Help with Cyano

[Aaron1222]

For a while now I've been fighting cyano. now ill be honest, it was a lot worse before than it is now, but I am at the point where it just disturbs me when I see it. Before it just went away on its own, I preferred to battle it naturally instead of throwing something like chemiclean in there. sop i started dosing Dr tims Eco balance, and also placed some pieces of live rock from my LFS, which had been in there systems sump for 5-10 Years. I figured by increasing the bio diversity of the tank, the goods will beat out the bads, which it had did for a while now. but now im seeing small patches of cyano coming back on my sand bed. nothing on the rock or corals, just the sand. The tank is now 10 months old. im not sure if its a maturity thing, or if something is off balance. My tank Parameters are the following

Alk: 9.4 DkH
Calc: 430 ppm
Mag: 1480 ppm
PH: 8.1-8.2
Salinity: 33.0
ORP: 260
Temp: 78.0
Nitrate: 14.5
Phosphate: 0.08
Ammonia: 0

 

[DanyL]

Do you have any snails, hermit crabs, wrasses or sand sifting Gobys? They would maintain the sand stirred and prevent cyano from taking a hold.
If the cyano also present on the rocks, make sure there is enough flow.
I would also suggest to slightly lower your nitrates towards 10ppm.

 

[nothing_fancy]

Beautiful looking system. I would agree with DanyL, load the tank up with sand sifters, nassarius snails. I have probably 10 or so of them in a system that is much smaller than yours. If you are really in a pinch, the KZ cyano clean might work and its a safer alternative to chemiclean which personally I would never use (again). I also agree that getting a low powerhead in there for more flow or adding an MP40 if its in your budget would be good for this sized tank.

 

[Aaron1222]

Do you have any snails, hermit crabs, wrasses or sand sifting Gobys? They would maintain the sand stirred and prevent cyano from taking a hold.
If the cyano also present on the rocks, make sure there is enough flow.
I would also suggest to slightly lower your nitrates towards 10ppm.

currently working on lowering the nitrates slowly, they were up at about 25-28ppm a month ago, so theyre coming down slowly but surely. theres no cyano on the rocks, even before it was mainly just on the sand. i currently do not have any hermits, gobies, or sand dwelling snails. im planning on grabbing some soon!

 

[Aaron1222]

Beautiful looking system. I would agree with DanyL, load the tank up with sand sifters, nassarius snails. I have probably 10 or so of them in a system that is much smaller than yours. If you are really in a pinch, the KZ cyano clean might work and its a safer alternative to chemiclean which personally I would never use (again). I also agree that getting a low powerhead in there for more flow or adding an MP40 if its in your budget would be good for this sized tank.

I've used KZ before, it works but only temporarily, once you think you've defeated the cyano, and you stop dosing the cyano clean, it comes right back within a few days. I currently have 3 MP40's in the tank now, the only issue i have with placing them down low in the tank is the water flow tends to hit the center overflow column and stirs the sand up much more then what I need it to be. The 3 MP40s are only about a month old in the system now, so im still playing around with placement to see what would render the best flow for my tank since im dominantly LPS. If i find a flow pattern i like that would require a 4th MP40, ill definitely do it! do you have any suggestions?

 

[nothing_fancy]

I've used KZ before, it works but only temporarily, once you think you've defeated the cyano, and you stop dosing the cyano clean, it comes right back within a few days. I currently have 3 MP40's in the tank now, the only issue i have with placing them down low in the tank is the water flow tends to hit the center overflow column and stirs the sand up much more then what I need it to be. The 3 MP40s are only about a month old in the system now, so im still playing around with placement to see what would render the best flow for my tank since im dominantly LPS. If i find a flow pattern i like that would require a 4th MP40, ill definitely do it! do you have any suggestions?

Well, for getting flow low down in the tank like that I would personally use a smaller pump and consider it more of an auxiliary item. An mp10 would be great if you wanna spend the money. I have a tank thats 40g and I have (3) mp10, two of them high L-R and one of the Mid level. I added a small Jebao SLW10 to cover the lowest point of the tank and its set in the back to cover the rear deadspot. If going economy you could do (2) jeboas or if you're really concerned with low flow on the sand go crazy and get an MP10 or two to cover those areas. For the mp10's if you can rear mount even better

 

[nothing_fancy]

Well, for getting flow low down in the tank like that I would personally use a smaller pump and consider it more of an auxiliary item. An mp10 would be great if you wanna spend the money. I have a tank thats 40g and I have (3) mp10, two of them high L-R and one of the Mid level. I added a small Jebao SLW10 to cover the lowest point of the tank and its set in the back to cover the rear deadspot. If going economy you could do (2) jeboas or if you're really concerned with low flow on the sand go crazy and get an MP10 or two to cover those areas. For the mp10's if you can rear mount even better

Also for what its worth, if you're playing with nitrates right now I think once you get them stable your algae problem will simply go away on its own. I usually get a little cyano when my nutrients are in flux

 

[Aaron1222]

Well, for getting flow low down in the tank like that I would personally use a smaller pump and consider it more of an auxiliary item. An mp10 would be great if you wanna spend the money. I have a tank thats 40g and I have (3) mp10, two of them high L-R and one of the Mid level. I added a small Jebao SLW10 to cover the lowest point of the tank and its set in the back to cover the rear deadspot. If going economy you could do (2) jeboas or if you're really concerned with low flow on the sand go crazy and get an MP10 or two to cover those areas. For the mp10's if you can rear mount even better

how strong are the magnets on the MP10's? they say they wont go over glass width of 1/2", but the glass on my tank is 3/4"

 

[DanyL]

No need to direct flow towards the sand, it'll blow it off and will be hard to manage.
Put enough sand sifting inhabitants and they would clean it within a single day of work.

 

[vonz939]

Tank looks great! I'm kinda new to Reef2Reef so i'm sure its been said.. but turning off my lights to kill the cyano worked wonders for me.

 

[Sdot]

Brother i feel your pain! I've battled cyano from 2021 to the middle of 2022 before i had a breakthrough. These are the things i learned that worked for me:

1. Understand its not your nutrients (Or lack there of) that created the issue- This was the biggest lesson for me to understand. Often times in the community we believe certain conditions "create" these issues... this is false. Any and everything is introduced to your aquarium.... certain "conditions" allow them to prosper or even take over

2. Time is your friend - While dealing with an issue does cause a little discomfort; know and understand your aquarium is balancing itself and sometimes these issues are seasonal and the longer your tank runs...most of these issues will resolve themselves.... most*

3. Pods! - Another big one for me.... pods are the cuc thats under appreciated. I went nuts and fed my tank phyto for months.... and i noticed with the explosion of pods my cyano problem became less of an issue.

So take your time.... get pods feed them and thank me later.

FYI here are some pix so you know this is purely from experience

Then:

Now:

 

[nothing_fancy]

how strong are the magnets on the MP10's? they say they wont go over glass width of 1/2", but the glass on my tank is 3/4"

Again, I agree with Dany, a lot of flow shouldn't be necessary in the sand bed, imo a little bit of flow is nice though especially if you have some gonioporas down there or something like that. to answer your questions about the magnets yes if it's 3/4 that might be pushing it. Ive found that even on 1/4" glass they can fall off when you first install them especially if you aren't using the stick on zip tie clips. Eventually they just sort of bond well, definitely a breaking in period.

 

[Aaron1222]

Again, I agree with Dany, a lot of flow shouldn't be necessary in the sand bad, imo a little bit of flow is nice though especially if you have some gonioporas down there or something like that. to answer your questions about the magnets yes if it's 3/4 that might be pushing it. Ive found that even on 1/4" glass they can fall off when you first install them especially if you aren't using the stick on zip tie clips. Eventually they just sort of bond well, definitely a breaking in period.

gotcha, I just don't want to spend the money on the MP10's, just for them to not be strong enough for the thick glass. Also, im a goniopora fanatic, I do indeed have some down towards the bottom of the rock work, and from the way they look they get a good bit of flow. its mainly in the back corners and sides. Im in touch with my LFS now to see what sand sifting livestock they currently have.

 

[Aaron1222]

No need to direct flow towards the sand, it'll blow it off and will be hard to manage.
Put enough sand sifting inhabitants and they would clean it within a single day of work.

will definitely work on this immediately

 

[Aaron1222]

Tank looks great! I'm kinda new to Reef2Reef so i'm sure its been said.. but turning off my lights to kill the cyano worked wonders for me.

Thank you!

 

[Aaron1222]

Brother i feel your pain! I've battled cyano from 2021 to the middle of 2022 before i had a breakthrough. These are the things i learned that worked for me:

1. Understand its not your nutrients (Or lack there of) that created the issue- This was the biggest lesson for me to understand. Often times in the community we believe certain conditions "create" these issues... this is false. Any and everything is introduced to your aquarium.... certain "conditions" allow them to prosper or even take over

2. Time is your friend - While dealing with an issue does cause a little discomfort; know and understand your aquarium is balancing itself and sometimes these issues are seasonal and the longer your tank runs...most of these issues will resolve themselves.... most*

3. Pods! - Another big one for me.... pods are the cuc thats under appreciated. I went nuts and fed my tank phyto for months.... and i noticed with the explosion of pods my cyano problem became less of an issue.

So take your time.... get pods feed them and thank me later.

FYI here are some pix so you know this is purely from experience

Then:

Now:

Pods are a big help! personally I think that's one thing that's helping maintain it. I culture Phyto here at home and dose in every day. Back when I had the issue about 4 months ago, I added 4 jars of Algae barns eco pods. and since then I've been daily dosing Phyto, my pod population is booming and my dragonette goby appreciates it!