My 75 gallon tank is 9 months old. I have 80 lbs of live rock and a 3 1/2" sand bed. I have a Deltec AP600 skimmer and a Deltec FR509 fluidized reactor (I run 1 Liter of Rowaphos). I have two Tunze nanostream powerheads and a MAG 12 return pump to provide circulation. I currently have 5 green Cromis, 1 Banggai Cardinal, 1 clownfish and 1 Coral Beauty. I have 4 LPS and 2 soft corals. I am having a horrible time with cynobacteria. I have tried cutting back on my feeding. I have started running activated carbon. I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice?
Cynobacteria
- Thread starter redavdrol
- Start date
ilovetrains
New member
I learned that nitrates in water are extremely hard to get rid of. We battled a cyano bloom for several weeks. Ultimately using qaulity RO/DI water and several frequent water changes got rid of it.
McCrary
Can't Stop Time
I can't see running a liter of rowaphos through a Deltec FR509 and having a problem with phosphates, unless the media isn't changed, then it could happen. Running rowacarbon for a couple days a month would probably help the situation. You might have a subterrain algae which can cause cyano and clump up the sand. Check to see if the sand is clumping and there are small green batches in the sand. This algae is very hard to get rid of and can be present in tanks with low DOC's, very very low phosphates and nitrates. Cyano seems to be problematic in tanks that have poor water quality or water movement. I can't recall seeing it on tanks that are well taken care of, so having a subterrain algae stands as a good possibility. Unfortunately other than removing the sand and cleaning it I don't know how to help. Maybe posting in the advanced forum may help as having a clean tank and cyano isn't common. For a reliable phosphate test, try a Hanna phosphate monitor from premiumaquatics, they're a little expensive at about $220 for the packets and monitor. I use one and have always found the results to be excellent.
I replaced my light bulbs about three weeks ago. I use two 250 watt 15K XM metal halide bulbs. The cyno is growing all over the rock and the sand. There doesn't seem to be any dead spots. I can see the current blowing the cyno around on the rock and the sand. I forgot to write earlier that I am using RO/DI water in my tank.
McCrary
Can't Stop Time
Merck makes a kick butt phosphate test kit, good buy. I am going to bet its a subterrain algae that is causing a cyano looking algae. This stuff is nasty and the only way to get rid of it seems to be to get the sand out and clean it. The stuff can exist when nitrates and phosphates pretty much aren't present and will spread in clean SPS tanks. The stuff really sucks and I have only seen it once, so you kinda won the bad algae lottery. I could be way off and you might not have this stuff, but this is what it seems like to me. Good luck.
Cyano is pretty std in young tanks and if you have a bad case of cyano you have a phosphate problem.
Forget the phosphate test kits .. their worthless since they only test one kind of phosphate and cyano sucks/eats it out of the water column so fast you will never get a decent reading.
Use the search feature using the words cyano & phosphates - must be thousands of threads on the subject.
Forget the phosphate test kits .. their worthless since they only test one kind of phosphate and cyano sucks/eats it out of the water column so fast you will never get a decent reading.
Use the search feature using the words cyano & phosphates - must be thousands of threads on the subject.
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