150 gallon reef. I was told running to clean????

bddb

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i I have a gallon reef. i am getting red cryno a lot ?? i was told at my reef store i have no phosphates no nitrates in my aquarium that im running to clean and thats what is causing my cryno. please help.
 

BristleWormHater

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What livestock is in your tank? Fish and inverts. You need to keep a healthy level of phosphate and nitrate around 10-20ppm is a good starting point. Waste from fish and inverts is the best source.
 

bradreef

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Most new tanks started with dry rock typically need to dose phos and either nitrate or ammonia. Eventually, you can feed a bunch once rocks absorb nutrients.
 

00W

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i I have a gallon reef. i am getting red cryno a lot ?? i was told at my reef store i have no phosphates no nitrates in my aquarium that im running to clean and thats what is causing my cryno. please help.
Firstly welcome Welcome to R2R!
Second pictures are great.
Third more info on your tank.
Lights, filtration livestock. Stuff like that helps us help you.
Red cyno is usually a result of mismatched nutrients. Phosphate at zero could be a result for sure, but you can get it anytime.
It will also grow best in areas of little to no flow, so you can mess with your flow as well.
What I tell everyone in this case is test, see what it says for yourself, don't panic and don't do a water change.
That'll only make things worse.
Like I said give us a bunch of info.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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i I have a gallon reef. i am getting red cryno a lot ?? i was told at my reef store i have no phosphates no nitrates in my aquarium that im running to clean and thats what is causing my cryno. please help.

I dont think that makes sense. Low nutrients are not typically a cyano causing scenario. Have you measured nitrate and phosphate?

To reduce cyano, increase flow, remove it manually, reduce organics, and if it gets bad enough, an antibiotic treatment may be in order.
 

00W

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What is the evidence for that?
Oh I'm no scientist Randy just going on my own tank's experience.
Running zero phos for as long as I did I had red cyno everywhere, especially in low flow areas as I mentioned.
Nitrate was in the thirties at the time.
Once I brought phos up, stopped using gfo and brought Nitrate down, it all went away.
Only speaking from my own experience and trying to help if I can.
 

Dburr1014

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What is the evidence for that?
@Randy Holmes-Farley
I see posts all the time about imbalance of nutrients and it causes cyanobacteria. Imbalance meaning the ratio is way off.
(I'm not suggesting there is a perfect ratio)
But many seem to think 100-1 or 200-1 is a good place to keep it at bay.

What's your take on this?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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@Randy Holmes-Farley
I see posts all the time about imbalance of nutrients and it causes cyanobacteria. Imbalance meaning the ratio is way off.
(I'm not suggesting there is a perfect ratio)
But many seem to think 100-1 or 200-1 is a good place to keep it at bay.

What's your take on this?

I see no evidence or reason to think an imbalance causes cyano. I know many people mention it, but I believe that is mostly folks repeating something they heard. There’s an old freshwater chart that, whether useful or not in that context, may have been the start of what I consider misinformation. When folks have what they call an imbalance, it feeds that idea if they get cyano, and folks with cyano without an imbalance just pass it off as “every tank is different”.

That said, cyano is a bacteria that can thrive on organics and also can get nitrogen from the air, so its needs are very different than algae and it does not need to rely on inorganic nutrients such as nitrate or phosphate in the same way that algae does. It might not use nitrate at all if other sources are available.
 
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bddb

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My nitrates are zero and my phosphate is .03. I haft to keep using chemclean.
My alk is 9 calcium is 400 magnesium 1200. Zero nitrates and .03 phosphate on my hanna checker ultra low range. Fish is find. My coral are closed. My salt water aquarium store said the water is to clean to turn off my protein skimmer and uv sterilizer. Any information would be helpful. Oh yea ph is 8.1

IMG_0418.jpeg
 
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BristleWormHater

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Stop chemiclean!! It is extremely harmful to to new tanks it will kill off the nuisance algae without letting the tank deal with it naturally, then as soon as you stop dosing more algae will take over then you will be stuck in a never ending ugly stage. Get some hermits to keep cyano in check. Stable your parameters and the cyano will go away, chemiclean is a last resort for when your entire tank is crashing.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Stop chemiclean!! It is extremely harmful to to new tanks it will kill off the nuisance algae without letting the tank deal with it naturally, then as soon as you stop dosing more algae will take over then you will be stuck in a never ending ugly stage. Get some hermits to keep cyano in check. Stable your parameters and the cyano will go away, chemiclean is a last resort for when your entire tank is crashing.

I don’t think antibiotics like Chemiclean kill algae.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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My nitrates are zero and my phosphate is .03. I haft to keep using chemclean.
My alk is 9 calcium is 400 magnesium 1200. Zero nitrates and .03 phosphate on my hanna checker ultra low range. Fish is find. My coral are closed. My salt water aquarium store said the water is to clean to turn off my protein skimmer and uv sterilizer. Any information would be helpful. Oh yea ph is 8.1

IMG_0418.jpeg

You keep using Chemiclean? What happens when you use it?

Low nutrients are not the issue if it actually is cyano.
 

Kershaw

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You keep using Chemiclean? What happens when you use it?

Low nutrients are not the issue if it actually is cyano.
I’m just guessing, but I think the OP is saying they have to keep using chemiclean to keep cyno away. I am currently dealing with a cyno issue as well and chemiclean seems to work well to make cyno manageable. While I try and fix nutrients.
Nitrate is 4.5 and phos is .11 any recommendation what I should do with these numbers?
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I’m just guessing, but I think the OP is saying they have to keep using chemiclean to keep cyno away. I am currently dealing with a cyno issue as well and chemiclean seems to work well to make cyno manageable. While I try and fix nutrients.
Nitrate is 4.5 and phos is .11 any recommendation what I should do with these numbers?

Your nitrate and phosphate are fine.

Cyano is best dealt with by reducing organics, manual removal, increased flow, and antibiotics if all else fails. Messing with otherwise fine nutrient levels to try to reduce cyano is not a good plan, IMO.
 

Kershaw

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Your nitrate and phosphate are fine.

Cyano is best dealt with by reducing organics, manual removal, increased flow, and antibiotics if all else fails. Messing with otherwise fine nutrient levels to try to reduce cyano is not a good plan, IMO.
Thank you sir! First tank I have had started with dry rock, so there are things I have never had to deal with over the years. Cyno is one of them.
 
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