Can’t beat cyano all year

[maddox]

Happy new year for all,

I have hige cyano outbreake and cant rid of it. I have it all time just little less earlier but I would happy to get rid of it.
My tank 220 gallons
alk 7.6
Nitrate 5-10ppm
Phosphate 0.26 from last icp yes its very huge while my hanna showed 0.16, earlier my no3 2-5 and po4 0.05-0.1 then using bacto balance but when po4 get higher started elimi np.
Filtration reef octopus elite 200 skimmer, roller mat rs 1200, refugium.
Also dosing bacto balance earlier, befor it eas dosing dyi nopox, and now dosing elimi np while my po4 goes higher than 0.1(not helping also)
Two gyres in opposite sides, two random flow from return pipes and also added two jebao mlw30 while i though maybe not enough flow and it will help reduce cyano( not helped).
Also dosing every week kz snow with mb7 not helping at all and even after dosing water crystal clear cyano comes back more than before. Was trying to siphone out, next day always come back the same amount, trying with turkey blaster every evening clean rocks, other day all same cyano.

I know I can use chemicals but I want to keep them gone forever not for one month.

Also was dosing phytoplankton but i guess two weeks dosing was not enough, adding. Copepods every 6month.

Atraching my icp my silicates go crazy high and every icp It goes higher while my rodi have high silicates. May it be the problem why I have cyano?

I am not vacuming my sandbed. Maybe also need to start vacuuming it?

And my waterchange is just one time a month.

Balling was AFR week before changed to triton other method.

 

[mann1139]

For your RO/DI, I had high Si, so I ended up splitting my Anion and Cation in my DI. I go through Anion 5x.

For the tank. I had similar issue last year. I ended up using Red Slime Remover to beat the cyano, then Microbacter7 to reset the biological filtration. It worked, and my tank has been cyano-free since.

 

[NeedAReef]

you can use an airline hose, and when you do a water change, use that hose just above the cyano to suck it out. Try to remove it that way rather than a big gravel bac that sucks all the sand up too. it also allows you to get into tighter spots.

 

[buruskeee]

I know you don’t want to use chemicals, but chemiclean works fast and you’ll wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. It’s the only chemical thing I’d ever do. You’ll knock them out and your tank looks established already, so once you get your nutrients correct they won’t come back. Just dose up bacteria once done and make sure nutrients don’t fall to let Dinos in.

 

[PotatoPig]

Do you have any conches or Nerite snails? What does your CUC look like?

Edit: Looks like you have a couple, have you seen them eating it?

 

[maddox]

Do you have any conches or Nerite snails?

Have 3 conch,some nasssrius, turbos, sand star maybe just one nerite.

 

[monfilsi]

Have you looked at the cyano under a cheap microscope? Reason I ask is that I was battling what I thought was cyano without success for a few months. When I looked under a microscope is was clearly dynos. Identifying will allow you to target it directly and increase your chances of success.

 

[NeedAReef]

what about reef snow?

 

[Zokki]

I have the same issue for the last few months. It’s so annoying. Best of luck and if you find a way to get rid of it please share

 

[taricha]

hey @Dan_P this is a fun one with happy corals and fish, and cyano on virtually every surface of rock and most of the sand.
Looking at the color shades of the sheets, some vary from the pink to reddish brown making me think there's a sizable dino population mixed in.

Since every surface is covered, this is one where it's tempting to say the water must be providing enough nutrients to sustain the bloom.
On the other hand there are a lot of additionshere that can provide nutrients to the bloom and I'd be curious how well the cyano could regrow after being sucked out if this stuff weren't being added.

Also dosing bacto balance earlier, befor it was dosing dyi nopox, and now dosing elimi np while my po4 goes higher than 0.1(not helping also)
...
Also dosing every week kz snow with mb7 not helping at all and even after dosing water crystal clear cyano comes back more than before.
...
Also was dosing phytoplankton but i guess two weeks dosing was not enough, adding. Copepods every 6month.

 

[Oiseaufeu]

I have one corner only that has red cyano carpet and maybe under the sand bed as well. I tried putting more current there, but it didn't do much to it. My snail's shell just moved the sand and there's none in where it passed. I'll probably just use my net and move the sand a little bit. For some reasons, it didn't expand everywhere in my tank.

 

[UMALUM]

Personally if my tank looked that bad for that long I would have used chemiclean or jumped off the nearest bridge preferably with no water under it. Being you must have the patience of a Saint I would recommend reef actif as it's a proven natural way to out compete it without throwing your nutrients all outta whack. You should still check your phosphates weekly as I see you like LPS. There's a dude on here that wrote up a thread on using it for cyano.

 

[MoshJosh]

Out of curiosity what are you feeding?

 

[Dan_P]

Since every surface is covered, this is one where it's tempting to say the water must be providing enough nutrients to sustain the bloom.
On the other hand there are a lot of additionshere that can provide nutrients to the bloom and I'd be curious how well the cyano could regrow after being sucked out if this stuff weren't being added.

Pretty aquarium. Fish color combination inspired. Here are some thoughts.

The biofilms that I grow on microscope slides in just one week under conditions our hobby would call nutrient depleted conditions are thick enough to be particle magnets. I would think horizontal surfaces should be thought of as organic matter magnets. They become thick and sticky fast in no time at all and excellent nutrient rich environments to feed the masses. Also, recall that we have discussed the idea that the cyanobacteria and dinoflagellate mats themselves are stick organic matter traps. Even with nutrient depleted water, the near surface local could still be a nutrient rich environment. Doesn’t @Lasse advocate disrupting cyanobacteria mats to make their lives miserable?

Another idea is that once a nuisance organism becomes established, it is resilient to disruption because it seems that it it has altered the local environment or ecosystem to meet its need. Unless you diligently disrupt it daily, e.g., vacuuming it out or at a minimum pressure washing the rocks daily, it is going to stick around. I have an experiment going to look into the disruption idea as a viable approach to minimizing cyanobacteria growth. By the way, I believe nothing but phages and Chemiclean are a threat to aquarium cyanobacteria.

 

[Spare time]

I would stop the carbon dosing.

 

[Lasse]

Doesn’t @Lasse advocate disrupting cyanobacteria mats to make their lives miserable?

I would stop the carbon dosing.

Yes and yes

Sincerely Lasse

 

[maddox]

But if I stop carbon how I will reduce the nutrients? Now I changed my all all rodi setup it seems it had a lot silicates and my water after membrane had 57tds so maybe this is my DI resin couldnt reduce silica, now added boster pump same membrane shows 3ppm after and or course after di resin 0, also changed di resin to mb20 maybe it will help also.

And this week got special blend from microbe lift so will try these bacteria to help reduce cyano, also everyother day I use turkey blaster to remove from rocks cyano and then doze dyi coral snow with mb7 but it seems after dosing mb7 with snow next day I got more cyano can MB7 fuel cyano?

 

[Jimbo662]

Following...my tank looks the same. I've started dosing DIY coral snow about 30 min after lights out and about an hour or two before lights on along with MB7. Post I saw on facebook said it took several weeks but eventually cleared up with this process.

 

[taricha]

And this week got special blend from microbe lift so will try these bacteria to help reduce cyano, also everyother day I use turkey blaster to remove from rocks cyano and then doze dyi coral snow with mb7 but it seems after dosing mb7 with snow next day I got more cyano can MB7 fuel cyano?

bottles of bacteria sometimes grow more bacteria in your system from dissolved nutrients/organics in the media than they provide viable active bacteria from the bottle.
Some people may find it useful to add these bottle products, others may not. It's very hard to predict.

But if I stop carbon how I will reduce the nutrients?

are you certain your nutrients are really high? Or are you maybe just adding a lot of unknowns in bottles and complicating the situation?

(just my perspective. Many will disagree.)