Cyano my dear friend

[Jstn]

About a week ago my skimmer pump went down (2-3 days), this led to a cyano out break. I responded by fixing the pump, new GFO and 10 gallon water change (50 gallon) system. Now the cyano is here to stay it seems, I did another 10 gallon change (my weekly is usually 5gal) and new gfo, the next day its back like nothing happened. I purchased a hanna meter and it shows my P04 at 0.04ppm, im sure this is skewed from the cyano. I dose vinegar (20mls per day) and I have cut back on feeding big time, The funny thing is all my coral look great, sps has nice poly extention ect.

Any further advice to combat this annoyance?

 

[88rxna]

keep an eye on the PO4 every other day? im sure the GFO will expire pretty fast and need changed out a little more often until it gets under control.

 

[SushiGirl]

Be patient.

 

[bertoni]

I probably would wait, but I'd watch for signs of coral problems. Cyanobacteria sometimes release toxins. Spending a few minutes once a week or so siphoning out what's easy to get might help. If the phosphate level stays the same, I might try switching the GFO a bit more frequently. Unfortunately, that reading is mostly in the noise, so it's hard to know what to do.

 

[Jstn]

So early this morning I test my PO4 and found it to be at 0.00, so im sure the gfo is still good, I guess I will have to wait till later tonight to see if I have any cyano.

 

[Albert Terego]

So early this morning I test my PO4 and found it to be at 0.00, so im sure the gfo is still good, I guess I will have to wait till later tonight to see if I have any cyano.

Cyano is not fuelled by phosphate so GFO won't help for this.

Use a good quality activated carbon - this absorbs dissolved organic carbon (DOC's) which is cyano food.

The vinegar dosing adds DOC if overdosed, so I'd recommend stopping this until the cyano is gone.

Also increasing the oxygenation of the the water will change the redox potential of the water favourably in order to assist in getting rid of the cyano - if you running a skimmer then your water is probably oxygenated enough.

HTH,
Al

 

[Dmorty217]

Figure out the source of the problem, lights out of spectrum, over feeding, bio balls, poor circulation to name a few. It is only showing up because something else isn't right in your tank. Light cycle will help the problem 6hrs of whites and 8hrs of blues is the most I would have your lights on. Turn your lights off for 72 hrs and turn the flow up. Make sure skimmer is running at peak performance. Feed fish sparingly, corals will be fine. After 3 days the cyano will be gone. May have to repeat for 2 or 3 months. Only do the 72 hrs list off once a month

 

[disc1]

Cyano is not fuelled by phosphate so GFO won't help for this.

Where does cyano bacteria get it's phosphate from then? All living things require some form of phosphate.

 

[bertoni]

Also, I'm not sure why oxygenation is going to help remove cyanobacteria. That's not making any sense just yet.

 

[Albert Terego]

Also, I'm not sure why oxygenation is going to help remove cyanobacteria. That's not making any sense just yet.

Good day Mr. Bertoni,

Raising the oxygenation levels of the water raises the ORP of the water. This assists in breaking down organic carbon molecules which are the primary fuel for growth of cyanobacteria.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-12/rhf/feature/index.php

For the same reason running activated carbon also works extremely well as it absorbs DOC's.

Obviously this should just be one part of a multi-pronged approach - with the aim being to identify the cause and remove/fix that, not just treat the symptoms.

Regards,
Al

 

[Albert Terego]

Where does cyano bacteria get it's phosphate from then? All living things require some form of phosphate.

Could come from numerous sources mostly organic i.e phospholipid membranes from dead/dying bacteria or other animals, organic phosphate from food also be a major source (nucleic acids from DNA which is present in all cells would be a major source)


GFO will not bind organic sources of phosphate, only inorganic.

Hope that clarifies the matter.

Al

 

[Jstn]

The decaying of organic matter, releases phosphates. Over dosing of vinegar produces a bacteria bloom, not a cyano bloom for me.

Im thinking my problem is salinity, my refractometer was off by 3 ppt, so Im thinking the low salinity isnt allowing my skimmer to produce optimal skimmate, thus leaving source of food for cyano in the water.

 

[coralsnaked]

The root of defeating cyano is exportation. If one is adequately exporting nutients then cyano which can have many roots finds difficulty in taking hold. Most of us utilize skimming as the primary source as well as GFO. However not my choice but algae scrubbers can be efficient as well. In the short term aluminum binding can be an efficient means of reducing PO4 but does have some consequences with inverts.

Merry Skerry

 

[swcc]

when the skimmer went down was carbon doing stopped. this will cause a big flux in bacterial level raise organics and thus cyano. once back to normal the cyano should exhaust itself and die off. just gotta export more whilethis is happening.

 

[Straight_Chaos]

To get the Cyano under control turn the lights off for 72hrs. That will stop the growth and or spread while you get the problem under control.I had a Carpet anemone that I was trying to save, wander and got lost in rocks and die recently. Tank chem got out of whack. Started to get Cyano on everything. Just stringy very little color maybe a day or so old... I stirred my sand a bit and lights out for 3 days and no problem now. I have 2 Haddoni, 1.5 S. Tapetum (still splitting), an LTA, and 5 RBTA in my 180 and a few SPS everybody still alive after the 72hr blackout. If you have anemones cover the PHs extra good because they will move a bit looking for light...Ty

 

[bertoni]

Raising the oxygen level might increase the ORP a bit, but I don't see how that's necessarily going to help break down organics, and if it does, the results still need to be exported. I don't think the decay process is oxygen-limited in our tanks.

From what I can tell, cyanobacteria can absorb phosphate from the water column. Google turns up a number of articles on the topic. That's one possible reason that GFO sometimes helps with cyanobacterial blooms. Another would be that removing phosphate limits the growth of other organisms that in turn provide phosphorus to cyanobacteria.

I'm skeptical that activated carbon can adsorb enough nutrients to be useful for export. It does adsorb them, but the quantity seems to be quite low for the volumes of carbon we tend to add to our tanks. I think adding carbon when facing cyanobacteria is a good idea, because it might help by removing toxins, though.

 

[Jstn]

So I tried to stop dosing vinegar, read some post on how it can fuel cyano if your good bacteria is low. As aforementioned, my skimmer went down and this is when all the craziness started. Be doing water changes weekly, cut my feeding to a pinch of pellets per day and this stuff still persists.

Also found out my local water supply uses chloramines, could the ammonia escaping my RODI from being broke down by my carbon stage be fueling this outbreak all along, aka ATO and water changes are doing more harm then help.

I already ordered the BRS chloramine upgrade, so it wont be a problem and longer. If this is the source of my problem should I attempt a large water change next to help reduce the ammonium (nitrates) in my tank. I also dont have a test kit for nitrates (I know), after buying the RODI parts along with the hanna I am a bit tapped on my reef budget. Would a simple API test do, or is it one of those you need a salfers kits?

 

[Gillguy]

Remember that if you have not changed your lights for a long time, they could definitely cause a Cyano problem. Try new bulbs and cut back on the time they're on.

 

[Jstn]

I would but I am using a radion

 

[Jstn]

Any other input? My RODI is around 6 months old, most likely only made 250 gal of water, and my TDS is always zero after the first 30 seconds of RO creep.