Cyano ... I call BS

itisjp · Mar 18, 2018

i keep seeing excess nutrients are the magical cause of cyano. I am going to challenge that with no data or experiment

... jus a gut feeling out there that the blue green algae that was one of the first multicellular success on Earth maybe that suggests that it is a highly adaptable organism. I am starting to think it is introduced to our system more than magically appearing because of excess nutrients. I have it and started with mostly red now get more green cyano. So tell the truth ...

Agree or disagree I just wonder what everyone thinks on it?

bif24701 · Mar 18, 2018

itisjp said:
i keep seeing excess nutrients are the magical cause of cyano. I am going to challenge that with no data or experiment ... jus a gut feeling out there that the blue green algae that was one of the first multicellular success on Earth maybe that suggests that it is a highly adaptable organism. I am starting to think it is introduced to our system more than magically appearing because of excess nutrients. I have it and started with mostly red now get more green cyano. So tell the truth ... Agree or disagree I just wonder what everyone thinks on it?

Many say excess some say an imbalance. I say it is a combo. I don’t really have anything of inorganic nutrients (NO3/PO4) but I do feed well and have some cyano myself. If I keep it siphoned out or blast it off the rocks it keeps it at bay for a few weeks. You do want to keep a clean system, and manual work. This works for me. Sometimes I have none to speak of and other times it pops up. How quickly does yours grow?

chefjpaul · Mar 18, 2018

I agree on introduction.
But, for its survival it needs something, or lack of.

Lasse · Mar 18, 2018

IMO - mostly because some of the needed inorganic substances for normal algae growth are missing - it can be a lack of PO4, inorganic N (NH3/NH4, NO3) or other substances needed.

Sincerely Lasse

itisjp · Mar 18, 2018

My tank is on the new side ... 6 months old (Not my first tank).Dead rock cured with Preoxide for a month when I started. It was Pukani BRS dry rock. Funny thing is it grows on the rocks and not the sand. To make it worse it grows in high flow areas of the tank. I have a 280 gallon system and 80 gallons of that is a refungium. I have never measured above zero in nitrate, nitrite or phosphate and cyano is prevelant. Cross checked the readings with the LFS multiple times. Everything I read on it says cut nutrients but how do you cut them if they are not measurable? I get that it needs some type of food to live but my hypothesis is that it can adapt to many different environments and live if not thrive. Just venting on something that makes no sense to me... yes I feed 3 times a day. Pellets, Nori for the tangs and frozen mix near the end of the light cycle. I don’t feed much volume and it always consumed by the fish within 2 minutes. 10 total junivile fish in 280 gallons system. Stupid ecological successful organism is driving me crazy

itisjp · Mar 18, 2018

I have chemiclean and a few bottles of peroxide standing by but aprehensive to go with either one just yet. The cyano is not taking over the tank but there is more on the rocks than I like... subjective I know but putting it out there.

itisjp · Mar 18, 2018

Oh just to clarify
DKH 9.0
Ca 460
Mg 1400
And it’s pretty consistent, never swings much and the coral color and grow seem to be very good.

Salty.Reefer · Mar 18, 2018

I just had a pretty bad Cyano outbreak after adding a lot of new sand to my system. I had never dealt with it when it was this strong. It was spreading quickly and forming thick blankets. I have done one suggested dosage of the Chemiclean treatment and all but a tiny tiny thin patch is gone now for a week. Nothing suffered and it was really easy to do.
If I was you I would do Chemiclean and just follow the directions. Super easy and effective.

John3 · Mar 18, 2018

I only ever had it in areas with little to no flow.......

chris k. · Mar 18, 2018

I think it is introduced to our systems. Either by frags or maybe food supplies. Im talking pellets ,frozen , and coral foods. All you need is a microscopic hitchhiker in any one of those. And a couple months later you start to see it. I used chemiclean. Followed the instructions and it was gone in a week. It is a bacteria i believe.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 18, 2018

What is the phosphate? What test.

And yea. A lot of stuff drives cyano.

After the peroxide bath, did you blast it with a hose?

Triggreef · Mar 18, 2018

I'm pretty sure it comes out of thin air, and gets stronger every time you try to battle. Definitely likes a lack of flow, and excess light and or nutrients.

Reefer Deez · Mar 18, 2018

IMO it’s low flow, high nutrients that leads to high nitrates and phosphate and add a lot of light = CYANO

Salty.Reefer · Mar 18, 2018

I have two MP 40s on a 110 gallon 55 inches long tank. I had them cranked to the max on reef crest. It blew my tropic eden reef flakes all over the tank but the cyano was not phased. I agree that raising flow might help if it is located in a low flow area but for me it did not phase it. Antidotal evidence but still IMO flow is not always the cure.

Triggreef · Mar 18, 2018

Salty.Reefer said:
I have two MP 40s on a 110 gallon 55 inches long tank. I had them cranked to the max on reef crest. It blew my tropic eden reef flakes all over the tank but the cyano was not phased. I agree that raising flow might help if it is located in a low flow area but for me it did not phase it. Antidotal evidence but still IMO flow is not always the cure.

Once it's there it's there. You can blow off some big mats of it but the bacteria is there and will come back even if you do that. Probably the low flow that originally made you decide to get those new pumps, helped it to establish. Also anecdotal evidence.

hart24601 · Mar 18, 2018

Clearly there are many cyano bacteria, however their “claim to fame” is they can utilize atmospheric nitrogen, aka no nitrate needed. It has been my observations that similar to nature when our nitrates are 0 or near 0 and there are phosphates this trends to drive cyano. Not 100% of course, but we in Iowa battle cyano a lot. We have huge ag run off and the really nasty time is when nitrogen is depleted and a large amount of phosphorus remains. Late summer our water is slime - toxic to humans, livestock’s and pets. A few dogs die every year to it. Mater management here tries to get a better nitrate balance (less feedlots or better waste managements, to get phosphate in the water. So aquatic plans can help improve water quality.

itisjp · Mar 20, 2018

saltyfilmfolks said:
What is the phosphate? What test.

And yea. A lot of stuff drives cyano.

After the peroxide bath, did you blast it with a hose?

Phosphate has never tested above zero, I use a Hanna checker for testing the phosphate. I have cross checked my tests with the LFS and they match up. I know there has to be phosphate and nitrate in they system it just never shows at testable levels. I think the macro in the fudge consumes most of it. What ever is left must be feeding the cyano. After curing the rock with peroxide I scrubbed and rinsed it as well. The strange thing in the past few weeks it’s went from mostly red cyano to green cyano.

saltyfilmfolks · Mar 20, 2018

itisjp said:
Phosphate has never tested above zero, I use a Hanna checker for testing the phosphate. I have cross checked my tests with the LFS and they match up. I know there has to be phosphate and nitrate in they system it just never shows at testable levels. I think the macro in the fudge consumes most of it. What ever is left must be feeding the cyano. After curing the rock with peroxide I scrubbed and rinsed it as well. The strange thing in the past few weeks it’s went from mostly red cyano to green cyano.

Green was weird for me. Came in, kinda went from rock to rock , then faded. It pops up on rare occasion but tiny spots.

Here’s a pretty interesting read. It goes pretty deep.

ritter6788 · Mar 21, 2018

Many years of the same tank, different feedings, foods, macro/no macro, gfo/no gfo, skimmer/no skimmer, lots of fish/few fish, water changes/no water changes....you name it, I tried it. Always had cyano come and go. Every year when the pollen in east texas covered everything in sight I always got a green cyano instead of red. I came to the conclusion that it’s something beyond my control. I chemi cleaned it about twice a year and that was that.

itisjp · Apr 1, 2018

I hit it with chemiclean last week and it nuked it. Everything came out fine, my styloporia was not exctally happy but everything else looked just fine. Now the cyano is gone and everything looks great. Hope it lasts