Cyno still kicking me

[malira]

I have a 90g mixed reef with 55 gallon sump. 120 total. Sump has 3 chambers, refugium, skimmer and return. I am running a dual reactor with phosguard and carbon.

The green cyno in my DT is probably because of not enough sand stirrers. Over time snails have died off. I have increased the flow a lot.

I keep removing it but it comes back.
Time to break out the 10g QT. What a pain.

But the red cyno in my sump is getting worse. I have added a pump to increase flow, I have scrubbed and removed what I could. I have filtered water through a sock. I have cut back on feeding to 4 times a week to only LRS reef frenzy nano. I stopped dosing AA Fuel but kept feeding reef chili 4 times a week. I do 2, 10g water changes a week.
I've dosed bacteria to see if it would out compete but it hasn't worked.

My nitrates are starting to creep higher. I am coming off an ultra low nutrient system that almost crashed my tank. Diesel helped me bring my tank back.
My nitrates started at 0. About a month ago i got my first reading at 2 and have crept up to over 5. Still not bad. My phosphates are reading 0 on my hanna checker.
Other parameters are
Temp 81
Ph 8 pretty constant
Alk 7.9 to 8.1
Cal 410
Mag 1400
Salinity 1.0255
Flow is strong.

My dual reactor is taking water from the skimmer chamber and outputting the water into the return pump chamber. Would it make a difference if I put the intake and output hoses in the refugium to just cycle that water?

Also could the container of sand housing my mushrooms be part of the problem?

Help.

 

[cneidigh]

well im new to this stuff lol but I used chemiclean in my tank after a big break out if cyano.. cleaned it up real nice.

 

[malira]

That will be my last, last option.
Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[Oceansize]

How old is the tank and are you using tap water for water changes?

 

[malira]

How old is the tank and are you using tap water for water changes?

Tank is 2 years old and no to tap. RODI. Tds is 0

 

[Oceansize]

My first thoughts were either "new tank" or "tap water used for water changes" so I'm 0-2, lol.

I had your issues too but they eventually went away. The single biggest reduction was achieved by adding an inline UV sterilizer, the rest of the reduction may have simply been due to the passage of time. I use a denitrator for nitrate export and sometimes I've tweaked it to experiment with different parameters (such as "will my zoas do better if my nitrates are at 2ppm instead of 0ppm?") and I start to get breakouts like yours anytime nitrates get near 5 ppm. My phosphates never seem to change....just above 0 regardless of overfeeding. My tank is 7 months, FWIW.

 

[malira]

Well I decided I will start doing at least 4 to 6 gallon water changes every day. I going to take rocks and sand out of the sump. I also moved both the intake and output hoses in the refugium. I will also stop feeding reef chili. Until my nitrates come down and stay under 5 but over 2.

 

[NanaReefer]

I had red Cyano in my sump, bad! Changed out the recommended UtiliTech Par 38 from Lowes to a Reef Radiance DM-5e LED. 3 days later ALL Cyano was gone! My Chaeto grows like crazy. Great little full spectrum lamp at only 5w. I did nothing else, no other changes.
I'm only posting this because I see you have a very bright white light on your fuge. Something to think about [emoji848]

 

[malira]

I had red Cyano in my sump, bad! Changed out the recommended UtiliTech Par 38 from Lowes to a Reef Radiance DM-5e LED. 3 days later ALL Cyano was gone! My Chaeto grows like crazy. Great little full spectrum lamp at only 5w. I did nothing else, no other changes.
I'm only posting this because I see you have a very bright white light on your fuge. Something to think about [emoji848]

I have an extra reefbreeders 120 watts led that used to be over the 90g. I'm going to hook that up and see. Thanks.