Cyanobacteria problem I think

[Rmcuddy]

I'm not sure if I have a cyanobacteria problem or if it is something else. It is a new tank, cycled 4 months ago. I had a cyanobacteria issue about a month ago, turned the lights out for 3 days and used chemiclean and it cleared right up. I have diatoms on the sand bed, but now showing cyano again and something is all over my rock. I know overfeeding can be an issue, but I've been feeding 1/2 cube of frozen shrimp and a 1/2 sheet of nori a day. My ammonia and nitrites are 0, but nitrates are 30. I've been doing a couple 5g water changes a week to try and get nitrates down. Tank is 125g with 44g sump. I've been running the Triton method, so 15g fuge with chaeto and a Reef octopus classic 150 skimmer. Return pump is rated for 3150, I have it at 60%. Also have 2 wavemakers in the tank.

Inhabitants are:
2 clownfish
1 yellow tang
1 foxface
2 Kauderns cardinalfish
1 valentini puffer
1 midas blenny
1 hooded fairy wrasse
1 cleaner shrimp
Several hermits, snails

I attached some pictures of the rock and sand bed for reference. Any suggestions?

 

[RIreefGuy]

Any mechanical filtration with filter pads etc?

 

[Rmcuddy]

Any mechanical filtration with filter pads etc?

No, I don't think the Triton method recommends that

 

[RIreefGuy]

I am not intimately familiar with that method. (I use the RIreefGuy method haha) I was only asking because they can be nitrate factories and should be changed at least weekly. 30 isn't bad but I'd expect them to come down with water changes. Have they at all? One thing I would try is to Turkey baster your rocks prior to WC to get any detritus in to the water column. What are u running for lights/duration? Tank is still pretty new. This is prob just the uglies. =)

 

[Rmcuddy]

I am not intimately familiar with that method. (I use the RIreefGuy method haha) I was only asking because they can be nitrate factories and should be changed at least weekly. 30 isn't bad but I'd expect them to come down with water changes. Have they at all? One thing I would try is to Turkey baster your rocks prior to WC to get any detritus in to the water column. What are u running for lights/duration? Tank is still pretty new. This is prob just the uglies. =)

They have came down a little bit, but I would think the Chaeto would drop them even more. I have 2 orbit marine pro 72" LEDs and run them about 9 hours a day.

 

[RIreefGuy]

Agree. I have a chaeto reactor (basically a sealed fuge) and have zero nitrates. I do get a little algae in the tank but its minimal. What are u lighting the chaeto with?

 

[Rmcuddy]

Agree. I have a chaeto reactor (basically a sealed fuge) and have zero nitrates. I do get a little algae in the tank but its minimal. What are u lighting the chaeto with?

Tunze 6500k led. I probably need to upgrade that.

 

[RIreefGuy]

I use crappy led strips from Amazon =) that should be totally fine. I was just curious and making sure you were in fact lighting it =) do u do reverse cycle? Let's see if anyone else has an opinion but I think your tank it's just doing its thing on it's way to maturity. =)

 

[lapin]

I'm not sure if I have a cyanobacteria problem or if it is something else. It is a new tank, cycled 4 months ago. I had a cyanobacteria issue about a month ago, turned the lights out for 3 days and used chemiclean and it cleared right up. I have diatoms on the sand bed, but now showing cyano again and something is all over my rock. I know overfeeding can be an issue, but I've been feeding 1/2 cube of frozen shrimp and a 1/2 sheet of nori a day. My ammonia and nitrites are 0, but nitrates are 30. I've been doing a couple 5g water changes a week to try and get nitrates down. Tank is 125g with 44g sump. I've been running the Triton method, so 15g fuge with chaeto and a Reef octopus classic 150 skimmer.
Any suggestions?

I dont think you are over feeding. Your nitrates are high. Many people have this issue with Triton. Its not uncommon for PO4 to be high also. Triton relies on a fuge with chaeto or other macro to export nitrate. AL99 pellets to reduce PO4 . Triton says with their method you should not have to do water changes. Neither of these methods are new to the hobby. The new to the hobby part is not having to do water changes. Until you get it balanced out you will have high N and P. Or you can do 10% to 20% water changes to bring them down until your fuge is operating at full speed.
Cyano. Many have used chemiclean to get rid of cyano. It can work and not work. My current tank has it. It is a year old. It is finally on its way out. I vacuum it out with each water change. Until something grows in your tank to out compete the cyano it will not go away. It loves light as you know. Algae on the rocks can help keep it under control. Chemiclean will alter your tank bacteria. This can be a bad thing in a new tank. You want as much diversity as possible.
I see you have some green algae growing on the rocks. This is now taking in some of your excess nutrients. Hopefully the fuge and chaeto will kick in and a keep the algae to a minimum.

 

[BadFish619]

Is your tank in a well lit area? You can can always leave your lights off most the day until feeding then back off. Technically I don't even need lights but I run them for my own enjoyment

 

[Hermie]

Did not read through all the posts, but my recommendation is to upgrade your refugium lighting; not necessarily with a more expensive light, but a more powerful one.
Or, move the light closer to the chaeto/refugium water level. The point is to increase light to your algae.

Also, just for reference, IIRC Triton is recommended after a approximately a year after startup, once the tank is "matured" but that doesn't mean you can't start it now, it's just that the tank isn't expected to stabilize yet (and algae comes in that time)

TBH your tank does not look that bad, I wouldn't worry too much, just try lowering the DT light and increasing the refugium light

 

[Rmcuddy]

I use crappy led strips from Amazon =) that should be totally fine. I was just curious and making sure you were in fact lighting it =) do u do reverse cycle? Let's see if anyone else has an opinion but I think your tank it's just doing its thing on it's way to maturity. =)

Yes it is on reverse cycle

 

[Rmcuddy]

Is your tank in a well lit area? You can can always leave your lights off most the day until feeding then back off. Technically I don't even need lights but I run them for my own enjoyment

It is in a basement where the only light it sees is when the DT lighting is on, or if I am down there, which isnt very often

 

[Rmcuddy]

I dont think you are over feeding. Your nitrates are high. Many people have this issue with Triton. Its not uncommon for PO4 to be high also. Triton relies on a fuge with chaeto or other macro to export nitrate. AL99 pellets to reduce PO4 . Triton says with their method you should not have to do water changes. Neither of these methods are new to the hobby. The new to the hobby part is not having to do water changes. Until you get it balanced out you will have high N and P. Or you can do 10% to 20% water changes to bring them down until your fuge is operating at full speed.
Cyano. Many have used chemiclean to get rid of cyano. It can work and not work. My current tank has it. It is a year old. It is finally on its way out. I vacuum it out with each water change. Until something grows in your tank to out compete the cyano it will not go away. It loves light as you know. Algae on the rocks can help keep it under control. Chemiclean will alter your tank bacteria. This can be a bad thing in a new tank. You want as much diversity as possible.
I see you have some green algae growing on the rocks. This is now taking in some of your excess nutrients. Hopefully the fuge and chaeto will kick in and a keep the algae to a minimum.

So that isnt cyano growing on the rocks?

 

[lapin]

So that isnt cyano growing on the rocks?

Most cyano we see is red in color. It forms a mat, which can be blown off with a turkey baster. I dont think it is by looking at the picture.

 

[Rmcuddy]

Most cyano we see is red in color. It forms a mat, which can be blown off with a turkey baster. I dont think it is by looking at the picture.

Mine was blue/green before...if it was actually cyano

 

[lapin]

There are strains that are blue green but not as common as red. I have both red and what might be green. The green does not form mats and is on the other side of my tank. It could also be spirulina, a type of cyano.

 

[BadFish619]

For comparison

 

[Rmcuddy]

Sooo.....I should just wait it out then?

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

I have a 240 and was doing 80 gallons every two weeks and my nitrates were high 30s. Not sure which marine pros you have there are a few different versions. In order for me to get my tank under control, well I didnt follow any methods.
I found just what worked with my tank and my corals etc.

For example I do run lots of flow I’m over the 10x mark, but I also change my filter socks every two days. ( i use a very simple system, and it’s easy), and then micro filter pads the finest possible right before the two return pumps. Now I do blow my rocks off when I had this but I still don’t do a single water change it simply didn’t work. So to get nitrates down I did two things added a sand sifting goby, and dosed nopox. Started with 40ml for 4 days then 30 ml for 4 days and tested. My lowest that I can dose is 16ml to 20 per day which I dose 20 ml. (Warning if you use redsea nopox read the directions five or 10 times. They are very clear think page 6 it says once you reach nitrates at 2-5 ppm them do the very min dosing per gallon. Do Not Stop dosing you will crash your tank). It works great my sps lps and softies do great because it’s a lower nutrient system. I also keep alk and cal between 7-8 (have to on low nutrient systems), and 420-440 cal and 1390 mag. Because I don’t do water changes you need to replace trace elements, so use the redsea trace elements. With this it’s based on your calcium usage and those instructions are horrible and better to throw them away. I use seachem alk and cal powder and I mix it in my top off daily. Which is 1.5 tablespoons of each or approx 100 grams which converts to 1ml for each trace element.

I have had great success with this and my tank goes crazy and I use the super high powered current marine pro 4117 version. They are much much more powerful than ic loop
And definitely in the same league as the radions and hydras and kessills. (If your running the same lights but on a smaller tank (125) you need to turn them down a lot. My tank is a 72 long 34 tall and 24 wide, with my lights at 44% whites and 100 blue with an ly-cor 1500 par meter (step up from apogee) I average close to 150-180 par on the sand bed. Those 60 degree lens are very strong and concentrated and great coverage of you find the critical angel.

I don’t suggest you use chemiclean any more, there are better ways to get rid of cyano. If you keep the nutrients between 2-5 and under .25 phosphates you will be fine. Do not drop them to zero. Because my tank varies somewhat but not often, I manually dose everything.

After my tank went from .5 to 1.5 consumption of alk and cal per day i finally started logging. If you have the same lights I do model version, use preset three, then use the white arrow down to turn your whites down to 44%. My Maximus clam (was) 24 inches down and did great. (It sadly died after 15 months) but it was super sudden. But I would also add maybe a 3k gyre on the back panel and two more wave makers to pick you flow up. Then to help your skimmer slow the returns down so the skimmer has longer time to clean the water.