cyano problems

[Velodog2]

I'm sure the Cyano I have isn't living off of it's own hopes and dreams, I think it consumes the phosphates from the water column as they appear which is why I have low readings.

lol I love imagining the hopes and dreams of a cyano bacterium.

I hear the hypothesis all the time that the readings on some problem nutrient or other are only low because it's being sucked out and bound up by some nuisance organism like cyano, but it just doesn't hold water, as it were, for me. Particularly for cyano which is really quite easy to almost entirely remove especially in a small tank such as mine. If it was the case that all of my phosphate was bound up in the cyano then removing it would also remove almost all of my phosphate. End of problem. Yet the cyano grows back. Theory no good. Want money back.

 

[mike007]

How low have you reduced phosphate?

my last test showed phosphates at .02
I also spoke with Kevin Kohen with Live Aquaria and he told me his personal tank gets a bit of cyano when the weather turns hot. He didn't know why this happens when the tank temp.remains stable . He thought maybe in was the barometric pressure or something. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If I were trying to reduce cyano by reducing phosphate, I'd aim lower than that.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

lol I love imagining the hopes and dreams of a cyano bacterium.

I hear the hypothesis all the time that the readings on some problem nutrient or other are only low because it's being sucked out and bound up by some nuisance organism like cyano, but it just doesn't hold water, as it were, for me. Particularly for cyano which is really quite easy to almost entirely remove especially in a small tank such as mine. If it was the case that all of my phosphate was bound up in the cyano then removing it would also remove almost all of my phosphate. End of problem. Yet the cyano grows back. Theory no good. Want money back.

The goal is to intercept the phosphate before the cyano gets it. If the cyano dies and releases more phosphate, you need to grab up that too, or yes, cyano will come back. And next time you feed, phosphate rises. You need to grab that too. It is a lifelong process, although it need not always be super low, of course.

Take phosphate down low and keep it there, and you likely won't need a refund. The trick is to make sure it is not too low to allow other creatures to survive.

 

[mike007]

If I were trying to reduce cyano by reducing phosphate, I'd aim lower than that.

Since I am using zeovit products trying to get ulns they do not recommend using any phosphate reducing medias. And what level should we be trying to accomplish ? I thought .02 was low.

 

[JOKER]

MIke what test kit are you using? My salifert always reads zero but my hanna read .03 today when I tested.

 

[mike007]

MIke what test kit are you using? My salifert always reads zero but my hanna read .03 today when I tested.

That's strange I am getting the same results.

 

[Reefing Madness]

Strange, I vodka dose, have phosphates at like .05 and no cyano. I'd just blow the stuff off where its at, and continue to do so until I got the flow in that area figured out.

 

[JOKER]

That is strange. I got tired of fighting and used chemiclean and I am clear for few months with no cyano. I did have a gha situation pop up on one side of tank but I think it is getting better now. My tank is just at the 1 year mark, I had no issues until like the 11th month. Just curious what are your nitrates at? Im around 10, I know that's a little high but tank seems happy. Im using salifert for nitrates also. I was using elos but wanted to try something else as my API read around 5 when elos read 0. I need to step up my wc a little but im still dialing in my doser.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Since I am using zeovit products trying to get ulns they do not recommend using any phosphate reducing medias. And what level should we be trying to accomplish ? I thought .02 was low.

It is generally a good target, but if you are battling an algae or cyano problem, you may need a lower level to get control of it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Strange, I vodka dose, have phosphates at like .05 and no cyano. I'd just blow the stuff off where its at, and continue to do so until I got the flow in that area figured out.

I know someone with a great tank at more than 1.0 ppm phosphate, so such issues really depend on many factors.

 

[christ1991]

Zeovit also has coral snow, which is a binder, they say it neutralizes undesirable acids and is a problem solver for cyano and slime alage. I have use it after every water change and have gotten rid of the patch I had. Took a about a month but it was a smaller batch of cyano.

 

[NVRENUF]

I battled with cyno for ever.. Finally I installed a Phosphate reactor. got phosphates down from 0.3 to 0.00
Now as soon as it jumps up to 0.05 I renew the media and back to 0.00 over night.

I did have to do one dose of Cyno X which basically killed it off and 2 months on now and no cyno return.

 

[mike007]

Good news I moved one of my mp 40's so It would stir up the sand bed a bit and now] the cyano seems to be going away. That shows you that more flow will help rid this bacteria I can not wait to get my riptide.lol.

 

[KritikaL]

moved fan too close to my sand bed and i instantly got cyano, but with removal and changing carbon, i found it slowly goes away and burns out the phos within the tank, then its just about keeping it under control i guess ?

I also hit nitrate at 0 at the same time, so both of these things happening at the same time messed it up

 

[shred5]

Cyno is always there really and it is not a bad thing, it is when it gets out of control and is unsightly that it can be a problem.


Take care of the problem leading to the cyano, It is not that hard to take care of. Cyano is doing you a favor and alerting you to a problem and/or a up and coming larger problem, it is also absorbing those nutrients like phosphate and not allowing them to bind to your live rock or substrate..

Cyano is a bacteria and your reef needs bacteria and chemicals dont discriminate on what bacteria they kill...
When you kill other bacteria that are also consuming nitrates and phosphates they can build even faster.





Target phosphate, find the source and cut it off.. It could be coming in in your top off or water used for water changes and you may need to treat your water better.
It could be caused because of over feeding or overstocking.
You may need to increase your nutrient exporting by adding a larger or more efficient skimmer, maybe you need to do more water changes. You may need to do a better job of removing detritus.

By learning how to cure cyno will help prepare you for other problems down the road. If you use chemicals you learn nothing and eventually will have a harder to manage problem.


Testing for phosphates in a reef is useless. You have algae issue you have phosphates. Most hobby grade test kits are not very accurate any way and only test for one type of phosphate.
Your reading will be low because of the algae growing. It is using up the phosphate giving you a false reading.

Testing your make-up water or water used for water changes could be important because there should be none. If there is you will never get your problem under control because you are continually adding phosphate. That is the only case I can think of that might even require phosphate to be checked.