Serious cyano conundrum

[Jakepen]

Tank is 11 months old, handful of fish, decent cuc, skimmer is a nyos 160 runs 24/7, chateo grows 12 hours a night. Currently dosing no3 and po4, as I was unable to get detectable readings naturally. My no3 is 4 and po4 stays around 0.04. Cyano is starting to get out of control, I want to eradicate it without using chemicals, so asking for some advice.

 

[TexanCanuck]

Beautiful tank!

It sounds like you've got good control of nutrients in your tank (I'm jealous), so it sounds like you're doing the right things.

You'll find lots of differing viewpoints here on using bacteria supplements to help control Cyano. I won't try and take a position on that - I've had mixed success using any of them.

However, one thing I have had personal success with is increasing internal flow within the display and in particular, making sure I had flow across surfaces where Cyano frequently occurs. It's tough to do with the substrate, I know.

At the end of the day, I have the best success with Cyano using a combination of weekly water changes, good internal flow, and bi-weekly use of Vibrant.

 

[Jakepen]

Beautiful tank!

It sounds like you've got good control of nutrients in your tank (I'm jealous), so it sounds like you're doing the right things.

You'll find lots of differing viewpoints here on using bacteria supplements to help control Cyano. I won't try and take a position on that - I've had mixed success using any of them.

However, one thing I have had personal success with is increasing internal flow within the display and in particular, making sure I had flow across surfaces where Cyano frequently occurs. It's tough to do with the substrate, I know.

At the end of the day, I have the best success with Cyano using a combination of weekly water changes, good internal flow, and bi-weekly use of Vibrant.

I’ve used vibrant before, and didn’t like what come after I stopped using it. Currently I’m running the moonshiners method, so I haven’t done a water change in a few months. I have three tunze 6105s in the tank, I should point one at the cyano, try and break it up a bit.

 

[JMetaxas]

I'm struggling with Cyano now myself and will watch this thread.

 

[fishface NJ]

Wish I could get my NO3 to 4! My NO3 is 1 and PO4 stays around 0.03. Every time I dose NeoNitro I get cyano. Two days later the cyano is gone. I always wonder if I am screwing up the balance and should not dose. Hope you get an answer!

 

[JMetaxas]

I too dose NeoNitro but if I don't, my NO3 crashes to zero. I also dose NeoPhos to get detectable Phosphate.

 

[Uncle99]

Nitrate fine but PO4 is low IMM at 0.04ppm.
The Hanna checkers while great, still have a + - error and while you think you have 0.04ppm, maybe you have 0.08 or 0.00 taking into account the + - variance.

This was the case in my 180g and while mine showed 0.05ppm, ICP showed zero.

So I did three things.
1. I sucked out as much Cyano as possible.
2. I dosed phosphate up to .1ppm.
3. I maximized as much flow as made sense.
4. I did use chemiclean.

Took one week to have white sand again.

Personnaly, I think the trace numbers of 0.03-0.05ppm are low, I’ve had more success with slightly elevated levels.

 

[PeterC99]

Three things got rid of my cyano naturally and I never cleaned any Cyano out of my tank.

1) Strong UV light
2) Started an Oxydator (look for threads on this site)
3) Phytoplankton every other day

Before and after pics (also have since increased the light point intensity by 15% on my Radions - up to 75%)

PO4 .05, NO3 2

 

[Jakepen]

Three things got rid of my cyano naturally and I never cleaned any Cyano out of my tank.

1) Strong UV light
2) Started an Oxydator (look for threads on this site)
3) Phytoplankton every other day

Before and after pics (also have since increased the light point intensity by 15% on my Radions - up to 75%)

PO4 .05, NO3 2

I am running a uv as well, although it’s just the right size. I will look into the oxydator threads, I’ve seen threads and benefits on adding phytoplankton, thought about starting a culture actually.

 

[PeterC99]

I am running a uv as well, although it’s just the right size. I will look into the oxydator threads, I’ve seen threads and benefits on adding phytoplankton, thought about starting a culture actually.

What was surprising was that the results were almost instantaneous - cyano disappeared right away. Was difficult finding an Oxydator but very easy to setup once sourced.

The Cyano has never reappeared since starting oxydator and phytoplankton.

Good luck!

 

[Timfish]

Kudos for not using chemicals to kill the cyano! Using procucts to kill unwanted algae don't address the underlying issues in the ecosystem and likely will only provide a short term solution. Two things I do might help. First I use stainless steel straws to siphon out the cyano, using stailess steel straws (or small tubing of some type) lets me get in close to corals without damaging them, crimping the siphon hose if needed to reduce flow. Second, to kill the cyano that's stuck in the nooks and cannies of the sand grains I sometimes also siphon off the top layer of sand, soak in H2O2 for a bit, rinse well in fresh water and let sit for a day or two before returning. I also use paper towels to remove algae off glass instead of just knocking it off with a magnet.

Be patient. Corals are actively promoting bacteria in the water that favors them, nuisance algae is actively promoting bacteria in the water beneficial to them and may promote pathogenic shifts int the coral microbiome. It takes time for corals (with your assistance) to shift an ecosystem from one that's benficial for nuisance algae to one that's beneficial for them.

Steel Straws

Paper towels for algae

 

[themericks]

What kind of light do you have on your refugium? Is your chaeto growing or GROWING? I had a similar problem and it improved significantly after upgrading my fuge light to a Kessil H380 (though I'm sure you could find cheaper options). I was trying to outcompete two Kessil A360s on the display with a tiny little 9w fuge light and my chaeto was not really growing, even with a 12 hour photoperiod. Now it's growing like crazy and the cyano has almost entirely receded. This was coupled with strategic timing of NO3 and PO4 dosing just after display lights out to give the chaeto the advantage.

 

[Jakepen]

What kind of light do you have on your refugium? Is your chaeto growing or GROWING? I had a similar problem and it improved significantly after upgrading my fuge light to a Kessil H380 (though I'm sure you could find cheaper options). I was trying to outcompete two Kessil A360s on the display with a tiny little 9w fuge light and my chaeto was not really growing, even with a 12 hour photoperiod. Now it's growing like crazy and the cyano has almost entirely receded. This was coupled with strategic timing of NO3 and PO4 dosing just after display lights out to give the chaeto the advantage.

Lol kind of funny but I have a very similar setup over my chateo (see pic). It grows it really well, however not at a very rapid rate, a better light would maybe be a good option. Thanks for the tip on the strategic timing of the no3 and po4, I’ll switch to nighttime.

 

[Jakepen]

What was surprising was that the results were almost instantaneous - cyano disappeared right away. Was difficult finding an Oxydator but very easy to setup once sourced.

The Cyano has never reappeared since starting oxydator and phytoplankton.

Good luck!

Just ordered a oxydator after reading some threads on them.

 

[brandon429]

its a good move they're great products

I miss my buddy Albert Theil, he'd agree as well.

 

[Jakepen]

Lol kind of funny but I have a very similar setup over my chateo (see pic). It grows it really well, however not at a very rapid rate, a better light would maybe be a good option. Thanks for the tip on the strategic timing of the no3 and po4, I’ll switch to nighttime.

Oops forgot to post the pic