ID please

[Jason Jones]

my tank has been running since 10/2017 8 hour photo period on AB+ and a 4 hour overlap with 4 blue plus.
For flow I am running a pair of XF250 gyre and two current USA 1050 along with SICCE syncra 9.0 return pump. All the algae is in moderate flow but I have very few if any dead spots. If I increase the flow anymore it’s a sandstorm
Parameters are stable
1.025
2 nitrate
.015 phosphate
440 calcium
7.2 dkh
1310 mag
Running full Triton method.
I tried a three day blackout after as much manual removal as possible and these guys came back with vengeance.

Please help!!

 

[Jason Jones]

Additionally I remember reading somewhere to take a sample and place it in H2O2. The results of this were the algae deteriorating and the water/peroxide turned a light pink color.

 

[Jason Jones]

@mcarroll
Can you help?

 

[Jason Jones]

#reefsquad

 

[DSC reef]

Looks similar to cyano

 

[Flippers4pups]

I'd say cyanobacteria.

 

[Jason Jones]

I can’t remember where I saw the post referring to the H2O2 test.
One algae remained clumps and the other dissolved to a pink color in the water.
I don’t have any bubbles in it.

 

[Flippers4pups]

I can’t remember where I saw the post referring to the H2O2 test.
One algae remained clumps and the other dissolved to a pink color in the water.
I don’t have any bubbles in it.

Cyanobacteria doesn't always produce "bubbles".

 

[Jason Jones]

Is there something wrong with my parameter to cause the spread?
Silicate is zero, iodide and iodate are zero ( need to get them up a little) potassium is 400
I’ve been to lazy to test strontium

 

[Jason Jones]

I did not know that, thank you.
Can you point me in the best direction for treatment.
I read somewhere chemiclean was bad for cyano

 

[Flippers4pups]

I did not know that, thank you.
Can you point me in the best direction for treatment.
I read somewhere chemiclean was bad for cyano

I would vacuum it out during a water change. Increasing flow in those areas will help. Keep your water pramameters in check.

 

[Jason Jones]

I would vacuum it out during a water change. Increasing flow in those areas will help. Keep your water pramameters in check.

Do the parameters look good where they are, they are stable at current values
I should have mentioned I run triton carbon and Brightwell po4 xport in reactors.

I am pretty maxed at flow, I already have to fill in sand holes and Re-rake the sand now.

 

[KJ]

Cyanobacteria.

 

[rkpetersen]

Agree with everyone, looks like cyano most likely, although wouldn't hurt to look at it under a scope to confirm. That peroxide test if useful at all detects maybe a small subset of the thousands of different cyanobacteria species. Assuming yours is cyano, it can occur sporadically in any tank, but usually not hard to get rid of either. Increase flow to susceptible areas if possible, vacuum the sand of detritus with water changes, stop or pause dosing amino acids if you're doing so. Keep vacuuming it up until it doesn't come back. As far as your parameters, I would consider increasing your magnesium up above 1400 and your alkalinity up above 8 dKH, both of which will favor coral growth over algae. Also check your clean up crew, make sure you've got animals that will turn over the sand, like nassarius snails.

 

[Jason Jones]

Agree with everyone, looks like cyano most likely, although wouldn't hurt to look at it under a scope to confirm. That peroxide test if useful at all detects maybe a small subset of the thousands of different cyanobacteria species. Assuming yours is cyano, it can occur sporadically in any tank, but usually not hard to get rid of either. Increase flow to susceptible areas if possible, vacuum the sand of detritus with water changes, stop or pause dosing amino acids if you're doing so. Keep vacuuming it up until it doesn't come back. As far as your parameters, I would consider increasing your magnesium up above 1400 and your alkalinity up above 8 dKH, both of which will favor coral growth over algae. Also check your clean up crew, make sure you've got animals that will turn over the sand, like nassarius snails.

Thank you,
Tank is a 120 and I have 15 small nassarius, 1 sand star, 4 Mexican turbo, 8 trochus, and 4 nerite.
Fish are foxface 3.5 inches, firefish, anthia.
My mag and alk are on the lower side per Tritons regimen. I can boost but that would increase calcium as well.
I am about 60 times DT volume in flow and roughly 10 times for turnover.
I will try and turn the pumps up and see what I can do.
Is random or constant flow better for getting rid of cyano?

 

[saltyhog]

Agree with rkpetersen. I would also get that aiptasia before it reproduces!

 

[Jason Jones]

Agree with rkpetersen. I would also get that aiptasia before it reproduces!

It already has. I had three or four on a rock from my LFS I used aiptasia x and two months later I have 10-12 Of them.

 

[mcarroll]

.015 phosphate

That pic and that stat go well together.

What is 0.015 ppm phosphate + the accuracy of the kit....maybe negative?

Whatever you're doing to reduce nutrients in the water, stop.

Looks like the tank is just very immature still and cyano is capitalizing on the open space + light while making use of phosphate bound to the rocks.

I wouldn't add anything else to the tank for a while that isn't a coral – and do that slowly, a little at a time.

I see Mr Friendly waving at us from the back of this pic.....he's the one you want to be concerned with.

Cyano will continue to be favored while phosphates in the water are so limited.

Bump up your CUC at the same time as your hand-cleaning efforts....they need to be able to come in behind your efforts and keep it clean...and there need to be enough of them to cover (and re-cover) that amount of surface area.

 

[Jason Jones]

That pic and that stat go well together.

What is 0.015 ppm phosphate + the accuracy of the kit....maybe negative?

Whatever you're doing to reduce nutrients in the water, stop.

Looks like the tank is just very immature still and cyano is capitalizing on the open space + light while making use of phosphate bound to the rocks.

I wouldn't add anything else to the tank for a while that isn't a coral – and do that slowly, a little at a time.



I see Mr Friendly waving at us from the back of this pic.....he's the one you want to be concerned with.

Cyano will continue to be favored while phosphates in the water are so limited.

Bump up your CUC at the same time as your hand-cleaning efforts....they need to be able to come in behind your efforts and keep it clean...and there need to be enough of them to cover (and re-cover) that amount of surface area.

PO4 is based off Hanna conversion. Phosphorus is 5ppb
I’m glad you said that because I was reading some of your other posts last night and pulled my phosphate reactor offlineat that time.

Is it ok to keep running carbon?

What CUC would you recommend for cyano? I’ve tried getting ahold of a few sponsors to get more CUC but none of the ones I’ve contacted seem to return calls or emails

My next addition will be aiptasia eating filefish or peppermint shrimp, I’m not sure which direction to go.

I like your methodology of natural instead of chasing bottles.
Thanks for your help, as always.

 

[mcarroll]

PO4 is based off Hanna conversion. Phosphorus is 5ppb

From Hanna:

Accuracy @ 25°C/77°F: ±5 ppb ±5% of reading

So 5ppb on the screen can literally mean zero ppb or ten ppb in your water. For our purposes we're fairly confident in the zero-end of that range.

(The other end of the range corresponds with 0.03 ppm phosphate, which is ideal for corals, so that's specifically why we're less-confident in that end of the range.)

So good move on shutting down the reactor.

Do you have any corals yet? How are they doing? It's possible you might be able to lower the lights a little and/or maybe shrink the photoperiod to help vs the algae as well.