Nutrient balance and cyano

[Eric23]

So I'm having trouble finding a sweet spot and I'd love to get some advice. I recently had a cyano outbreak which I took care of by leaving am I macroalgae reactor on 24/7.. This lowered phosphate and nitrate and cyano didn't grow back after I siphon it out. The problem was it also brought my nitrates down below 5 ppm and some of my frags started to stress so I went back to my original schedule of a reverse light cycle and I'm trying to bring nitrates back up a little bit but now cyano is coming back as well. I notice as soon as my nitrate falls below what my test kit reads as 10ppm nitrate and .06 phosphate my sticks start bleaching but at the numbers they're thriving at I'm getting cyano. I can live with the cyano if it's small patches here and there but it always seems to eventually take over

 

[29bonsaireef]

Cyano sucks.. How are you regulating nutrients? If you dose aminos or use some sort of coral food that can lead to unwanted algae. Best thing you can do is grow some kind of macro algae in your fuge or if you don't have one, directly in the tank.

 

[CoralWealth]

So I'm having trouble finding a sweet spot and I'd love to get some advice. I recently had a cyano outbreak which I took care of by leaving am I macroalgae reactor on 24/7.. This lowered phosphate and nitrate and cyano didn't grow back after I siphon it out. The problem was it also brought my nitrates down below 5 ppm and some of my frags started to stress so I went back to my original schedule of a reverse light cycle and I'm trying to bring nitrates back up a little bit but now cyano is coming back as well. I notice as soon as my nitrate falls below what my test kit reads as 10ppm nitrate and .06 phosphate my sticks start bleaching but at the numbers they're thriving at I'm getting cyano. I can live with the cyano if it's small patches here and there but it always seems to eventually take over

What is your alk, your SPS shouldnt be bleaching at that nutrient level.

I am guessing your alk is 9 or above?

 

[Eric23]

Reefer 350
Lighting is a combo of kessil A360we maxing out at 35% for 4 hours a day and 4 t5's 2 blue plus 2 purple plus on for 6 hours a day. I'm running an arid chaeto reactor, eshopps skimmer, and a marine pure block and two mesh filter socks in the sump. No carbon, no gfo, no dosing to lower phos or nirate. Alk is steady at 7.5 using a calcium reactor I haven't checked calcium in a while. I had problems keeping sticks in this tank in the recent past due to my nitates being to low, all being to high, and LEDs tuned up to intense. I lowered the intensity of my LEDs, lowered my alk down to 7.5, and got my nitates up to 10ppm by feeding more and going to a reverse light cycle on the chaeto reactor so it's only on for about 13 hours. That's when I started getting the cyano.. like I said above if I go back to running the chaeto reactor 24/7 the cyano will go away but I won't be able to keep nitrates in my tank.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Have you considered lowering the lighting intensity to prevent bleaching and looking at other causes of the cyano besides nutrients?
Nutrients are only one of many reasons for cyano.

 

[Eric23]

Have you considered lowering the lighting intensity to prevent bleaching and looking at other causes of the cyano besides nutrients?
Nutrients are only one of many reasons for cyano.

I don't know how much lower I can go. I'm only at 30% intensity on my LED's

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I don't know how much lower I can go. I'm only at 30% intensity on my LED's

How much par is 30%.
My lights at 1% 12in from the fixture. Is 200 par.

You can also shorten the photo period.

 

[Eric23]

How much par is 30%.
My lights at 1% 12in from the fixture. Is 200 par.

You can also shorten the photo period.

My par readings are at about 220 at the top of the rocks where most of my sps are. The bottom of my tank is around 60 par

 

[Eric23]

My par readings are at about 220 at the top of the rocks where most of my sps are. The bottom of my tank is around 60 par

Midway is where I get cyano

 

[Eric23]

Actually the cyano is growing in more shaded areas ... All my fags racks towards the top of the tank are completely clean no algae issues at all it's all towards the bottom of the tank and there's a ton of flow at the bottom. Enough flow that my frags slide around the bottom of the tank

 

[SUS]

any updates? I’m running into something similar. Though my cyano is growing with nitrate at 2ppm and phosphate at .03

 

[AdamNC]

I’ve had good success with ChemiClean while doing a 3 day black out covering the tank. 25% water change. 1 day of lighting and then repeat the ChemiClean blackout, 25% water change again.