ID help please!

[Shaun_in_Cali]

G’day all,

Looking for confirmation on this muck. Strong suspicion from my research is Cyano, but looking for help from experienced heads!

Tank is 120G, about 3 months old. Nitrates had been high, about 50 but has settled to 20 in the past 2-3 weeks. Unsure for phosphates.

Can pull off it off in sheets when more established. Small gas bubbles in thicker areas. Small fine hairs?

Cheers in advance!

Shaun

 

[road_runner]

..

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

About 3 months old
80F
~150G
Salinity 1.025
NH3/4 0
NO2 0
NO3 20
Ph 8.0
Temp 80F

No dosing, just skimming at the moment. Light bio load, juvenile yellow tang, 2x firefish, 2x damsel, 2x cardinal, 2x goby. CUC.

Lighting is 2x Kessil A360WE 12 hours ramping from 0-70% over 4 hours, 70% for 4 hours and then a 4 hour ramp down.

Red Sea reef test kit, no Phosphate as yet though can buy.

 

[road_runner]

About 3 months old
80F
~150G
Salinity 1.025
NH3/4 0
NO2 0
NO3 20
Ph 8.0
Temp 80F

No dosing, just skimming at the moment. Light bio load, juvenile yellow tang, 2x firefish, 2x damsel, 2x cardinal, 2x goby. CUC.

Lighting is 2x Kessil A360WE 12 hours ramping from 0-70% over 4 hours, 70% for 4 hours and then a 4 hour ramp down.

Red Sea reef test kit, no Phosphate as yet though can buy.

System is so young strange it would have cyano...
Did you start dry or live rock?
Live or dry sand?
How did you do your cycle?
Do you have CUC?
Did you get diatom phase then green algae phase since you started?
Was there any other algae phase before this red matter appeared?
What's your husbandry like? Wc?
Can you get some pictures of the DT and the filtration?

 

[resortez]

Definitely cyano bacteria. Get yourself some red slim remover meds & follow the instructions. The cause could be a number of things, from feeding too heavy, dead fish stuck between rocks, filter floss could be dirty, a die off of bacteria or a dead snail rotting away in the back & dead snails throw a gnarly stench, believe me. The fluctuation in NO3 is most likely the cause, just need to find out what caused the fluctuation. A swing in parameter like that for a new system can shock the tank, jumping from 50 back to 20 ppms & a filtration system that new most likely hasn’t matured enough or colonized enough beneficial bacteria to consume those NO3 fast enough, giving you cyano problems. No worries, new tanks always pop up with problems, best thing to do is to keep a steady maintenance schedule & keep testing parameters to make sure things stay stable. This hobby requires tons of patience. Good luck.

 

[road_runner]

Definitely cyano bacteria. Get yourself some red slim remover meds & follow the instructions. The cause could be a number of things, from feeding too heavy, dead fish stuck between rocks, filter floss could be dirty, a die off of bacteria or a dead snail rotting away in the back & dead snails throw a gnarly stench, believe me. The fluctuation in NO3 is most likely the cause, just need to find out what caused the fluctuation. A swing in parameter like that for a new system can shock the tank, jumping from 50 back to 20 ppms & a filtration system that new most likely hasn’t matured enough or colonized enough beneficial bacteria to consume those NO3 fast enough, giving you cyano problems. No worries, new tanks always pop up with problems, best thing to do is to keep a steady maintenance schedule & keep testing parameters to make sure things stay stable. This hobby requires tons of patience. Good luck.

So his system is 3 months old, meaning still building its biological filtration. Are not you worry about such product antibacterial content to restart his cycle?
Do not you want to know thw cause of the cyano before treating it?
Do not you want to confirm its cyano?
Do not you want to know his filtration details?
I do not mean to jump on you, am just trying to understand your line of thinking by recommending chemical treatment before we understand his system details..

 

[resortez]

So his system is 3 months old, meaning still building its biological filtration. Are not you worry about such product antibacterial content to restart his cycle?
Do not you want to know thw cause of the cyano before treating it?
Do not you want to confirm its cyano?
Do not you want to know his filtration details?
I do not mean to jump on you, am just trying to understand your line of thinking by recommending chemical treatment before we understand his system details..

When dealing with cyano, the hobbyist for sure needs to investigate & find the source of the problem, no way around it, which could be numerous things or a combination of those problems. Cyano meds don’t cause serious ill effect to filtration & it’s definitely Cyano bacteria. At the stage the tank is in, filtration hasn’t mature enough, plus OP mentions only light skimming & a good light cycle with good parameter readings besides the NO3 jump. That says enough to get a good view of where the tank stands. From my experience, once that type of bacteria blooms in your system, like cyano, it’s a pain to get rid of without meds because it’s a very persistent one. But most definitely the owner needs to do some serious investigating into why the bacteria bloomed. The NO3 swings would tell me that there has been a die off of something, what? I don’t know, only the owner can investigate what could have died off. Again, from my experience alone death usually spikes NO3 like that, I could be wrong though. That’s where everything within the DT & filter needs to be inspected for anything unusual, funky odors are a good lead. Cyano, from my understanding is technically not that bad, it’s just a response to a spike in NO3 because there’s nothing else available to consume it. These blooms happen naturally in the oceans. In the home aquarium it’s more of an eye soar, a nuisance because it can cover sand, rock, blanket coral & drop O2 levels if left untreated, the reason why the bacteria needs to be treated ASAP. There my 2 cents. Good luck to the OP in dealing with cyano.

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

System is so young strange it would have cyano...
Did you start dry or live rock?
Live or dry sand?
How did you do your cycle?
Do you have CUC?
Did you get diatom phase then green algae phase since you started?
Was there any other algae phase before this red matter appeared?
What's your husbandry like? Wc?
Can you get some pictures of the DT and the filtration?

Thanks for your time! answers below...

Previously used rock, dry for about 4 years.
Dry sand, new, rinsed thoroughly.
Biospira and one small live rock.
CUC - Nerite, Cerith, Nassarius, hermits (9-10).
Yep, been through diatoms - CUC saw to that quickly. No green algae.
No other algae phase.
The red matter has been around for maybe a month, I had been manually removing however was away for a week with work and it grew quickly at this time. Coincident with reducing from 50-25 Nitrates (I reduced through water changes over 4th of July weekend). Bloom was got worse last week from about 10-17th of July. Water changes normally weekly of 10%.

Pictures of DT and further information here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/shauns-120g-build.626401/#post-6256809

My intent today will be to remove some rocks and attempt to manually clean as best possible and weekly water change. Happy for further advice...

 

[Bryson.bobby]

All of my tanks had cyano around the 3 month mark also. I think it’s a problem that will resolve itself.

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

When dealing with cyano, the hobbyist for sure needs to investigate & find the source of the problem, no way around it, which could be numerous things or a combination of those problems. Cyano meds don’t cause serious ill effect to filtration & it’s definitely Cyano bacteria. At the stage the tank is in, filtration hasn’t mature enough, plus OP mentions only light skimming & a good light cycle with good parameter readings besides the NO3 jump. That says enough to get a good view of where the tank stands. From my experience, once that type of bacteria blooms in your system, like cyano, it’s a pain to get rid of without meds because it’s a very persistent one. But most definitely the owner needs to do some serious investigating into why the bacteria bloomed. The NO3 swings would tell me that there has been a die off of something, what? I don’t know, only the owner can investigate what could have died off. Again, from my experience alone death usually spikes NO3 like that, I could be wrong though. That’s where everything within the DT & filter needs to be inspected for anything unusual, funky odors are a good lead. Cyano, from my understanding is technically not that bad, it’s just a response to a spike in NO3 because there’s nothing else available to consume it. These blooms happen naturally in the oceans. In the home aquarium it’s more of an eye soar, a nuisance because it can cover sand, rock, blanket coral & drop O2 levels if left untreated, the reason why the bacteria needs to be treated ASAP. There my 2 cents. Good luck to the OP in dealing with cyano.

Thanks for your time. The NO3 increased from the initial cycle and then remained at 50 where I struggled to get it down regardless of if I was doing water changes or not - unsure if previously used rocks (used previously but dry for a couple of years). The level of approx 50 remained for a while. I reduced by lots of water change over 4th weekend and it has now stabilised (about 20-25).

No deaths to cause bloom (any fish mortality has been removed from the tank. One snail died and CUC annihilated within an hour).

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

when I say remove some rocks - only about 4-5 of the top rocks will be removed, manually scrubbed and then replaced. Others I might scrub in tank and try to siphon Cyano away. I have some water ready and can make more to do about 20% today / tonight.

Any other options or as @Bryson.bobby has noted it will likely cycle?

 

[Bryson.bobby]

In this thread, @KJ states all the steps for the typical cycle.

Cycle process and stages

Cycle process and stages

Hey guys!! 2 weeks into my cycle with new sand, base rock and its starting to get this all over it, I have read this happens, I have also read that this will die off and that will also cause a cycle! I have had hardly any ammonia or nitrates! What's your thoughts on it and what should I do?? Any...

r.tapatalk.com

Hope this helps!

 

[road_runner]

Thanks for your time! answers below...

Previously used rock, dry for about 4 years.
Dry sand, new, rinsed thoroughly.
Biospira and one small live rock.
CUC - Nerite, Cerith, Nassarius, hermits (9-10).
Yep, been through diatoms - CUC saw to that quickly. No green algae.
No other algae phase.
The red matter has been around for maybe a month, I had been manually removing however was away for a week with work and it grew quickly at this time. Coincident with reducing from 50-25 Nitrates (I reduced through water changes over 4th of July weekend). Bloom was got worse last week from about 10-17th of July. Water changes normally weekly of 10%.

Pictures of DT and further information here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/shauns-120g-build.626401/#post-6256809

My intent today will be to remove some rocks and attempt to manually clean as best possible and weekly water change. Happy for further advice...

when you used the dry rocks did you cure them or did anything to remove whatever have died on the rocks when it was being used?
I cannot find your PO4, have you tested PO4?
what kits do you use for PO4 and NO3?
how did you reduce the NO3?
I still have some gabs on your mechanical filtration, can you tell me the details? whats the skimmer? sump? activated carbon? any PO4 remover? filter socks...etc
whats your light and photo period?
its hard for me to comb through the thread to look for information's, can you do me a favor and put in one post all the following so I easily get the picture every time I have a question ab out your system? am sorry about this if it feel redundant, I work on multiple threads simultaneously and this will help me from mixing up.

System age
Parameters (NO3, PO4, Salinity, Temp, anything else you have post please)
Dosing (elements and anything else that makes it to your system)
Equipment's (skimmer, reactors, carbon, GFO...etc)
Husbandry regimens (water changes, cleaning regimens, feeding frequency and what you feed)
System inhabitants (fish, coral and CUC)
Light photo period (type, intensity and period)
Test kits
finally post in the same thread picture of the DT and the filtration equipment's,

 

[Shaun_in_Cali]

when you used the dry rocks did you cure them or did anything to remove whatever have died on the rocks when it was being used?
I cannot find your PO4, have you tested PO4?
what kits do you use for PO4 and NO3?
how did you reduce the NO3?
I still have some gabs on your mechanical filtration, can you tell me the details? whats the skimmer? sump? activated carbon? any PO4 remover? filter socks...etc
whats your light and photo period?
its hard for me to comb through the thread to look for information's, can you do me a favor and put in one post all the following so I easily get the picture every time I have a question ab out your system? am sorry about this if it feel redundant, I work on multiple threads simultaneously and this will help me from mixing up.

System age
Parameters (NO3, PO4, Salinity, Temp, anything else you have post please)
Dosing (elements and anything else that makes it to your system)
Equipment's (skimmer, reactors, carbon, GFO...etc)
Husbandry regimens (water changes, cleaning regimens, feeding frequency and what you feed)
System inhabitants (fish, coral and CUC)
Light photo period (type, intensity and period)
Test kits
finally post in the same thread picture of the DT and the filtration equipment's,

No problems I appreciate the help. Apologies for the slow reply as I have been busy picking up family from LAX and hosting yesterday before working today.

System Age and Parameters
3 months old.
Dry rock, no cure however they were visually very clean and any remaining stuff was scrubbed.
NH3/4 0
NO2 0
NO3 ~20 (reduced from ~50 by approx 4x 10% water changes about 3 weeks ago over the 4th long weekend)
PO4 ~0.25
Salinity 1.025
Temp 80F
Ph 8.0
Test Kit was Red Sea reef.
Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
120G display, approx 90-100lb rock, 80lb sand. 40G sump with about 27G useable volume.

NO3 and PO4 I question - the LFS tested my water on Monday and the guy said 3ppm Nitrate. This doesn't tally with my test kit. I do not have a means of testing the PO4 as yet.

Filtration
Skimmer. No other equipment. Not a brand name skimmer that I can find and I am questioning its efficacy as it pulls relatively little skimate. Filter socks used most of the time, usually 4-5 days a week particularly after water change. I haven't been running activated carbon though I will from this weekend.

No dosing as yet

Husbandry
10% water change weekly - use this to either siphon about 1/3rd of the sand bed each time, or clear out detritus from the sump.

Livestock / Feeding:
Juvenile Yellow tang
2x firefish
2x sapphire damsel
2x Bangai cardinal
Yellow watchman goby
Diamond goby
Coral Banded Shrimp
Clean up crew (hermits, cerith, nassarius, nerite snails)
I Feed 1/2 mysis shrimp block in AM, 1/4 block in PM. Strip of Nori for tang.

Lighting
2x Kessil A360WE 4 hour ramp to 70%, 4 hours 70% intensity, 4 hour ramp down.

I did a 10% water change last night and syphoned off a fair bit of the Cyano. The rest that I couldn't catch yet disturbed was caught in a filter sock that I have removed. I will do another 10% WC tonight to get the remainder. My plan at present is to focus on mechanical / syphon removal of the Cyano during WC to prevent it taking hold as much as possible and assess.

Regards