Help with cyano please

[Dan7575]

Hi all,

I have been slowly getting breakouts of cyano but I don’t understand what is causing it. My phos is 0.06 (hanna) nitrates are undetectable (salifert) there is flow where the cyano is as you can see the stuff waving. I have also always had a coating of browny red on the sand but the recent cyano is much different.

Any ideas why I would be getting the cyano and what the brown is?

 

[blaxsun]

Do you have a UV on your system?

 

[Dan7575]

Do you have a UV on your system?

Yes, I have been running uv 24 hours per day on the return line

 

[blaxsun]

What do you have for a cleanup crew?

 

[Dan7575]

6 turbos, 6 nassarius, sand sifting starfish, 4 peppermint shrimp

tank is 50g

 

[Aqua Man]

Any ideas why I would be getting the cyano and what the brown is?

No one that I know of has determined what causes cyano. My tanks get small spots of it occasionally. Your rocks look good.

Do you vacuum sand bed during maintenance?

Brown could be Dino or Diatoms. looks like established tank.

 

[Dan7575]

No one that I know of has determined what causes cyano. My tanks get small spots of it occasionally. Your rocks look good.

Do you vacuum sand bed during maintenance?

Brown could be Dino or Diatoms. looks like established tank.

Yes, tank is about 2 years with plenty of coralline, maybe just keep cleaning off the Cyano?

I do vacuum the sand bed but the brown stuff is too heavy to be sucked up and congeals into a soft lump and drops faster than the sand. I don’t think it’s dinos as I had a small outbreak a year ago and it wasn’t the same

 

[Duncan62]

Yes, tank is about 2 years with plenty of coralline, maybe just keep cleaning off the Cyano?

I do vacuum the sand bed but the brown stuff is too heavy to be sucked up and congeals into a soft lump and drops faster than the sand. I don’t think it’s dinos as I had a small outbreak a year ago and it wasn’t the same

Feed lightly. Skim a little wetter. Maybe monster phosphate.

 

[Dan7575]

Feed lightly. Skim a little wetter. Maybe monster phosphate.

What is monster phosphate?

 

[Aqua Man]

I do vacuum the sand bed but the brown stuff is too heavy to be sucked up and congeals into a soft lump and drops faster than the sand. I don’t think it’s dinos as I had a small outbreak a year ago and it wasn’t the same

Having 0 for nitrates is not good. Lasse has mentioned that he gets cyano when nitrate is too low. Also can cause dino.

Cyano is tough to vacuum from sand. After I vacuum, sometimes I’ll just stir it in so I don’t have to see it! Lol

Excess silicates is the usual cause for diatoms. How’s your TDS on your RODI?

 

[Duncan62]

What is monster phosphate?

Monitor. Lol.

 

[Dan7575]

Having 0 for nitrates is not good. Lasse has mentioned that he gets cyano when nitrate is too low. Also can cause dino.

Cyano is tough to vacuum from sand. After I vacuum, sometimes I’ll just stir it in so I don’t have to see it! Lol

Excess silicates is the usual cause for diatoms. How’s your TDS on your RODI?

The tds is still at 0. Maybe I need to get a silicates test kit?

 

[Duncan62]

The tds is still at 0. Maybe I need to get a silicates test kit?

Do you have algea filtration? Several macros remove silicate and lots of bad stuff. If tds is 0 it'll be fine. I agree to with stirring up but run your uv.