How to reduce Cyanobacteria growth?

[krafty]

Hi All,

I am realtively new to the hobby and I am having a cyanobacteria problem.

My tank is new...only 4 months old.

The levels I test for are good:

pH - 8.4
NH3 - 0
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 0 (Just recently got down to 0 within the past month)

At one time I was over feeding (2 cubes of mysis or brine/blood per day). I have three small chromis and one small to medium brown tang. However now I have cut that back to 1/2 of a cube per day. Also, I does spray dried phytoplankton about twice a week.

The problem is that I keep getting cyanobacteria (long snotty, dark red algae) growing on the substrate and migrating up to the lower parts of the rocks. At this point my only method to clear the visable growths is to cyphon it out. The problem here is that it obviously doenst get it all out, I am guessing that it now migrates into the water column and spreads elsewhere and when I cyphon I cant avoid pulling sand out. I wash the sand before replacing it but I am guessing this is going to kill anything in the sand and be detrimental to the long term maturity of the sand bed.

How should I go about this? I need some advice.

Thanks!

Josh

 

[krafty]

Also, I am running the tank under 3x150W Metal Halides that are 10K + 4x96 Watt Actinics.

 

[graveyardworm]

Your tank is fairly young and is going to continue to go through various stages of micro algae growth regardless. It takes a good six months for the tank to mature and reach a balance. The heavy feeding during the initial stages of the cycle will likely extend the cycle. Sounds like you've cut back on feeding, that would be step one. Increasing nutrient exports like inceasing skimming, and more frequent water changes with good filtered nutrient free water would be step 2.

Do you have an RO/DI filter for you top off water, and salt mixing?

I would continue siphoning off the cyano near the end of the light cycle when the bloom is at its peak. Replacing some sand is not an issue as long as you dont cover any deeper than a 1/4 inch at a time.

Have you added any live sand to boost and diversify your sand bed infauna population?

 

[krafty]

David,

thanks for the reply.

I am skimming at the moment...although I am really not pulling a lot out. The skimmer has been running 24/7 for about a month now and I have only pulled about 1" in the bottom of a 1 gallon milk jug out of the tank. I really dont have a whole lot of bio load on the system however, I am not sure if I should be seeing more of a result from the skimmer.

I dont have an R/O unit myself but I use R/O water. Typically i will mix my own instant ocean salt into the water. if it is a large water change (I did 45 gal out of 125 on monday) then I usually get the LFS salt water.

My original sand bed consisted of 60 lbs of live sand. I put that in and then the rock and let the tank cycle. I then added a refugium and added another 30lbs of live sand to it.

My sand bed has a lot of bubbles beneath it...down to about two inches below the surface. This is a total noob question but does this mean that I have good life down there?

Thanks again for your help.

JOsh

 

[graveyardworm]

The bubbles in the sand bed indicate that the sand bed is performing some denitrification. How deep is the sand bed? What kind of live was added? Can the skimmer be adjusted to remove more stuff?

 

[krafty]

The sand bed is about 2/5" - 3" deep. The live sand was caribasea live aragonite. The majority of the sand bed is very fine oolytic sand.

I have been messing with the air inlet hose for the venturi on my skimmer but it does not seem to have any affect. More air should equal more bubbles which should equal more skimming right? I would say that mine is entirely open and the results I am getting are minimal. It is a Red Sea berlin Skimmer with the turbo kit. It could be my setup that is causing the issue. I had no room to run the pump straight out from the skimmer inlet so the vynil tubing makes a vertical loop as it goes from the skimmer inlet to the pump.

I can take a photo of that later today.

 

[papagimp]

have you checked your phosphate levels? I had massive cyno problems and found my phosophate sitting at 10+ppm. Got it down to zero and have yet to see anymore. (I use a 10g DIY refugium for nitrate and phosphate control, both stay at 0 now)

 

[krafty]

I have never checked the phosphate levels. I was told that phosphates are usually not a problem in newer tanks. However, I will check them.

I use R/O water and I have a 30gal sump/refugium with a ball of chaeto that is growing well. I will get a kit for this over the weekend and check it out.

Thanks.

 

[graveyardworm]

In a skimmer bubble size is critical, so more air does not necessarily mean more bubbles and better skimming. It may mean larger bubbles which work poorly for skimming. I am unfamiliar with the berlin skimmer, check with the crew in the equipment forum for tips on getting better performance out of your skimmer.

The caribsea live aragonite is a poor excuse for live sand, essentially all that is in there are bacteria. Quality live rock is a good source of creatures for your sand bed, live sand from another reefers tank, and there are plenty of online vendors which sell quality LS.

I would love to see some pictures.

 

[papagimp]

Live sand is almost a complete waste unless you want to cycle quicker. Using aragonite (non live) sand and adding a cup or two from some other peoples tank will seed it more than enough.

As for phosphates, there always to be considered. don't listen to people say it's not an issue with a new tank. What if the ro/di water you were using was loaded with phosphates (yes people, I had this happen, everything else checked out with the water, but phosohpates were still 10-20ppm). you put that much phosphate in the tank and it ain't gunna matter how new it is, you'll see problems arise. Granted if you're cheato is growing well, i don't think that is your problem. You could try this: get some chemi clean, to remove the existing cyno problem. it'll rid the tank of it in a matter of days, then the cheato should outcompete any new growth for nutrients. Worked for me when I had a cyno prob. By the way, my cyno attack was right about 4 months into my 55g as well. It's normal to see it pop up on a newer tank. Once it goes away and the tank stabalizes more you probably won't have much of a problem with it in the future if you keep the tank parameters normalized.

 

[krafty]

Is Cyanobacteria more or less active at night?

I went snowboarding yesterday and consequently left very early in the morning. I am using x-10 (automated power control) to control all the lights and pumps and such but have not got the bugs all worked out. So, the lights didnt come on all day yesterday. There was very little cyano growth when I left and when I got home 12 hours later after it had been relatively dark in the tank there are strands of it that are upwards of 4 inches growing off the sand.

What gives?

Again, thanks for all of the responses and advice.

 

[graveyardworm]

Cyano is highly photosynthetic, and will die back considerably at night. This is why I suggested siphoning out the cyano growth at the end of the light cycle. Get it out while it has as much bound nutrients as possible. At night when it dies back it releases the bound nutrients back into the water column, and the cycle just continues day after day.

 

[krafty]

I promised to post some photos so...here is a thread in the clownfish and anemone forum with two in it. I just got a BTA today and two misbar clowns.

Also here is a photo of my orange zooanthids. They are a bit closed up. I was worried about them dieing but I think a change in current caused them to close up. Anyhow...here is the phot and the link.

Thread

Josh

 

[ReefObsessor805]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8670844#post8670844 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by graveyardworm
Cyano is highly photosynthetic, and will die back considerably at night. This is why I suggested siphoning out the cyano growth at the end of the light cycle. Get it out while it has as much bound nutrients as possible. At night when it dies back it releases the bound nutrients back into the water column, and the cycle just continues day after day.

When you say at the "end of the light cycle", do you mean when my halides are about to shut off by my timer?

Say my halides shut off at 730pm; my actinics stay on til 930pm, should I do some siphoning at 7 pm? or 9 pm???

 

[graveyardworm]

I would do the siphoning at before or shortly after the halides shut off.

 

[Rockitmakr]

More water flow!