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CYNO?

reefsandrotts

reefsandrotts

NJRC Member
How do I get rid of cyno and what causes it?
My parameters are as follows:
Am-0
Trate-0
Trite-10
Po4-0
SG-1.025
All these tests were perfomed at a water treatment facility on lab equipment so the numbers are accurate.
I have about 3000 gph of flow in my 120,I've never had this before so I'm lost on how to get rid of it.
Thanks
Jim
 
reefsandrotts

reefsandrotts

NJRC Member
Lighting is less than 1 month old.
Flow in the tank is about 3000 gph. this stuff covers the entire bottom,I've shortened my lighting to 6 hrs. per day.
 
D

DaveK

Control of cyano requires control of nutrients. Mostly this means control of nitrates and phosphates. Do not think that because your test kits read low that you do not have a problem with nitrates and phosphates. These can be taken up by a lot of thigns in a reef system.

Put simply, this means you need to remove more than you add, until you get the levels extremely low. This is a lot easier said than done.

Some things that add nitrates and phosphates are -

Feeding the livestock. This is often the major source.
Source of water, if you are not using RO/DI water.
Various "dirt traps" and "nitrate factories". Be sure to clean mechanical filters often, and don't use methods of filtration, such as trickle filters, that create a lot of nitrates.
Use of carbon, especially the low cost ones, can leach a lot of phosphate.
Overcrowding the tank, indirectly because you'll have more waste products to deal with.

Some things that remove nitrates and phosphates are -

Large powerful skimmers, since they remove waste products before the rest of the system needs to deal with them.
Water changes.
Mechanical filtration that is cleaned often.
Growing macro algae and harvesting it.
Deep sandbeds, but these are not for everyone.
Denitrator filters, also not for everyone.
Nitrate and phosphate removal products.

A few words on lighting. Several others have recommended checking the lighting and you have reduced the amount you are using. This can help, sometimes, it can be quite a bit. However, all you are doing is restricting the growth of unwanted algae by making the light, rather than the nutrients, the limiting factor.

Red slime remover/killer products. Yes, they do work, but I do not recommend them. The problem is that while they will kill off the cyano, unless you also control nutrients, the cyano is quickly replaced by other unwanted algaes.

The control of nutrients is an on going battle, and the changes you will see will not be dramatic, but you can win this battle. It will take some time.
 
R

reeferwanabe

I also have this on my sandbed and my readings are the same I clean my tank often my filter is live rock and running an ok skimmer weekly water changes I'm also not sure what else to do. running phosban in reactor plenty of flow
 
Hawkeye

Hawkeye

what do you have for a cleanup crew? Not suggesting that something would eat the cyano, but if there were inverts helping to keep the bed turned, then it's less likely any nutrients/food/poop could cake and feed the cyano down there.

You have 2 koralia 4's right? Hard to tell what number koralias are in that other (new 120) thread you have. It's possible the flow from the two just aren't getting down to the sand bed area.

You have only 4 fish right? Bio-load seems ok to me...maybe it's a combo of items - as Davek mentioned. Let us know how it goes...
 
J

Jcurry@wesketch

That's how I defrost it also, but be sure to drain of the liquid before adding the food to the tank. The liquid is very high in nutrients and could help fuel algae problems.
 
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