cyano have any relation to Ph?

[Dmax]

I started dosing kalk at night to raise my ph from the 7.8-7.9 to 8.15-8.23. Oddly enough after doing this I started noticing cyano on my sand bed. My phosphates are higher than I'd like but they have been this way for a few months. Just curious if there's relation? Or is this just part of it. I have had cyano come and go over the years. Just thinking it's odd for me to make a change to a parameter and it show up now.

450 gallon
Temp: 77-80
PH: 8.15-8.23
N03: 12
P04: .4 (Not a fan but letting it ride)
Alk: 9.2
Cal: 450
Mg: Need to test... maybe

Monthly 100 gallon water changes with reef crystals and always 0 tds water.

I was also dosing vodka at 15ml during lighting hours. I have since stopped all vodka dosing until I'm able to get the cyano under control.

 

[Dmax]

 

[Dan_P]

I started dosing kalk at night to raise my ph from the 7.8-7.9 to 8.15-8.23. Oddly enough after doing this I started noticing cyano on my sand bed. My phosphates are higher than I'd like but they have been this way for a few months. Just curious if there's relation? Or is this just part of it. I have had cyano come and go over the years. Just thinking it's odd for me to make a change to a parameter and it show up now.

450 gallon
Temp: 77-80
PH: 8.15-8.23
N03: 12
P04: .4 (Not a fan but letting it ride)
Alk: 9.2
Cal: 450
Mg: Need to test... maybe

Monthly 100 gallon water changes with reef crystals and always 0 tds water.

I was also dosing vodka at 15ml during lighting hours. I have since stopped all vodka dosing until I'm able to get the cyano under control.

Just a coincidence. This hobby wouldn’t exist if a tiny pH change caused cyanobacteria to grow.

 

[Dmax]

Just a coincidence. This hobby wouldn’t exist if a tiny pH change caused cyanobacteria to grow.

I was thinking just a coincidence, but strange it appeared when I made the change.

Could the addition of a large Kalk dose in a smaller time frame cause any imbalance to create a environment for cyano?

 

[Dan_P]

I was thinking just a coincidence, but strange it appeared when I made the change.

Could the addition of a large Kalk dose in a smaller time frame cause any imbalance to create a environment for cyano?

The cyanobacteria takes time to grow and accumulate enough mass to be seen. What you are seeing is the result of a growth spurt that likely started weeks ago.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I cannot think of any reason higher pH would make cyano grow faster. On the contrary, some algae will photosynthesize faster at lower pH due to more readily available CO2, but I’ve not seen that evaluated for cyano.

 

[Dmax]

Thank you.

 

[Reefer1978]

Hi @Randy Holmes-Farley, I am really curious if you can take a look at this graph. On Friday night, I blew off all Cyano from the rocks and sand. Attaching the Ph chart from before and after.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Cyano is photosynthetic, so you may have reduced photosynthesis when you removed it. That reduces the daily pH rise.