Cyano or not?

[Bous]

I need some help. For the last week of so I have been trying to identify an algae growth in my tank. I think that it might be cyano bacteria. It is only growing in one corner of my tank on the gravel. It is a spot that has lower water flow. I run two 36” Coralife lunar Agualights with one 96 watt 10000k and one 96 watt actinic. The bulbs are getting to the end of there life span and I’ve already ordered new ones. I have 2 percula clowns, 2 green chromis, a fox face, and a powder drown surgeonfish. I feed them 2-3 times a day alternating between flake, brine shrimp, and a marine copepod concentrate. The corals that I currently have are one tree coral, a small growth of green star polyps, a pulsing xenia, and an lps trumpet coral. I feed them a marine copepod concentrate, and Kent Marine Phytomax phytoplankton 4 drops once a day. I dose kalk with magnesium mixed in as top off water, Marc Weiss Reef Vital DNA every other day, Kent Marine Coral-Vite once a week, and turbo-strontium every 3-4 days. Water parameters are: temp 78F daytime, 75F nighttime, calcium 450 ppm, alkalinity 9dKH, and PH 8.2. If this is cyano bacteria how do I get ride of it and keep it from getting out of control again? Does it seen that I feed to much? Here is a few pic of the growth. I am greatfull for any input. I want to get this under control before it spreads all over my tank.

 

[kmk2307]

Yes, that is cyanobacteria. There is likely an excess of phosphates in your tank. Do you test your water for phosphates? Phosphates are sorbed by aragonite so even if your water tests zero there are likely some in the gravel fueling the cyano. Look into phosban, a phosphate removing medium. Do you use RO/DI water for your water changes / topoff? You may be feeding heavily, yes.

HTH,
Kevin

 

[Samala]

Whats in the Reef DNA and the Coral Vite? I'm curious to know if there's anything in there that could be contributing NH3/NH4 to the system and encouraging cyano growth. If you stop dosing these products, does the cyano stop growing and recede?

>Sarah

 

[Bous]

I do use RO/DI water for all water in the tank. I have used RO/DI water from the get go. One of the best investments I made when I started. I just ordered new filters for it. My phosphates measure less than .25 ppm. The ingredients in Coralvite are: calcium chloride, strontium chloride, potassium chloride, manganese chloride, sodium EDTA, potassium iodide, calcium iodide, ferric sulfate, boric acid, calcium pantothenate, cholecalciferol, choline chloride, dipotassium ascorbate, folic acid, lithium chloride, magnesium chloride, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, niacin, potassium bromide, cobalt chloride, riboflavin, rubidium chloride, sodium carbonate, sodium molybdate, thiamine hydrochloride, tocopherol, pyridoxine hydrochloride, tocopherol, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin A propionate, vitamin A palmitate, Bitamin B12, barium chloride and biotin. It is a vitamin and trace mineral supplement.
The indgredients of Reef DNA are: Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, vitamin E. Trace Minerals of calcium, phosphorus, NaCL, Potassium, magnesium, sulfur, iron, cobalt, copper, manganese, iodine, selenium zinc and fluorine. It also says Derived from ferment of: a lot of stuff and if you want to know I’ll tell you but it will take me a long time to type it.
I have used both products for about a year without this problem. I talk to Mike at Wet World( my LFS ) and he thinks one of the big problems in my tank is turn over. The pump that I have is running at about 350 gph. I will be upgrading that soon but I think there is still more contributing factor.
If my aragonite has absorbed phosphate can I simply remove the top layer. I manually remove as much of the cyano bacteria as I can each week. Should I point a power head in that directing to increase flow in that area.
Thank you for all the help.

 

[Samala]

Turn over increase could certainly help. Cyano doesnt grow well in high flow areas, and higher flow may help biological filtration, also converting any tasty ammonia molecules.

Ferment of.. yeast? Sacarrhomyces cerevisiae (sp might not be spot on..). Just curious. Thanks for posting all that gobble-dy-gook on the other products! I'm surprised to see tocopherol in there. Interesting. You dont need to post all the ferment info.

>Sarah