Mangroves... The death of Cyano Algae?

[reeferfoxx]

I also remember when almond leaves rot, it creates ammonia. My head is spinning. I have cyano and I have almond leaves. Do I do it? you know... it? lol

 

[Cory]

Im pretty sure its that mangroves reduce organics, and cyano always lives near organic build up.

 

[Fragzilla]

I've been battling a cyano outbreak.
Turns out pollen in the air during the spring/summer time adds carbon to the system and makes bacteria go crazy.

If you got nutrients then red and green cyano will takes hold. If your ULNS, your acros can burn and die, LPS get absolutely ticked and receed after spewing their guts out, all corals get bleached from lack of any nutrients whatsoever and aminos just feed the bacteria more.

I've tracked the pollination types where I live and the problems seem to start when grass pollen is most present.

From speaking to people connected with Triton they say this stuff happens every year, same time.

My point being, you may have just gone past the pollen / air pollution time of year that happens every summer, so that's why your cyano is now going away.

 

[steveaus10]

following

 

[Lunulata]

following (as well )

 

[143MPCo]

Was pH affected?

I noticed others make a point about indian almond leaves. I've used them also for my south american biotopes. Mostly so my apistogrammas could thrive. Also it does have anti-fungal properties and added tannins to the water. This in turn help add acidity to the water which lowered the pH to a more natural 6.5-6.7 pH.

I am curious if it just didn't create an environment not suitable for cyano? I mean, either way awesome. I just don't want to hurt the rest of the tank.

All pH levels have been in the normal swing for my system, on average 8.17 as noted below.

I like to read this stuff.
Now the big question is what is it from the leaves that does this?
I know the Almond leaves in fresh water that turns you water in a light tea color and because of that algae has no chance.
30+ years ago we used old tea bags and just hang them in the tank to get the same effect and no algae.
You do this in salt water with mostly blue light everything will look yellow/goldish.

Agree, that's why I'm even more eager to know or learn what in the leaves, be it tannin, their antimicrobial properties, or a compilation of a few key factors caused the die off.

I've been battling a cyano outbreak.
Turns out pollen in the air during the spring/summer time adds carbon to the system and makes bacteria go crazy.

If you got nutrients then red and green cyano will takes hold. If your ULNS, your acros can burn and die, LPS get absolutely ****** and receed after spewing their guts out, all corals get bleached from lack of any nutrients whatsoever and aminos just feed the bacteria more.

I've tracked the pollination types where I live and the problems seem to start when grass pollen is most present.

From speaking to people connected with Triton they say this stuff happens every year, same time.

My point being, you may have just gone past the pollen / air pollution time of year that happens every summer, so that's why your cyano is now going away.

Interesting, my only thought is that 6-months ago when the outbreak occurred, it was the second month of the year (February), in the northern hemisphere usually considered the last month of winter. So I'm not sure I had a lot of pollen floating around.

Additionally my other system, that has no mangroves, still has patches of cyano. If in fact it was a reduction in the pollen, I would guess it would have showed improvements also?

 

[scott021467]

Following

 

[aquablizz]

following.....

 

[143MPCo]

Im pretty sure its that mangroves reduce organics, and cyano always lives near organic build up.

The thing is, and I'm not trying to dissuade anyones objectivity, infact I welcome it as it's very possible that maybe I missed something, this system has had the mangroves fuge from inception. I have diligently attended to the removal of any yellowing leaves before they had a chance to fall off into the water column. That said, the cyano and mangroves have lived side by side without affecting one another, until recent events I noted in post #1.

 

[143MPCo]

I also remember when almond leaves rot, it creates ammonia. My head is spinning. I have cyano and I have almond leaves. Do I do it? you know... it? lol

I have no experience with almond leaves, from what I have recently just read, it's very possible you might see some of the same effects, and I would be very interest in your observations to that extent.

This is all very subjective observations so caution should be adhered to when trying something not fully understood, or proven.

 

[jsiker]

Following...

 

[aquaman33431]

love the investigative prowess of reefers......

 

[metrokat]

It has been my understanding that you need a large quantity of mangroves to have any kind of nutrient control, just like the size of the refugium and amount of chaeto needs to be commensurate to the size of your DT. One or two mangrove plants aren't going to cut it unless you have a pico. So how many mangroves are we talking for this experiment?

 

[dbl]

It has been my understanding that you need a large quantity of mangroves to have any kind of nutrient control, just like the size of the refugium and amount of chaeto needs to be commensurate to the size of your DT. One or two mangrove plants aren't going to cut it unless you have a pico. So how many mangroves are we talking for this experiment?

The OP's point of this thread, and he can correct me if I'm mistaken, is not about the characteristics of mangroves and their effectiveness on nutrient control. It was his finding of decaying mangrove leaves (or at least the chemical effects of them) in his system and the resultant decrease in his cyano bloom.

You bring up a valid point in that each system will be different when it comes to the size, number of and algae types used, # of mangroves used, etc. on the effectiveness of the refugium and nutrient control. But that, like many things in this hobby, has been debated many times.

 

[143MPCo]

Quick update:

The experiment tank seems to be doing fine, all test are positive but I'm holding off on reporting any unconfirmed observations until I have a chance to view that tank for myself this week.

I have an additional tank, one that was slated to be decommissioned, that I wanted to spend no time on, that I will be trying to see if I can also reproduce the results in post #1.

 

[NanoReefer16]

Following!!! This is great stuff!

 

[143MPCo]

The tank being used for testing of this hypothesis is showing minimal signs of cyano die back, we opted for a very low amount of leaves but have noticed signs that the cyano is dying off structures on the sand. Somewhat a positive observation but by no means conclusive.

Edited to add:

We've opted to leave the amount of leaves in the sump as is for the time being as some of the leave are still green and not showing signs of decay yet.

 

[revhtree]

Thanks for keeping us updated!

 

[anutcase]

Following.....

 

[LibertyStarr]

Great post! Thanks for sharing. Keep the updates going. You guys are so helpful!