Is this cyano? Need help, advice.

[motortrendz]

It definilt is cyano, but it also looks like there's some dinoflagellates in the picture as well or maybe I just forsee what's coming lol. Nutrient levels too low, zero nitrates and phosphates are not good. Especially adding more gfo, I've battled this stuff multiple times and dino as well. Back and forth for months between the 2. Finally realizing after lots of reading on here that I was trying to remove nutrients i didn't have causing the problems with cyano and dinos. I stopped running gfo, stopped doing water changes for a couple weeks. Allowing the nitueint levels to rise. I also dosed flourish phosphorus by seachem to get my po4 to a detectable level. Once I did that,I manually removed everything o could by hand and then used chemiclean per the directions for 2 days. After that I performed a 30% water change and ran carbon to remove the rest of the chemiclean. I feed heavier now and maintain detectable levels of phosphates (0.04-0.10) and nitrates between 4-8. At those numbers I have been cyano and dino free for about 6 months so far.

I didn't do a black out bc I have alot of coral and I didn it once before and bleached and stressed alot of coral.

Hope this helps.
Short version
..
High current water flow in tank, detectable nutrients, stable lighting less red/green spectrum if possible, dont run gfo if you can help it, run chemiclean per instructions and run carbon and water change after 3 days. feed heavier and do less water changes until system is stable. Then resume normal water changes and feedings.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

Do you have pale corals?

I had that, my sps looked really pale and I chased the lighting as an issue not zero phosphates as the test kit I had said I had some, but took a sample to the lfs and they tested it on a hanna checker and it came back zero. I then lost all my digitata to stn/rtn. I now feed heavier and polyps that were left on the rocks are growing again.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I had that, my sps looked really pale and I chased the lighting as an issue not zero phosphates as the test kit I had said I had some, but took a sample to the lfs and they tested it on a hanna checker and it came back zero. I then lost all my digitata to stn/rtn. I now feed heavier and polyps that were left on the rocks are growing again.

I do have a little dino on the filter box in the tank of which I siphon out as much as I can with minimal amount of water so as not to in essence do a water change.

 

[Michael Hull]

Good to know! Thanks everyone! I'm going to start Chemiclean and yank some of the chaeto/cut the photoperiod. Imagine I may see other algae pop up, but hope to start seeing my nutrients climb a bit. Calc/Alk/Mag all seem solid so it can't be that causing coral troubles.

 

[DarthSimon]

Be careful with Chemi-clean. It will make your skimmer go nuts for a few hours.
Also running (0) phosphates and nitrates in a reef tank as stated above can and most likely lead to Dino's and other issues. A good range for phosphates is .03 to .10. As well as Nitrates 5-10. Having some nutrients in water is a great food source for tour corals. Also those bacteria that you don't look Cyano and Dino will be out competed

 

[Michael Hull]

I figured I'd yank the skimmer cup and just let it overflow back into the sump... from what I've read that seems like a decent option that also helps with aeration. Do you think I need a airstone too? I've got a pretty good fish load, so I expect the nutrients will pop when I stop the GFO/photoperiod on Chaeto.

 

[Michael Hull]

Here's a fairly recent shot of the tank...early stages of cyano starting on sand, bottom left rock.

 

[DarthSimon]

What power heads do you have in there?? As long as you have surface agitation you should be fine. I much prefer running a drain line out of skimmer cup to a bucket. Skim out all the crap, even though it will be mostly clear.

 

[Michael Hull]

What power heads do you have in there?? As long as you have surface agitation you should be fine. I much prefer running a drain line out of skimmer cup to a bucket. Skim out all the crap, even though it will be mostly clear.

There are three recirc pumps in the rear chamber of the tank, and then the return, and an ai Nero.

 

[saltyhog]

I would not run chemiclean until you get your nutrients up. The cyano may be the only thing keeping dinos in check. Also if it's not spirulina chemiclean likely won't work. Get your nutrients up, if possible post a microscopic picture of your cyano.