Cyano on Rock
- Thread starter djbetterly
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twilliard
Tank pests..
I am unaware of any articles on this.
I base it all off of time.
I use the Elos PH test kit to determine this.
if you have a reagent PH kit then take a test, watch how many hours it takes to turn yellow.
Then PM me how many hours and tank volume.
I base it all off of time.
I use the Elos PH test kit to determine this.
if you have a reagent PH kit then take a test, watch how many hours it takes to turn yellow.
Then PM me how many hours and tank volume.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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But you have correlated the time with the presence of cyano?
I'm not clear why not just see the cyano itself.
I'm not clear why not just see the cyano itself.
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djbetterly
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I'm not even sure I have a pH kit at home. I'll check. If I do I'll let you know. Is it usually several hours as in 6 or more or less than 6?
Randy Holmes-Farley
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FWIW, that time to lower pH may correlate more with metabolizable organics in the water than with bacteria. 
twilliard
Tank pests..
Hi Randy!
I mean no confusion at all.
If a person were to learn and understand the quantity of bactreriums in the water one can for see possible issues.
I happen to stumble on this years ago when I left a PH test out.
I have since then learned to use this change as a guide.
Time is just the population, not the specific bactrium
I like to keep my change at 8 hours with 86 gallons of volume
Yes true as I have stated in other posts about this method I do mention organics. The breakdown time is different though between organics and living bacterium
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djbetterly
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I'm very intrigued by all of this....
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Not sure what you man by that. The pH drop comes from living bacteria metabolizing organics in the water to produce CO2. No organics means no pH lowering, regardless of the bacterial population (till it dies and provides its own organics).
beaslbob
2500 Club Member
Yes
Not only the last resort but even more importantly chemical treatments for cyano are not necessary, ineffective, and temporary.
By changing the environment that lead to the cyano is IMHO the most effective method.
still just my .02
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djbetterly
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Yeah I'm trying to figure out where it came from. I have a lot of flow, but I also have a lot of light. I feed once a day although I've had a week or two where I feed more.
Where I slacked was getting my GFO reactor online, I waited a lot longer than I should have.
So currently in doing the following, running carbon and Rowaphos GFO, skimming 24/7, and dosing triton elementz. My PO4 ranges from .03-.08, nitrates are always almost undetectable. I'm keeping my temp a bit lower now as well, around 77-78. This weekend I'll do some scrubbing and do a big water change.
One random question, what color light does cyano like the most?
Where I slacked was getting my GFO reactor online, I waited a lot longer than I should have.
So currently in doing the following, running carbon and Rowaphos GFO, skimming 24/7, and dosing triton elementz. My PO4 ranges from .03-.08, nitrates are always almost undetectable. I'm keeping my temp a bit lower now as well, around 77-78. This weekend I'll do some scrubbing and do a big water change.
One random question, what color light does cyano like the most?
beaslbob
2500 Club Member
IMHO it came from your nutrients and light.
What can happen is thing go along just fine. corals/macros/fish/clams everything fine. Than knice and clean and awesome. Then nitrates drop down to unmeasureable levels and some time later here comes the cyano. It starts as a little spot then in a week a bigger spot in a few weeks it can cover everything.
What may have happened is cyano can get its nitrogen from nitrogen gas vrs ammonia/nitrates. The substrate can consume nitrates through bacterial action vrs plant action. So you have nitrogen gas, co2, phosphates at the surfaces of the sand and rock. The cyano booms in that environment. And can take over the tank as the cyano now "robs" phosphates from the corals and algae.
I emphasize lights out and suspending feeding to the cyano can return ammonia and phosphates to the system restoring the balance in favor of algae/corals/clams and so on. (feeding can be a big source of phosphates also so I stop feeding to encourage the cyano to die off.)
Sure manual harvesting can be a good idea especially for extreme cases.
Where cyano come from actually----everywhere. Every known environment has cyano in it even if not fit for saltwater. But I got a feeling marine cyano is readily available.
Once you reestablish the balance and change the environment with the proper lighting and feeding, then cyano shouldn't be a problem.
my .02
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djbetterly
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How long can SPS go without light?
beaslbob
2500 Club Member
longer then the cyano.
cyano dies off in days at most.
macros can go for a week or two with no light
sps and other corals can last week to weeks.
(if you're worried cut the lighting in half and see what happens.)
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djbetterly
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I think you forgot a part when you said "Cyano days at most"
beaslbob
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I meant cyano will die off in days.
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djbetterly
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Ah, ok. Good to know...
Bubbles_B
Valuable Member
water change, water change, water change. nothing wrong with water change. i had trouble with cyano for three terrible months but the more i siphoned it the more i noticed positive results plus the water changes i made also had a huge impact on the level of nutrients in my system. oh and yes i feed every other day just barely enough for my inhabitants
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djbetterly
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I feed the apex cross over diet with the apex feeder. It's set to the lowest setting and I feed once a day.
Doing a 5 gallon water change now.
It's hard to siphon since it's on the rocks. I cut the lighting to 25% and I'm going to feed every other day, once a day. I'm also going to do a 5 gallon water change every day for the next few days.
Id go lights out but my jawfish freaks out when there is no light. So I'm basically running just the blues at 25% and he/she seems content. He seems to do his building with the light in that range.
I also have a few pieces of rock I could take out and soak in hydrogen peroxide, would that kill cyano?
Doing a 5 gallon water change now.
It's hard to siphon since it's on the rocks. I cut the lighting to 25% and I'm going to feed every other day, once a day. I'm also going to do a 5 gallon water change every day for the next few days.
Id go lights out but my jawfish freaks out when there is no light. So I'm basically running just the blues at 25% and he/she seems content. He seems to do his building with the light in that range.
I also have a few pieces of rock I could take out and soak in hydrogen peroxide, would that kill cyano?
