Help! Cyano outbreak (I think...)

pgooden · Jan 16, 2016

I have a 54 gal display with 11 gal sump. Setup 8 months ago. Over the last few weeks, I started getting brown stuff all over the substrate. at night it would almost disappear but by mid day it is back and dark brown.

This photo was taken at 1pm. Here are my stats:

Salinity 1.026 refractometer
PO3 - 5 (salifert)
PO4 - .02 (Hanna 635 phosphorus checker reading is 7)
Ca - 400 (API)
Mg - 1395 (Salifert)
Kh - 8 (API)
PH - 7.93 morning 8.04 afternoon (Apex Probe)
Temp 78

Lighting Radion xr15 Pro at max 50% from 11:15am to 5pm ramping up from 0 starting at 8am and down to 0 by 10pm

Skimmer added in mid December running 24/7 with RO 110 SSS
Flow MP10 and MP40 with a Sicca 3.5 Return pump

Livestock:
1 Green Chromis (I did lose one of these about 1.5 weeks ago but got him out the next morning)
1 Christmas Tree Wrasse
1 Black Ray Goby
1 Pistol Shrimp
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Starry Blenny
2 Plate Corals
1 Hammer Coral

The reason I think it is cyano is when I blow on it with a turkey baster, it rolls over like carpet stuck to the top layer of substrate. I have 50 pounds of rock that I got from Marco Rocks and it is getting a blue green colored covering on it, before this, it actually started to get some coralline algae on it. My substrate is live sand. I do 12 gal water changes each week with Red Sea Pro and use RO/DI water measuring 0 TDI. When this started, it was measuring 1 TDI as my resin was exhausted so I replaced everything except the membrane. Now I have 335 at the source, 2 after the membrane and 0 after the DI stage.

I know that Nitrate and Phosphate can give a false reading if the cyano is consuming it. I have had a few snails die (honestly it seems like I buy 20 and they start to fall of almost immediately) but I still have quite a few in there along with hermits. They seem very active at night but don't make a dent in this stuff. Snails don't seem interested.

I would really appreciate any help!!

Thanks,
Shane

pgooden · Jan 16, 2016

One additional thing. last weekend I added a bag of chemipure elite to try and address the problem - haven't seen any progress.

pgooden · Jan 16, 2016

... of course I meant NO3 not PO3 and I feed once per day 1/2 - 1 cube of frozen mysis shrimp.

Salty1962 · Jan 16, 2016

Sounds like cyano. Have you changed lighting or flow? Are you using a BP reactor? With your tank is so young, it may just be the cycling through. Do a water change and try to suck out as much cyano as you can and use a product that is designed to help with cyano elimination. It may take a couple of water changes but you can get out of the cycle pretty soon.

twilliard · Jan 16, 2016

Does it produce o2 bubbles during the day?

pgooden · Jan 16, 2016

Thanks for the replies. No bubbles really and at this point it doesn't have strings rising up.

No bio pellets yet but considered it. Will it help? I wondered if 50 lbs of rock was not enough.

See anything wrong in my parameters?

pgooden · Jan 16, 2016

I have messed with the light settings. I was using the ecotech live setup but I switched to the Apex. The guy at my LFS said I was getting a bloom because one the default light settings had red and yellow at like 60%. He told me to turn it down to 5-10%

As for flow, I recently added the MP40 to the mix. Before that, I was just using the MP10 at about 70% power.

pgooden · Jan 17, 2016

Latest Update....

I mixed up some water for a water change, planning on doing 12 gallons. I tested the water this morning before doing the change and thankfully Nitrates - 0 and Phosphorus reading 0 ppb on the Hanna 736 meter (I misspoke on my OP, it isn't a 635). So, source water isn't the issue.

I am going to suck up the top layer of the sand and try and get as much off the sand bed as I can and do a 12 gal water change. I will scrub the rocks with a toothbrush a little as well before doing the water change. I have filter socks installed and still running the chemipure elite.

Any other suggestions? Not sure why the nitrates are at 5 other than potentially snails that die. Thanks for the help.

Shane

twilliard · Jan 17, 2016

Here is what I would do
Pick up the liquid form of chemiclean (easier to control dosing)
Dose a quarter of the recommended amount every 5 days
This helps to keep o2 up in the water with my method.
Keep the skimmer running but lower the water level all the way. This will keep aeration going.
After the next day of dosing make sure to bring that water level back up! It will foam into the cup and we want this

Keep dosing that quarter amount every 5th day doing the steps above.
This is a slow battle but you will win with this

pgooden · Jan 17, 2016

thanks twilliard, I will head to the fish store once they open today. I will update the thread with the progress. Should I do my water changes each week? I have been doing 10 - 12 gal, which is really 20%, should I pull that back down to 10%?

twilliard · Jan 17, 2016

Yes continue your normal schedule
Dont change water for the first few days after the dosing.
So maybe lower the change volume and change every 5th day?
I dont change water so I am trying to figure out when is best for you to change water and not drop the antibacterial.. hmm

twilliard · Jan 17, 2016

Yup after some coffee and thinking do a smaller water change on the 5 day before dosing so you can continue to siphon the bacteria out when done then do your dosing

pgooden · Jan 17, 2016

perfect, I will update with progress. btw, with this water changed I took out about .25" of sand with the bacteria. when I went outside and added water to the bucket, the water turned the nastiest brown, it looked like skimmate from the protein skimmer.