Cyano

[Dave Reef]

My cyanobacteria is getting bad on my sand. Here are my numbers (Hanna checkers)
Nitrates = 2.6
Phosphate = 0.02
Calcium = 435
Kh = 9.7
Salinity = 1.025
Temp = 77-78

I dose neophos to get phosphates up to 0.02. Would be 0 if I did not dose.

I vacuum the sand weekly. These pics are 2 days after vacuum.

Should I use Chemiclean? Don’t worry about it? It only grows on the sand so far. My tank is 16 months old. What should I do?

 

[Doompastew]

I found a thread that helped me with cyano. look up coral snow with microbacter 7. I believe sunnyx posted it

 

[vetteguy53081]

My cyanobacteria is getting bad on my sand. Here are my numbers (Hanna checkers)
Nitrates = 2.6
Phosphate = 0.02
Calcium = 435
Kh = 9.7
Salinity = 1.025
Temp = 77-78

I dose neophos to get phosphates up to 0.02. Would be 0 if I did not dose.

I vacuum the sand weekly. These pics are 2 days after vacuum.

Should I use Chemiclean? Don’t worry about it? It only grows on the sand so far. My tank is 16 months old. What should I do?

Generally Phos level is elevated instead of this low. If its cyano (hard to see in pics with the darker lighting), first find the source before use of chemicals. When concentrations of phosphate, nitrate and other organic compounds are too high and where there are areas with lack of flow, cyano develops. Water changes are important unlike what the perception of not doing one which reduces the organic content that feeds cyano.
Some of the most common causes include:
- Protein skimmer which fills water with air bubbles which form from the reaction chamber, dissolved organic compound molecules stick to them. Foam forms at the surface of the water and is then transferred to a collection cup, where it settles as skim-mate. When a protein skimmer has low efficiency or you do not have a suitable size protein skimmer to keep up with the tank, the air bubbles created might be insufficient and can trigger cyano outbreak .
- Use of Aminos which actually feed them.
- Overstocking / overfeeding, yourtank with nutrients is often the cause of a cyano bloom
- Adding live rock that isn’t completely cured will act as a breeding ground for this red slime .
- If you don’t change your water regularly, you’ll soon have this red substance. Regular water changes dissolve nutrients which feed cyano
- Using water with nitrates or phosphates is a base for cyano. . . . . Tap water is an example of po4 and no3 introduction.
- Inadequate water flow is often a chief cause of cyano blooms as slow moving water combined with excessive dissolved nutrients creates red slime algae development

I recommend to reduce white light intensity or even turn them off for 3-5 days. Add liquid bacteria daily for a week during the day at 1.5ml per 10 gallons. Add Hydrogen peroxide at night at 1ml per 10 gallons. Add a pouch of chemipure Elite which will balance phos and nitrate and keep them in check.

After the 5 days, add a few snails such as cerith, margarita, astrea and nassarius plus 6-8 blue leg hermits to take control.

 

[Razorbacks]

My system is similar to yours. I have to dose phosphate to keep it from bottoming out. Nitrates never above 3. I've been battling cyano for months since I did not want to do chemiclean. I recently beat it entirely on accident. I moved homes so I had to strip down the tank for transport. My sand got a pretty thorough, though unintentional washing in the process. While it might not be practical to fully wash out your sand in a running tank you could stir up small sections each week when cleaning it. I'm probably gonna try that route next time I have an outbreak.

 

[Dave Reef]

I got some Coral Snow and Microbacter7. Am using that per directions on the R2R link!!!! Shoud work huh?

 

[BriansBrain]

I’d get some sand sifting critters like conch, cucumbers, little sand moving fish etc depending on tank size of course on top of your vacuuming. Your sand doesn’t look to bad honestly. Sand is very difficult to keep pristine white like you see in insta tanks. Speaking from experience, nothing good happens from dumping some of this and some of that bottle products in to try and fix a problem

 

[Dave Reef]

HELP!
I think I dosed too much Microbacter7. I did the new tank dose 2 days in a row. Nitrates = 0.0 on the Hanna checker. I turned off carbon dosing. Anything else I should do other than wait for nitrates to go back up? Cyano seems maybe even worse, because of too much MB7?

 

[Dave Reef]

Nitrates went back to normal in 2 days. I did about 5 or 6 more courses of the vacuuming, coral snow and microbacter 7 (at a lower dose). No change. I just did 1 treatment of Chemiclean. Waited 48 hours. No change. Cyano big and red. I called the Chemiclean manufacturer. They said to do the 20% water change and immediately do another Chemiclean treatment. Planning to do that. No fish or coral or even cyano affected by the Chemiclean. Does that sound like a good plan?

 

[PharmrJohn]

How is your flow across the sandbed? Is it stagnant? Also, if the chemiclean works out for you, the root issue still needs to be dealt with. In addition, do you have a microscope handy?

 

[Dave Reef]

How is your flow across the sandbed? Is it stagnant? Also, if the chemiclean works out for you, the root issue still needs to be dealt with. In addition, do you have a microscope handy?

I don’t have a microscope but can use one. What am I looking for? Nitrates =4ppm, phosphate boosted up to 0.02ppm and Kh =‘9.

 

[chip shop]

Post a pic under microscope to determine what strand you have and best way to treat it,you’ll be surprised how quick they are there’s many ways but I’ve never had any sign of it since I’ve carbon dosed my tanks

 

[Dave Reef]

I have my flow turned up quite a bit. I have 2 large gyres. One on each end of a 4’ tank.

 

[Dave Reef]

Do I look at the red stuff under the scope or just some tank water?

 

[PharmrJohn]

I don’t have a microscope but can use one. What am I looking for? Nitrates =4ppm, phosphate boosted up to 0.02ppm and Kh =‘9.

If you can, get a picture of the cyano and video if possible. Upload to YouTube and post a hyperlink.

And you're looking at the red stuff. Basically, we need a picture of the cells.

 

[chip shop]

Take the full slime out you’ll be suprised how many they are

 

[Dave Reef]

 

[Dave Reef]

Are these dinos and not cyano? I have treated with chemiclean twice but it came right back. I did a 3 day black out and it came right back. By coming right back I mean in a day or so. It is VERY photo sensitive. Sand looks much whiter in the morning when the light has just turned on. My nitrates are usually 5 and my phosphate 0.02 both measured on Hanna checkers. I need to dose the phosphate up to this level to have phosphates. If they are dinos, do you have recommended treatment?

 

[Dave Reef]

I think they look like this

 

[sixty_reefer]

It seems like dinoflagellates to me, look in ways to boost your nitrifying bacteria.

 

[Dave Reef]

Lower nitrates??? I thought higher nitrates are needed to fight dinos??