is, now the only spot still enough for it to gather is the return, and even then it isnt gathering much.

My water is super cloudy, i feel bad for my clowns. How do i deal with cyano that isn't settling? Its just all over my water column and I can't really suck it out, just catch some in filter floss.

I read microbacter7 helps, and I have a lot on hand, so i dosed a low maintenance dose sing my nitrates and phos are low. .02 phos, 1 nitrate.

Video of what it looked like just after discovering it, just before adding flow and sucking what I could out.



How should I continue handling this just leave it? Is it a problem that i am keeping nearly 100% if it suspended?

 

[Timfish]

What has been done to your system over the last several weeks? You PO4 is low which can be a benefit for some nuisance algae. For starters I would cut the filter pad so it's below the waterline and water flow pushes the surface algae to into it. Have the filter sponge above the water line lest water flow under the surface and the algae can back up and continue to grow on hte surface and can get quite thick.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

What has been done to your system over the last several weeks? You PO4 is low which can be a benefit for some nuisance algae. For starters I would cut the filter pad so it's below the waterline and water flow pushes the surface algae to into it. Have the filter sponge above the water line lest water flow under the surface and the algae can back up and continue to grow on hte surface and can get quite thick.

It is low and I thought about dosing.

Last several weeks, about 2 ago i added some cerith snails. And 9 days ago I dosed a little calcium and soda ash. That's been it.

I started increasing feeding because my nutrients were close to bottoming out, but after the cyano started I cut back some. Only have 2 clowns a cbs 2 hermits and some snails

 

[Timfish]

I for got to ask how old your system is, I noticed you've only been on R2R for a couple months. What livestock do youhave besides the fish? What are your water parameters?

Concerning PO4 keep in mind we can only test for Dissolved Inorganic Phosphorus (DIP aka PO4) but systems have Paticulate Organic Phosphorus (POP) and Dissolved Organic Phosphorus (DOP). I'd suggest keeping PO4 between the .03 mg/l and .5 mg/l.

Bacterial supplements are fine but keep in mind anly about 2 persent of the microbial stuff on reefs can be cultured. If this is a new system and you didn't add a quality maricultured live rock with sponges and other stuff on it I'd sugggest getting some. Here's Aquabiomics article on live rock

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

I know this is a data bomb but here's some links you may find informative:


"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems

Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes

Microbial view of Coral Decline

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont

BActeria and Sponges

Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)

Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching

DNA Sequencing and the Reef Tank Microbiome

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"

15 Answers

 

[homer1475]

Looks more like dino's to me. Also, I see no water movement in that sump(top is stagnant looking). Was the pumps off, or do you purposely have such low flow through the sump?

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Looks more like dino's to me. Also, I see no water movement in that sump(top is stagnant looking). Was the pumps off, or do you purposely have such low flow through the sump?

That was right before I added a power head. The flow was lower accross the top, but the return was off when filming

I was worried it might be dinos, should I just leave it be?

Tank is only 9 weeks old

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

I for got to ask how old your system is, I noticed you've only been on R2R for a couple months. What livestock do youhave besides the fish? What are your water parameters?

Concerning PO4 keep in mind we can only test for Dissolved Inorganic Phosphorus (DIP aka PO4) but systems have Paticulate Organic Phosphorus (POP) and Dissolved Organic Phosphorus (DOP). I'd suggest keeping PO4 between the .03 mg/l and .5 mg/l.

Bacterial supplements are fine but keep in mind anly about 2 persent of the microbial stuff on reefs can be cultured. If this is a new system and you didn't add a quality maricultured live rock with sponges and other stuff on it I'd sugggest getting some. Here's Aquabiomics article on live rock

Establishing a Healthy Microbiome in a New Aquarium Using Live Rock

Studying the effects of live rock in a newly established aquarium shows that high-quality live rock promotes the rapid establishment of an effective biological filter and a microbial community similar to those found in mature reef tanks.

www.reef2reef.com

I know this is a data bomb but here's some links you may find informative:


"Coral Reefs in the Microbial Seas" This video compliments Rohwer's book of the same title (Paper back is ~$20, Kindle is ~$10), both deal with the conflicting roles of the different types of DOC in reef ecosystems. While there is overlap bewteen his book and the video both have information not covered by the other and together give a broader view of the complex relationships found in reef ecosystems

Changing Seas - Mysterious Microbes

Microbial view of Coral Decline

Nitrogen cycling in hte coral holobiont

BActeria and Sponges

Maintenance of Coral Reef Health (refferences at the end)

Optical Feedback Loop in Colorful Coral Bleaching

DNA Sequencing and the Reef Tank Microbiome

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"

15 Answers

That aquamesh is usually conpletely submerged, i pulled it up to investigate, right after I cleaned it, and added floss over the top of it

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

I should have posted this earlier, but this is what my water looks like. It's clouded, but not the way I hear bacterial blooms discussed as being milky, because I can see millions of particles causing it, it's all large enough to see., it almost looks like its copepods and dust.


I syphoned out my return where the orangish brownish slime was, a little bit has shown back up. I turkey basted everywhere else and found very little settled, still 0 slime in display.

There are what appears to be about 2000 pods on the front glass and hundereds on an algae wafer. I dosed apocalypse pods 2 weeks ago, and tisbe pods 6 weeks ago. Tank is 8 weeks old.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

My biobrick has been covered in brown stuff ever since the tank cycled, and even adding flow or basting it didn't do anything.

Now this morning, you can see a massive difference between the video I posted. It looks brand new now. It had to have been the pods, that stuff was absolutely stuck on there.

The floss on the right is intentionally sticking out of the water, its made slime removal every few hours was easier so I don't have to stop flow to keep it from dropping slime back into the water.

 

[Timfish]

When the aquamesh is completely submerged are yo still gettin the film in the center section?

FWIW, looking at your video that's what I would call exceptionally milky. At this point I would be worried whatever is causing it, whether some kind of bacteria or algae or some kind of 'pod (isopod species for example can be as small as .3mm), may have a dynamic life cycle and is about ready to crash. You might try a uv sterilizor to start killing it off. I would be tempted to start testing daily for indications of a crash (drops in pH or spikes in ammonia) You might also start doing water changes to reduce the numbers or have water ready to go if you do see sudden changes in your tests. I'd also expect it to be temporary. Your system is young and while I haven't seen cloudy water like yours I have seen cloudy water on occasion when cycling and maturing a system and it's just one of those cycles that happens sometimes.

 

[vetteguy53081]

4 days ago. I noticed there being a lot of particulate in the display water, making it cloudy. The next day the last little bits of my diatoms disappeared. I then notice this next day, that my chaeto, when flipping it, had what looked like detritus, but turned out to be an orangish brown snot.

I added floe to my fuge and it flew off in little flat pieces breaking down, adding to the cloudiness in the display.

I beleive it is cyano, i put in some filter floss ti catch and remove it this last few days, and it gives me a headache if I sit over the bucket cleaning things for a few minutes. It smells like very dirty water.

My issue is, now the only spot still enough for it to gather is the return, and even then it isnt gathering much.

My water is super cloudy, i feel bad for my clowns. How do i deal with cyano that isn't settling? Its just all over my water column and I can't really suck it out, just catch some in filter floss.

I read microbacter7 helps, and I have a lot on hand, so i dosed a low maintenance dose sing my nitrates and phos are low. .02 phos, 1 nitrate.

Video of what it looked like just after discovering it, just before adding flow and sucking what I could out.



How should I continue handling this just leave it? Is it a problem that i am keeping nearly 100% if it suspended?

If youre referring to the sediment and stuff in the sump, Its likely sludge and lyngbya which form in areas that are low light with minimal water movement and has a behavior similar to cyano.
Its one that can be removed by a sponge, adding slight intensity (even a blue bar will work) and increasing flow. Product like Brightwell Razor will help reduce but physically clean and siphon first.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

If youre referring to the sediment and stuff in the sump, Its likely sludge and lyngbya which form in areas that are low light with minimal water movement and has a behavior similar to cyano.
Its one that can be removed by a sponge, adding slight intensity (even a blue bar will work) and increasing flow. Product like Brightwell Razor will help reduce but physically clean and siphon first.

The floss seems to be catching it, as now the slime is almost non existent.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

When the aquamesh is completely submerged are yo still gettin the film in the center section?

FWIW, looking at your video that's what I would call exceptionally milky. At this point I would be worried whatever is causing it, whether some kind of bacteria or algae or some kind of 'pod (isopod species for example can be as small as .3mm), may have a dynamic life cycle and is about ready to crash. You might try a uv sterilizor to start killing it off. I would be tempted to start testing daily for indications of a crash (drops in pH or spikes in ammonia) You might also start doing water changes to reduce the numbers or have water ready to go if you do see sudden changes in your tests. I'd also expect it to be temporary. Your system is young and while I haven't seen cloudy water like yours I have seen cloudy water on occasion when cycling and maturing a system and it's just one of those cycles that happens sometimes.

My ph did crash right at this started from 8.1 to 7.7 but went back up, no amonia yet. Ph has been 7.85 to 7.9 the last 2 days

 

[Timfish]

My ph did crash right at this started from 8.1 to 7.7 but went back up, no amonia yet. Ph has been 7.85 to 7.9 the last 2 days

I'd keep an eye on both but if you saw a sudden Ph drop and it's slowly going back up I would consider the primary problem occured shortly before the pH dropped and what you're seeing now is secondary issue while the system corrects itself. But it's just a (experienced) guess and things might get worse so I'd at least continue small water cahgnes or be ready to do some if needed. Using steel straws might help siphoning some of the gunk out.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

I'd keep an eye on both but if you saw a sudden Ph drop and it's slowly going back up I would consider the primary problem occured shortly before the pH dropped and what you're seeing now is secondary issue while the system corrects itself. But it's just a (experienced) guess and things might get worse so I'd at least continue small water cahgnes or be ready to do some if needed. Using steel straws might help siphoning some of the gunk out.

I got a mean green machine from petco this morning for black friday. Its in the tank, we will see how it goes.

So, I looked through my logs and a few things happened.

2 turbi snails that my hermit was picking on died, it was very hard to tell because they were still fully retracted and didn't smell, but I made and aclimated some water and stuck them in it and they were still like that 3 days later. They were like that in my tank for about 5 days.

I dosed a little extra phyto to finish off a bottle like 3 days before the event.

I never cleaned my aquamesh, because I thought it was corse enough to not cayse issues, i only got it to catch chaeto.

I started overfeeding a few weeks ago to avoid my nutrients from bottoming out. They kept hitting near 0 for about 2 weeks when the chaeto took off.

My very large coral banded shrimp molted earlier in the day it began, 2 hermits also molted somwtime in that 2 day period.

I skipped water changes for a few weeks becayse nutrients were super low, but I was probably building up carbs in the tank.

Lastly, a week before this started,I dosed some soda ash and calcium because they were dropping a little as coraline statted way ahead of schedule.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Should I still try to avoid ny nutrients bottoming out during this? My phos is still .02 and nitrates about 1.5ppm

I have neo nitro on hand, should I get it up to 2 to aboid dinos?

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

24 hours into UV and its almost completely cleared. Amonia showed up at the >0 range 12 hours in on amonia alert badge. Has gone back into the safe range.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

Considering it took a less than 24 hours to clear up with UV... does that indicate anything about what my bloom could have been?

It was a greenish brown under low white light, and i have a small container in the fridge of water and it has turned a yellowish green.

I feel like this might have been phyto, and the UV wripped them to shreds, and that was why I saw ammonia come up very briefly

 

[Timfish]

That you were looking at an algae/cyano bloom of some kind seems reasonalble based on your observations. I would keep feeding to keep PO4 up and I'd be adding easy corals (I don't see that you have any in your posts) This is a frustrating part of setting up a reef system. Corals are needed to help promote microbiomes beneficial to corals and to compete with algae for nutrients but coral selection should be hardy, and typcially less corlorful or desirable corals.

 

[Court_Appointed_Hypeman]

That you were looking at an algae/cyano bloom of some kind seems reasonalble based on your observations. I would keep feeding to keep PO4 up and I'd be adding easy corals (I don't see that you have any in your posts) This is a frustrating part of setting up a reef system. Corals are needed to help promote microbiomes beneficial to corals and to compete with algae for nutrients but coral selection should be hardy, and typcially less corlorful or desirable corals.

Ooooo okay, I do have coraline taking off way ahead of schedule, so maybe a GSP? I always wanted a pulsin xenia or greenstar polyp, might be a good spot to start? I got a little rock island ready for it.

I did get some neophos and neonitrate. Got it up to 3ppm nitrate and .04 phos.