H@rry R/C lights our for cyano

[beaslbob]

H@rry R/C lights out for cyano

H@rry

Seems R/c doesn't think the lights out for cyano works.


Cyano-lights out-questions - Reef Central Online Community

But then that's R/C :sure:

my .02

 

[H@rry]

Oh Bob!

I don't hve time t read t right nw as I hve already strted wIth my evning mEdication and i still hve to cOok spper. Ill lOok t It tmorrow.

 

[H@rry]

I skimmed it but didn't get into all the long replies. Different people have different ideas and I'm not surprised. What does surprise me is that Randy does not give the lights out treatment any more credit than he does. In my own experience 3 days lights out makes a big difference. You may have to repeat it in about 10 days if it starts to come back. That's not to say this is a treatment if you have high nutrients though. One thing I disagree with is the flow thing. I remember one time I had cyano in the overflow box and nowhere else - the highest flow area of the tank.

 

[Dave3112]

It worked for me! I'm a believer, Bob! Maybe thats why I don't go "over there" anymore. LOL. I get much better info "over here":wink:

 

[beaslbob]

Oh Bob!

I don't hve time t read t right nw as I hve already strted wIth my evning mEdication and i still hve to cOok spper. Ill lOok t It tmorrow.

Understand. Supper more important than some old beaslbob rant.:wink:

 

[beaslbob]

I skimmed it but didn't get into all the long replies. Different people have different ideas and I'm not surprised. What does surprise me is that Randy does not give the lights out treatment any more credit than he does. In my own experience 3 days lights out makes a big difference. You may have to repeat it in about 10 days if it starts to come back. That's not to say this is a treatment if you have high nutrients though. One thing I disagree with is the flow thing. I remember one time I had cyano in the overflow box and nowhere else - the highest flow area of the tank.

+1 I was surprised by randy's thought also.

 

[beaslbob]

It worked for me! I'm a believer, Bob! Maybe thats why I don't go "over there" anymore. LOL. I get much better info "over here":wink:

+1

Perhaps we're just the outcasts.

Glad it works BTW

my .02

 

[pickupman66]

Interesting. I have been battling it for a few months now. Cannot figure out why. I dont test any nitrates or Phosphates (well last tested at .04ppm) but still that is within acceptable levels. still I did lights out for several periods of time. it came back each time. my entire tank is fairly high flow with about 7200 gph turnover in a 180.

Finally, I gave up and resorted to chemical means. I added Chemiclean on friday and then sunday did a 45 gallon water change. All seems great and I dont see any remnants of it around. Problem with Cyano is it is a bacteria, not an algae. makes it must more difficult to get rid of.

 

[Dave3112]

+1

Perhaps we're just the outcasts.

Glad it works BTW

my .02

HAHA! I "voted myself off" of that island! LOL! I just like the attitude much better here! People too! :wink:

 

[Viva'sReef]

Slightly off topic but has anyone tried maracyn2 treatments for Cyano? Ive used it successfully in treating Cyano

 

[beaslbob]

I hope maracyn2 is not copper based.


Cyano while a bacteria is also "plant life". It is in every environment on the earth and was what originally liberated oxygen from the earth's carbon dioxide atmosphere.

So it's kinda hard to avoid.

It also has the ability to get it's nitrogen from the dissolved nitrogen gas in the water column vrs the ammonia/nitrate of the more desirable algaes, corals, corallin algae, clams and so on.

so what can happen is the things are going alone really really good, the initial algae blooms/clouds are long gone and nitrates have finally dropped down. (gee through deep sea bed's bacterial action). then all the sudden there is a little speck over there in the corner. and in a week (or so) that cyano is all over everything.

What may have happened is the cyano is taking the nitrogen from the water and thriving. so the tank is rapidily becoming cyano dominated vrs plant dominated.

So kill the lights, the cyano dies off and returns nitrates to the system.

And the system is reset with the nitrogen needed by the corals, corraling algae, clams and other desirables. and they resume control.

At that point you two data. Lights on (at some duration) -- cyano. light off no cyano.

So find a point in the middle where cyano dies off yet the desirables remain.

but then that requires you turn off your $1,000's of lighting.

 

[H@rry]

but then that requires you turn off your $1,000's of lighting.

Aw Bob, my Wal-Mart lights didn't cost that much. Mariner and I use the regular shop lights. :baffle:

 

[Viva'sReef]

I hope maracyn2 is not copper based.

It is a Antibiotic used to treat bacterial infections in Fish....

I don't think any of these ingredients are copper?????
Each powder packet contains 20 mg Minocycline activity. 15.00 Pantothenic Acid, 8.60 mg Riboflavin, 2.60 mg Thiamine Mononitrate, 2.60 Pyridoxine Hydrochloride.

 

[pickupman66]

Heck. I think I may about $12 each for my 250w metal halides...

seriously though, the nitrogen gas is an interesting angle. makes alot of sense. any studies or info to back it up? (not calling you out. I just want to know more)

incidentally, I used to run a homemade coil denitrator. I took it offline when my pellet reactor was put in place. figured i didnt need it plus it was build for my 75. anyways, I left it in the sump and it had filled the main chamber with water. I think this was leading to some leaching of nitrogen gas back into the tank (smelled of rotten eggs and worse when i removed it this weekend).

 

[beaslbob]

Aw Bob, my Wal-Mart lights didn't cost that much. Mariner and I use the regular shop lights. :baffle:

Oh no

Say it isn't true.

How could that possibily be.


(people who never saw my 55g a few years back will not get that joke. ) :tongue:

 

[beaslbob]

Heck. I think I may about $12 each for my 250w metal halides...

seriously though, the nitrogen gas is an interesting angle. makes alot of sense. any studies or info to back it up? (not calling you out. I just want to know more)

it's common knowledge and very similiar to what soy beans do with nitrogen in the soil for crop rotation. just a very pleliminary google search "nitrogen fixation of cyano bacteria"
:
Nitrogen fixation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&sqi=2&ved=0CCwQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FCyanobacteria&ei=21LmTeTpJYPegQeL_dnrCg&usg=AFQjCNFE0-1AmZ_euVga6l7jeuy14FwvpA
Nitrogen fixation

plus more.

incidentally, I used to run a homemade coil denitrator. I took it offline when my pellet reactor was put in place. figured i didnt need it plus it was build for my 75. anyways, I left it in the sump and it had filled the main chamber with water. I think this was leading to some leaching of nitrogen gas back into the tank (smelled of rotten eggs and worse when i removed it this weekend).

The rotten egg smell is sulfur compounds and a sign the coil denitrator was not working correctly. In anaerobic or anoxic (low axygen) it is possible for some bacteria to create sulfur compounds which are toxic. Plus instead of reducing nitrates to nitrItes and then to nitrogen gas, it can actually further reduce the nitrItes to ammonia and return that to the system.

If it was working correctly then it was return nitrogen gas to the tank which hopefully out gassed rapidly.

But with a dsb you have low oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen gas at the surface. Which is the perfect environment for cyano bacteria that fixes nitrogen gas.

my .02

 

[pickupman66]

THANKS.. It was not hooked up. just sitting in the sump. I should have removed it months ago. thanks for the links.

I have NEVEr been a believer in DSB. in fact, my cyano was not on the sand at all.

when i build the reactor I read a ton on the bacterias and such. creating an area of anaerobic water flow was the main principle of the 60+ feet of tubing in the coil.

 

[beaslbob]

THANKS.. It was not hooked up. just sitting in the sump. I should have removed it months ago. thanks for the links.

I have NEVEr been a believer in DSB. in fact, my cyano was not on the sand at all.

when i build the reactor I read a ton on the bacterias and such. creating an area of anaerobic water flow was the main principle of the 60+ feet of tubing in the coil.

thanks you for sharing your experiences. I had always had the nagging thought in the back of my head that anaerobic means can be dangerous. seems like you coil may have been "too anaerobic" with the rotten egg smell.

but that's just beaslbob

and his

.02

 

[Tomoko Schum]

I though that coil/sulfur denitrator is supposed to have some rotten egg smell from H2S, whidh sulfur denitrifying bacteria use while reducing nitrate.

 

[pickupman66]

no, the coil worked well. it had been taken off line so it was not being used. the water that had accumulated in teh housing caused the sulfur smell. my own fault.

the device worked perfectly on my 75. I may make a second and run both on this tank.

also, what you posted is not Common knowledge. im sure there are many that may not know much about soybeans and nitrogen.

Tomako. the main principle behind the coil is giving alot of surface area for the bacteria to colonize, and as the water flows thru the tube, it is colonized with bacteria that process the ammonia into nitrite, then to nitrate, then to nitrogen gas then it exits the tube where the disolved gas disperses and then is exchanged at the water surface. if it smells rotten, the water is in there too long. I used that coild for 6 years and ran my 75 with ZERO water changes and had ZERO nitrates in the last 4 years. for the last two, i didnt run the skimmer either. I did a ton of reading on it. back when folks were using sulfur denitrators and such.