Can't get rid of cyano.

[James5214]

So I'm having a bad cyano outbreak in my tank. I've had chemi pure elite which contains gfo and it has lowered my.nitrates as I have tested this and I even have cut way back on my feeding as well. Sometimes feed fish every other day now so not as much phosphate breaking down in tank. I have also increased the flow on my power head from 40% to 60%. It's only a 20L so I don't want to blast around my fish or corals and I also have a tidal HOB so there is decent flow through tank. The only thing I haven't tried is lights out because I have corals but I don't know what else to try. How bad of a affect will this have on my corals? My branching hammer and torch are both splitting as of now. Is there any fish or inverts I can add to help? I have blue legged hermit crabs and trochus snails and assassin snails. Any tips?

 

[CoralB]

Cutting back the lighting is good , I see you added more flow which also is good . UV light , microbactor 7 added daily, and maybe live phytoplankton. Outside of manual removal through siphon and keeping your parameters steady it may take time to get it but nothing good comes fast in this hobby . Your coral can handle a three day black as a last resort . I’m guessing your tank is still fairly new ? . Either way make sure you don’t zero out phosphates and nitrates .

 

[Uncle99]

I see your trying to lower nutrients which is a red flag to me.
This can let pests like Cyano and Dinos take hold if they are too low.
What are they now and what is your target?

 

[James5214]

Yea tank is about 5 months old. It has live rock in it as well as dry macro and I dosed fritz9 and stability in beginning of tank and haven't since. I'm only trying to lower the phosphate to help get rid of the cyano. My nitrates is still around 10ppm right now but my last phosphate test was .12 by a red sea phosphate test.

 

[JDCagley]

I was fighting off dinos in a young tank. UV light and NO3/PO4 dosing along with manual removal got them under control - and then the cyano started! Cyano lasted about 6-7 days until I got the NO3 ~ 7-10 ppm and the PO4 ~ 0.05 ppm. The cyano has retreated now to very few smaller spots. I also feed (and grow) phyto. There are some nice algae growing now on the rocks that is not cyano or dinos! Varying shades of green/brown/gold and most corals are looking great. A few of the stonies suffered through the low nutrient phase but are hanging in - LPS and other softies look good and have puffed back up in the last 2 weeks.

 

[James5214]

Im thinking I need to add some type of organism like phyto or copepods. I've had chemi pure elite which has gfo I have increased my flow in whole tank. Still haven't done a blackout but don't want to stress corals to bad

 

[James5214]

My phosphate last test was .12 so was pretty high and nitrates is around 10ppm which I can handle I think it's the high phosphate that triggered the cyano

 

[JDCagley]

My phosphate last test was .12 so was pretty high and nitrates is around 10ppm which I can handle I think it's the high phosphate that triggered the cyano

My PO4 has risen to 0.10 ppm as of about 15 minutes ago test. I was holding @ 0.05 for several days, quit dosing, and it tested double this am? Why? NO CLUE!!! However, my cyano is 100% gone. BTW NO3 is @ 7.6 ppm (both are hanna tests). Just wanted to pass my numbers along to you.

 

[ReefRusty]

Chemiclean worked a treat for me never returned

 

[JDCagley]

Chemiclean worked a treat for me never returned

I don't need that now!

 

[ReefRusty]

What did you do in the end?

 

[JDCagley]

Chemiclean worked a treat for me never returned

Not to mention it has been stated, especially for a 'newer' tank, that chmeicleans effect on good bacteria is unknown - and the good is what I am trying to grow. I did not want to hinder the good growth for a 'quick' fix to cyano - and it worked quite well dosing NO3 and PO4 - cyano was only present for maybe 7-10 days and si now 100% gone.

 

[JDCagley]

What did you do in the end?

I dosed DIY solutions of NO3 and PO4. Brought the levels up from 0/0 and all has improved greatly.

 

[ReefRusty]

Not to mention it has been stated, especially for a 'newer' tank, that chmeicleans effect on good bacteria is unknown - and the good is what I am trying to grow. I did not want to hinder the good growth for a 'quick' fix to cyano - and it worked quite well dosing NO3 and PO4 - cyano was only present for maybe 7-10 days and si now 100% gone.

Good work, yes unfortunately no proper research has gone into weather it is good or not foe a new tank, I know it iradicated my cyano completely in a new tank with nil effect on anything else.

 

[Uncle99]

Yea tank is about 5 months old. It has live rock in it as well as dry macro and I dosed fritz9 and stability in beginning of tank and haven't since. I'm only trying to lower the phosphate to help get rid of the cyano. My nitrates is still around 10ppm right now but my last phosphate test was .12 by a red sea phosphate test.

Nothing wrong with 0.12ppm phosphate provided it’s stable.
I would not touch nutrient levels.

If your numbers are good and stable, you may just need a “reset” with Chemi-Clean ( if your into using stuff like that) and/or maintain water chemistry for a month or two and it should be mature enough to outcompete those pest type algaes (Dino’s) and bacteria (Cyano)….provided nutrients are stable and available. In addition, ALk must be pinned at all times, no variance more than .5dkh in 24 hours, and salinity at 1.026. Alk seems to hold all the chemistry together, and salinity affects all chemistry.

I think frequent dosing of phyto and the occasional POD additions are a great idea.

 

[Uncle99]

Duplicated

 

[Mschmidt]

I would agree with Uncle99. nothing wrong with your numbers, just try for stability. My cyano story is this: they came when the tank was new, maybe after a month, left, then came back after a hair algae outbreak. I was chasing lower no3 and po4, they got worse. I got busy with life and defaulted to water changes every 1.5 wks. after a month, with numbers not changing meaningfully (+- 10%) they faded away and are now almost gone. nuisance algae and cyano are negligible.

My rec would be wait it out and let the tank mature more. phyto and pods would be good, but I would try to refrain from chemical warfare.

 

[James5214]

So I added red slime remover other day and a good amount has gone away there is still some and I'm mechanically removing it with water changes. Will dose again today. All corals are happy and fish. And everything is stable my numbers don't jump around I think it was just part of the new tank and going through it's cycle. But so far it's doing wY better

 

[James5214]

Great news everyone!! So I haven't been by my tank in 3 days and before i left I turned my skimmer off and dosed red slime remover just praying because the cyano outbreak was bad and killing my corals. And I come back today and there is almost no red slime left in my sandbed!! There is still some but no where near as bad as it was. My torch has opened up even more but that may have been because it was splitting it hasn't fully split but it is close. My branching hammer is also splitting. But at the end of the video I went above the tank and you can't see those huge red patches that were in my pictures or videos a week ago. Hopefully this is the end of it guys! Fingers crossed!! Here's the video.

 

[Uncle99]

Great news everyone!! So I haven't been by my tank in 3 days and before i left I turned my skimmer off and dosed red slime remover just praying because the cyano outbreak was bad and killing my corals. And I come back today and there is almost no red slime left in my sandbed!! There is still some but no where near as bad as it was. My torch has opened up even more but that may have been because it was splitting it hasn't fully split but it is close. My branching hammer is also splitting. But at the end of the video I went above the tank and you can't see those huge red patches that were in my pictures or videos a week ago. Hopefully this is the end of it guys! Fingers crossed!! Here's the video.

That indeed is good news.
Keep an eye on nitrate, phosphate and alk.