Cyano help

[Cari]

Hi all!
I need some help with getting rid of this stuff! Started with just green. Now I have both green and red. It blows off easy and I have been doing that several times a week. I usually think of Christmas cheer when I see green and red, this is far from it!

90 gallon with 25 gallon sump with chaeto on opposite lighting schedule. Reef octopus skimmer 150int. Octo pulse 4 (2) opposite sides with Hydros running random flow at 77-88%. Octo pulse 2 on back wall random flow. Lighting is kessil AP9x (2). Total time 12 hrs. On at 8 am ramp up to 50% intensity at noon. 1-3pm is 60%, then back to 50% til 4pm, ramp down to 8pm off. Color doesn’t go above 28 (blues), violet matches blues. I do have the moon cycle on as well.

Here are parameters for last 3 weeks: I’ve been away off and on, so not feeding as much.

4/30. 5/12. 5/17
Ph 8.03 8.08 8.06
Calc. 462 511 520
Alk. 8.6 8.2 8.6
Nitrate. 6.5 2.9 4.6
Phosphate .13 .07 .09
Sg. 1.026 1.026 1.026
Mg. 1510 1505 1580
Temp. 76.4 76.4 76.4

Prior to this, nitrate was between 10.6-14.7.
Phosphate was between .04-.19

I put (2) 100ml Seachem Phosguard in sump before I went away to try to keep phosphate from climbing with auto feeder on.

I auto dose ESV Bionic Alk, Calc and Mag, about 13ml/day. I run Chemi pure elite.
There are 4 fish and cuc.
Sorry if too much information, just trying to get as much as I can to you.

About to do a 15 gallon water change with Red Sea (blue bucket). Was holding off a day or so in case chemical introduction was recommended.

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks for your time!

 

[Lavey29]

Decrease light for a few weeks and increase flow to affected areas. Also check out @SunnyX. Thread on water clarity and cyano removal. It works great.

 

[Matt Bravo]

I agree^ lower lighting intensity, corals will be fine.

 

[Cari]

Thanks for the responses.

I had just printed the instructions from SunnyX! I dose Coral Snow from time to time and had purchased Microbacter. I’ll get started with that protocol right away.

Do you have an idea of how much I should lower light intensity without hurting corals? Also, if I lower it for only a few weeks, will the cyano return upon increasing the lighting again?

 

[Lavey29]

Thanks for the responses.

I had just printed the instructions from SunnyX! I dose Coral Snow from time to time and had purchased Microbacter. I’ll get started with that protocol right away.

Do you have an idea of how much I should lower light intensity without hurting corals? Also, if I lower it for only a few weeks, will the cyano return upon increasing the lighting again?

6 hours a day. Blue and uv only. No whites.

 

[Cari]

Thank you! I’ll give it all a try!

 

[mabdelk]

I have a 12g. My tank was taken over with what i believe was cyano. I lowered lights for a few weeks like everyone says. I also added 3 snails which ate a lot of the cyano. I was told they wouldn’t eat it. Then with suctioning off a lot during water changes each week, after 3 weeks it’s all gone.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My general recommendations to deal with cyano are reduced organics, higher flow, manual removal, and as a last resort, antibiotic treatments.

 

[Dan_P]

Hi all!
I need some help with getting rid of this stuff! Started with just green. Now I have both green and red. It blows off easy and I have been doing that several times a week. I usually think of Christmas cheer when I see green and red, this is far from it!

90 gallon with 25 gallon sump with chaeto on opposite lighting schedule. Reef octopus skimmer 150int. Octo pulse 4 (2) opposite sides with Hydros running random flow at 77-88%. Octo pulse 2 on back wall random flow. Lighting is kessil AP9x (2). Total time 12 hrs. On at 8 am ramp up to 50% intensity at noon. 1-3pm is 60%, then back to 50% til 4pm, ramp down to 8pm off. Color doesn’t go above 28 (blues), violet matches blues. I do have the moon cycle on as well.

Here are parameters for last 3 weeks: I’ve been away off and on, so not feeding as much.

4/30. 5/12. 5/17
Ph 8.03 8.08 8.06
Calc. 462 511 520
Alk. 8.6 8.2 8.6
Nitrate. 6.5 2.9 4.6
Phosphate .13 .07 .09
Sg. 1.026 1.026 1.026
Mg. 1510 1505 1580
Temp. 76.4 76.4 76.4

Prior to this, nitrate was between 10.6-14.7.
Phosphate was between .04-.19

I put (2) 100ml Seachem Phosguard in sump before I went away to try to keep phosphate from climbing with auto feeder on.

I auto dose ESV Bionic Alk, Calc and Mag, about 13ml/day. I run Chemi pure elite.
There are 4 fish and cuc.
Sorry if too much information, just trying to get as much as I can to you.

About to do a 15 gallon water change with Red Sea (blue bucket). Was holding off a day or so in case chemical introduction was recommended.

Any help greatly appreciated, thanks for your time!

Just wondering. How is the Cheato growing? Weak or dying macro algae seem to fuel cyanobacteria growth.

 

[Uncle99]

Parameters appear on mark and stable.
How old is that system?
You put in Phosguard before leaving….are you sure that it did not zero out your phosphate?

 

[stewy14]

Green Cyano?

Mostly on rocks but it is slimy and blows off in sheets. Nitrates have been 0 for six months. Just dosed them up to 10-20 on Thursday. Phosphate has never been more than .02-.05. Typically .04. Just want reassurance that I’m dealing with cyano and not something else. Thanks!

www.reef2reef.com

seems like your parameters have been all over the place. Cyano is formed when there is too much light, when your parameters are not stable, or there is too much phosphate and nitrate

How to Prevent and Remove Cyanobacteria From Your Aquarium - Red Slime Algae Control

Cyanobacteria can be a real pain in the rear but taking the right steps to prevention can save you a ton of effort in the long run. Learn how to prevent, remove, and control Red Slime in your saltwater aquarium.

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I recommend if this is NOT a NEW tank to use chemiclean, if it is new, DO NOT use chemiclean, it will kill off any other bacteria. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/red-brown-hair-algae-everywhere-while-treating-chemiclean.1048339/

 

[Dan_P]

My general recommendations to deal with cyano are reduced organics, higher flow, manual removal, and as a last resort, antibiotic treatments.

Where did the notion that “organics” encouraged cyanobacteria growth? And of course, what does “organics” refer to?

 

[Cari]

Hi all,
Thanks for all the responses, I would have answered sooner, but didn’t get any notifications about them.

Here’s the update: Seemed like things were getting worse by the hour! I
I did a 48hr dose of Chemiclean (this is not a new setup) and did a 25% water change. Upon water change, parameters were:

Ph. 7.94
Calc. 515
Alk. 9.8
Nitrate. 3.2
Phosphate .20
Sg. 1.026
Mg. 1560
Temp. 76.4

At water change, I put new Chemi pure elite and Phosguard in. That was Monday.

Tuesday:
Ph. 8.03
Calc 461
Alk. 9.4
Nitrate 0
Phosphate .16

Wednesday:
Ph. 7.93
Calc. 405
Alk. 9.1
Nitrate 0
Phosphate .16

The tank looks beautiful, the cyano is completely gone and the water is crystal clear. All tank inhabitants doing well, I had a ton of aeration and water agitation going. A few days prior to treatment, I introduce additional clean up crew. Skimmer was a little crazy at first.

I use Pacific Ocean Water for large water changes, so that’s what was used this time. I did take the Alk offline to bring it down some. My biggest concern is the nitrate. Why is it zero??? What do I do to fix this?

Thanks!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The tank looks beautiful, the cyano is completely gone and the water is crystal clear. All tank inhabitants doing well, I had a ton of aeration and water agitation going. A few days prior to treatment, I introduce additional clean up crew. Skimmer was a little crazy at first.

So all is well now?

 

[Cari]

I’d like to say yes…At least to the eyes. It’s looks pristine. The water is super clear, no green or red anywhere. The sand is bright white.
My concern is the reading of zero nitrates that I keep getting. Shouldn’t nitrates be at single digits and phosphates be under .10?
Phosphates first were .20, but are now .16 Nitrates, have been reading 0 since the treatment.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’d get nitrate up to not risk dinos.

 

[Cari]

Ok, thank you.

 

[Cari]

So I thought I’d test yet again before dosing anything.
This is what I got:

Ph 7.99
Calc. 462
Alk 8.5
Nitrate 7.7
Phosphate .11
Sg 1.026
Mg 1400
Temp 76.4

Do you think these parameters are ok? I did not dose anything for nitrates after seeing these readings.
There was a reduction in phosphate from yesterday to today, so I may see that decrease some more.