Nutrient Export

[SantaMonica]

What do all algae (and cyano too) need to survive? Nutrients. What are nutrients? Ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate and urea are the major ones. Which ones cause most of the algae in your tank? These same ones. Why can't you just remove these nutrients and eliminate all the algae in your tank? Because these nutrients are the result of the animals you keep.

So how do your animals "make" these nutrients? Well a large part the nutrients comes from pee (urea). Pee is very high in urea and ammonia, and these are a favorite food of algae and some bacteria. This is why your glass will always need cleaning; because the pee hits the glass before anything else, and algae on the glass consume the ammonia and urea immediately (using photosynthesis) and grow more. In the ocean and lakes, phytoplankton consume the ammonia and urea in open water, and seaweed consume it in shallow areas, but in a tank you don't have enough space or water volume for this, and, your other filters or animals often remove or kill the phytoplankton or seaweed anyway. So, the nutrients stay in your tank.

Then, the ammonia/ammonium hits your rocks, and the periphyton on the rocks consumes more ammonia and urea. Periphyton is both algae and animals, and is the reason your rocks change color after a few weeks from when they were new. Then the ammonia goes inside the rock, or hits your sand, and bacteria there convert it into nitrite and nitrate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

Also let's not forget phosphate, which comes from solid organic food particles. When these particles are eaten by microbes and clean up crews, the organic phosphorus in them is converted into phosphate. However, the nutrients are still in your tank.

So whenever you have algae or cyano "problems", you simply have not exported enough nutrients out of your tank compared to how much you have been feeding (note: live rock can absorb phosphate for up to a year, making it seem like there was never a problem. Then after a year, there is a problem).

So just increase your nutrient exports. You could also reduce feeding, and this has the same effect, but it's certainly not fun when you want to feed your animals

 

[Radicalrob1982]

Thank you for posting this. The completely makes sense to my current issue. Been battling cyano for about 8 months. At first, I don’t think my newish tank had the ability or anerobic bacteria to break no3 down.

In the last 8 weeks approximately, I did consistent weekly water changes and used a tea scoop strainer to remove the cyano mats from the sand bed. For the last few weeks, the cyano really went mostly away and only had a bit left in the odd dead spot. This eliminated almost 85 to % of it. It was at a point where I would only notice the slightest growth of cyano over a week, instead of new mats and patches daily.

However, another reefer said the reason I still had it was due to low po4 as both my po4 and no3 were both reading zero, as the bit of cyano left over and corals etc. we’re using it all up.

The only success for this item I’ve had this far is consistent nutrient export.

I’m definitely going to stop dosing po4 and stay on track with my weekly water changes. Might even consider adding a small amount of gfo

Can you kindly explain how I may balance this system after most of the cyano is gone, or will the tank balance it self when the cyano is no longer the winning consumer in the eco system?

 

[wvned]

Well I doubled my feeding and decreased my export and my cyano is gone now. Except it isnt. Cyano is always in the tank. The question is what triggers it to form mats. I have finally decided that it does it when it feels threatened by changes in the tank environment.

 

[SantaMonica]

Cyano is usually short lived on rocks, until the coralline takes over. And on the sand you just need sand sifters. I personally would never raise nutrients on purpose.

 

[Radicalrob1982]

Well I doubled my feeding and decreased my export and my cyano is gone now. Except it isnt. Cyano is always in the tank. The question is what triggers it to form mats. I have finally decided that it does it when it feels threatened by changes in the tank environment.

I seem to be in the opposite direction. Any nutrients added additionally other than feeding and my fish excrement, turns into cyano. If I do weekly water changes, they cyano stays at bay. I’m going the heavy in and out method. I will continue to feed fish and do a two times weekly mysis for corals. Then do a 5 gallon water changes on my 25 gallon weekly. Also going to get some rowaphos. I’ll feed my corals food so they don’t starve. But I’d rather feed twice weekly then look at that red scourge slime everyday lmao

I’m gonna try and wait it out, by creating an environment where cyano is the least competitor. If all the other micro organisms and algae can out compete in larger numbers, logic tells me they will eventually start being the bigger competitors and out compete the cyano. Time will tell

 

[wvned]

I seem to be in the opposite direction. Any nutrients added additionally other than feeding and my fish excrement, turns into cyano. If I do weekly water changes, they cyano stays at bay. I’m going the heavy in and out method. I will continue to feed fish and do a two times weekly mysis for corals. Then do a 5 gallon water changes on my 25 gallon weekly. Also going to get some rowaphos. I’ll feed my corals food so they don’t starve. But I’d rather feed twice weekly then look at that red scourge slime everyday lmao

I’m gonna try and wait it out, by creating an environment where cyano is the least competitor. If all the other micro organisms and algae can out compete in larger numbers, logic tells me they will eventually start being the bigger competitors and out compete the cyano. Time will tell

If you read lots of cyano threads some people get it when nutrients are too high. Some get it when they are too low.
Balance seems to be 100 times P to N. I used to run .1 and 10. Then .05 and 5. Then I took my eye off the ball and they went down to nothing.
Increasing flow and turning down the lights helps.
My nutrtients were too low with nitrates at 0.
I use Lanthanum in a doser for phosphate and sulfur reactors for nitrate. I turned these down and let nutrients rise.
I have been using the Aquaforest AF Lifesource mud too.
Somewhere in all of that the cyano went away.
Chemiclean twice 2 weeks apart only reduced it. I gave up on that. It came right back. It had always worked before but not this time.