CyanoBacteria

[Currierfarms14]

Hello R2R. I have had my tank running for approximately 9 months. I have had a cyano outbreak for a month now. I have been doing multiple water changes, but it seems like the day after it comes back. My thought was that my tank has alot of light from the outside hitting it, so I have a feeling that is the source of the problem. I will be putting some blinds up so that that problem will stop. I had all of my levels checked at my LFS and they stated all of my levels looked perfect. My corals are now not fully opening, and they seem distressed. I recently added a protein skimmer, but the tube to the pump must not be tight/bad tubing because its causing alot of bubbles all over my tank, and they stick to the glass/rocks/cyano/coral plugs. I was thinking of using chemiclean to remove it as I dont want my corals suffering from it.
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A) do you think this is a good idea?
B) are the air bubbles from my protein skimmer hurting my tank?

 

[Uncle99]

I have found that Cyano comes when nutrients are out of both range and balance.
A tank which is 9 months old should have strong chemistry in terns of import export.
I would check both nitrate and phosphate.
A target area would be nitrate 2-5ppm and phosphate say 0.03-0.07ppm.
Bet you one of these is way out. I bet phosphate is either way high or zero.
Correct the level of the offending nutrient, and Cyano will pass.

Chemi clean will work but if ya don’t fix the problem, guess what comes back.

Micro bubbles won’t hurt anything, but make water look cloudy.
They should not be escaping the skimmer.
Incorrect skimmer height in a sump is very common in micro bubbles.
Try putting the skimmer in a buck and test the effects of different water levels.

 

[Currierfarms14]

I have found that Cyano comes when nutrients are out of both range and balance.
A tank which is 9 months old should have strong chemistry in terns of import export.
I would check both nitrate and phosphate.
A target area would be nitrate 2-5ppm and phosphate say 0.03-0.07ppm.
Bet you one of these is way out. I bet phosphate is either way high or zero.
Correct the level of the offending nutrient, and Cyano will pass.

Chemi clean will work but if ya don’t fix the problem, guess what comes back.

Micro bubbles won’t hurt anything, but make water look cloudy.
They should not be escaping the skimmer.
Incorrect skimmer height in a sump is very common in micro bubbles.
Try putting the skimmer in a buck and test the effects of different water levels.

All of my nitrates were low as well as my phosphates.I double checked with my LFS. I have large french doors that the sun hits the tank for most of the day. I was told sunlight would increase them rapidly, so I will be putting heavy shades on them. I have a hang on the back skimmer. Bought it used. The hoses were definitely not attached correctly/the hoses are old and cracking. I will be going to the store to get new hosing for it to hopefully help with the problem.
Its the CPR backpack skimmer.. Got a used one for 50 bucks.

 

[Currierfarms14]

 

[Uncle99]

I agree, sunlight is the worst possible light to touch the DT.
It’s a yellow/red light which grows the bad stuff.
We want the violet/blues with some white to complete the spectrum.
Had some sunlight touching an old tank of mine for just 2hrs day,
Grew a ton of GHA, a real tough short red hair and Cyano.
Removed the light, scrapped off the pest algae’s, and 3 months later......gone.
I thought Sunlight would be great, natural, grows corals in ocean right?
NOT

I like to test myself, new tanks require test weekly until stability is met.
In a mixed reef setting I see stability when all 8 parameters are in range and stay in range for 8 weeks.
I should be seeing coralline algae circles on the gas at 12-14 weeks, this being a great indicator that waters are in order.