How to get rid of this?

[Straight.Reefin]

I have an 80 gallon anemone tank and it’s been running for about a year now.....

My parameters are all in line

Calcium 420
Alk 8.0-8.4
Mg 1350
Phosphates 0.015 ultra low phosphorous
Nitrates 0

I do 15 gallon weekly water changes from my 220 sps heavy tank once a week but I cannot for the life of me get rid of this stuff??

Not sure if it’s cyano or diatoms or what it is....I literally just did a 20 gallon water change with fresh new rodi salt water and the sand looks like this again within 2 hours

Currently not running GFO or carbon

Rodi filters and membrane are all up to date

 

[jsker]

What kind of lighting are you running?

 

[Straight.Reefin]

Radions xr30 gen 2 pros

Maxing out at 45% overall
Both blues at 100%
Reds and greens never more than 20%
Whites max out at 30%

 

[Reefer Deez]

Looks like cyano to me the guys at my lfs a say when the nutrients are to low your susceptible to a cyano break out. The only way I've been able to get rid of the cyano is to dose cyano RX. There are a few good videos that explain every step but in a nutshell you pick out what you can by hand then dose the cyano according to the directions I belive its 1 cup of tank water and 1 level scoop of the scooper they provide for every 10 gallons of true water volume mix it until all powder is desolved turn off your skimmer and pour it into your sump. You will let it do its thing for 3 days straight. You can take this opportunity to clean your skimmer in a water and white vinegar mix. After 3 days if you see the results you want then you need to do a minimum of 20% water change then plug your skimmer back in and it will go crazy just keep emptying it out and replace with salt water. So if you skimmer cup keeps filling up and it takes 3 gallons the top off 3 gallons of fresh salt water and that should solve your problem. Good luck I hope this helps!

 

[Straight.Reefin]

Looks like cyano to me the guys at my lfs a say when the nutrients are to low your susceptible to a cyano break out. The only way I've been able to get rid of the cyano is to dose cyano RX. There are a few good videos that explain every step but in a nutshell you pick out what you can by hand then dose the cyano according to the directions I belive its 1 cup of tank water and 1 level scoop of the scooper they provide for every 10 gallons of true water volume mix it until all powder is desolved turn off your skimmer and pour it into your sump. You will let it do its thing for 3 days straight. You can take this opportunity to clean your skimmer in a water and white vinegar mix. After 3 days if you see the results you want then you need to do a minimum of 20% water change then plug your skimmer back in and it will go crazy just keep emptying it out and replace with salt water. So if you skimmer cup keeps filling up and it takes 3 gallons the top off 3 gallons of fresh salt water and that should solve your problem. Good luck I hope this helps!

Sounds great and thanks for the help!!!! I will try to raise phosphates and nitrates a little make for sure!

Do you know why too low of nutrients cause cyano??

Should I skip some water changes to raise nutrient levels?

 

[Reefer Deez]

Sounds great and thanks for the help!!!! I will try to raise phosphates and nitrates a little make for sure!

Do you know why too low of nutrients cause cyano??

Should I skip some water changes to raise nutrient levels?

No if I were you I would lower the blues on your lights from 100 to around 80 ish. I wouldn’t raise any nitrates or phosphate purposely but if I’m not mistaken I believe the target range for nitrates is around 3 and phosphate is 0.10. The coral need some phosphate to live and cyano always seems to show up when your doing things right but definitely don’t stop the water changes. Water changes can fix a lot of problems

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Sounds great and thanks for the help!!!! I will try to raise phosphates and nitrates a little make for sure!

Do you know why too low of nutrients cause cyano??

Should I skip some water changes to raise nutrient levels?

Too low of nutrients is not generally a "cause" of cyano. There may be certain situations where cyano can grow in low N conditions since some species can get N from N2, but most often, cyano comes from elevated N, P and organics.

 

[Straight.Reefin]

Too low of nutrients is not generally a "cause" of cyano. There may be certain situations where cyano can grow in low N conditions since some specuies can get N from N2, but moot often, cyano comes from elevated N, P and organics.

Okay got it, the weird thing is this tank has only 2 clowns and a goby and I feed it every other day.....so I don’t even know where my high nitrates or phosphates would be coming from??

 

[cracker]

Okay got it, the weird thing is this tank has only 2 clowns and a goby and I feed it every other day.....so I don’t even know where my high nitrates or phosphates would be coming from??

Same here, small bio load no measurable No3/po4

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The foods are still usually the primary source, unless the rock has a lot of phosphate bound to it or dead organisms left on it. It is the balance of export to addition that matters, not the absolute amount added.

 

[Taby]

Can cyano be avoided through the use of a protein skimmer to remove organic waste. Assuming one is already maintaing low levels of nitrate and phosphate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Can cyano be avoided through the use of a protein skimmer to remove organic waste. Assuming one is already maintaing low levels of nitrate and phosphate?

It may be reduced that way, but skimmers do not preclude getting cyano.

 

[Taby]

Perhaps just an increase in nutrient export via water change will be my best bet.

 

[Straight.Reefin]

I don’t have a skimmer on my tank either, but like I said I just have some bubble tips, 2 clowns and a goby

I will step up water changes more and I’ll go from there

 

[Straight.Reefin]

Just did another 20 gallon water change and sand is back brown again within hours

I checked the rodi water just Incase and it came out 0.01

 

[Straight.Reefin]

Also another weird factor in this is my rose anemones were perfectly fine for months and then slowly started to shrink and lose color and just disappear, but corals are all perfectly fine....not sure if it’s related or not to my sand bed

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just did another 20 gallon water change and sand is back brown again within hours

I checked the rodi water just Incase and it came out 0.01

Checked it for what? If that is ppm TDS, it is a typo.

 

[Straight.Reefin]

Checked it for what? If that is ppm TDS, it is a typo.

Haha guess I should have clarified that!!! TDS is coming out at 0 and I checked the freshly made salt water with ultra low phosphorous Hanna checker and that was the number I got once converted!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

OK, thanks.

 

[Anthony'sreef]

Having the same issues. Nitrate and phosphate both read 0 with multiple test kits (Hanna, Red Sea and salifert) I have a consistent problem with cyano which actually seems to get worse after a water change. I have RODI and it tests at 0 tds. Could it be silicates? Haven’t tested for that