Cant wrap my head around cyano, my arch enemy

vetteguy53081

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First recourse is to know the cause and identify the source.
Cyano blooms typically start when water nutrient concentrations go haywire. Just like when you eat too much sugar and your waistline starts to bloom, the same happens in your tank when concentrations of phosphate, nitrate and other organic compounds are too high.
Some of the most common causes include:
- Protein skimmer which fills water with tiny air bubbles. As bubbles form from the reaction chamber, dissolved organic compound molecules stick to them. Foam forms at the surface of the water and is then transferred to a collection cup, where it rests as skimmate
- Overstocking / overfeeding, your aquarium with nutrients is often the culprit of a cyano bloom
- Adding live rock that isn’t completely cured which acts like a breeding ground for red slime algae
- If you don’t change your water with enough frequency, you’ll soon have a brightly colored red slime algae bloom. Regular water changes dilute nutrients that feed cyanobacteria and keeps your tank beautifully clear
- Using a water source with nitrates or phosphates is like rolling out the welcome mat for cyano. Tap water is an example
- Inadequate water flow, or movement, is a leading cause of cyano blooms. Slow moving water combined with excess dissolved nutrients is a recipe for pervasive red slime algae development

I recommend to reduce white light intensity or even turn them off for 5-7 days. Add liquid bacteria daily for a week during the day at 1.5ml per 10 gallons. Add Hydrogen peroxide at night at 1ml per 10 gallons. Add a pouch of chemipure Elite which will balance phos and nitrate and keep them in check.

After the week, add a few snails such as cerith, margarita, astrea and nassarius plus 6-8 blue leg hermits to take control.
 
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m0jjen

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I dose 20ml in a little less than 100L using @Eldredge's phyto. I feel like that's a good amount considering his stuff is so jam packed. I do have cyano in my tank, but it's a pretty insignificant amount.
According to that, I'm grossly under dosing my tank. I'm only dosing 60ml / 300L. Still it cleared up my cyano.
Well phyto and phyto aint the same. I have a specific species 'Synechococcus' :)
 

jhuntstl

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Well phyto and phyto aint the same. I have a specific species 'Synechococcus' :)
Good point!

I have...
Tetraselmis, Nannochloropsis, Isochrysis galbana (Tahitian), Rhodomonas lens Red Phyto, Nannochloris, Chaetoceros gracilis, Chlorella, Dunaliella tertiolecta
 

Lasse

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Ironic using a pelagic cyanobacteria to compete with a benthic species. Maybe @Lasse can explain to me why this seems to work
No I can´t but this has been rather common in germany among advanced aquarists and LFS with saltwater as speciality. Depending of the sources for this method - I can´t say that it is a hoax but it is one of the methods recommended by many advanced aquarists in Germany - see this blog

Sincerely Lasse
 

fachatga

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I've had the HI774 and HI736 - I had a hard time getting consistant results with them. Probably user error even if i in my world were meticulous with the process, wearing gloves, making sure every grain of the reagent got into the vial, having the vial spot free and pristine and what not. Guess i could give it another go but i really dislike them.

I forgot to mention that i do mecanical removal either by turkeybaster so it goes down the overflow and into the filterroller or by a small hose into a sock.

Regarding flow i really cant do more. It my LPS already get flipped over from time to time. Think my gonioporas would start to loose flesh aswell :eek:


As stated i did chemiclean and it took about 1.5 months for it to come back :(
One thing I’m not sure everybody does but you should use a 10ml syringe to fill the Hanna vials. The line is terribly inconsistent from one to another how much water it represents.
 

thatmanMIKEson

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There is no technique to it in my opinion. You just have to find the underlying issue during the "down" period when the cyano is gone from using chemicals. If you dont it will come back.
LIKE I SAID IM ONLY HOME SCHOOLED, that sounds like a bit of a technique to me but, you sound like you already have the answers to all your questions, just go for it you can do it good job reasurement to you 100%!!!!!!
 

Dan_P

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No I can´t but this has been rather common in germany among advanced aquarists and LFS with saltwater as speciality. Depending of the sources for this method - I can´t say that it is a hoax but it is one of the methods recommended by many advanced aquarists in Germany - see this blog

Sincerely Lasse
Thanks. The advice looks like the things given out on R2R.

Do you know if the phytoplankton is long lived in the aquarium?
 
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m0jjen

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One thing I’m not sure everybody does but you should use a 10ml syringe to fill the Hanna vials. The line is terribly inconsistent from one to another how much water it represents.
Ofc i use a syring :D
LIKE I SAID IM ONLY HOME SCHOOLED, that sounds like a bit of a technique to me but, you sound like you already have the answers to all your questions, just go for it you can do it good job reasurement to you 100%!!!!!!
Dont know what the home schooling has to do with it :) But i guess you're right :D

Thanks. The advice looks like the things given out on R2R.

Do you know if the phytoplankton is long lived in the aquarium?
Guessing it would be hard to prove that in an home aquarium without proper equipment?

Based on the high dose and long dosing period (28 days) i highly doubt that they do well in an aquarium. As said, i need to dose 20 litres or ~5 gallons ofi t during that timeframe :) And the density of the phyto seems fairly high like other types.
 

Dan_P

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Based on the high dose and long dosing period (28 days) i highly doubt that they do well in an aquarium. As said, i need to dose 20 litres or ~5 gallons ofi t during that timeframe :) And the density of the phyto seems fairly high like other types.
Thanks. This is analogous to the dosing regime for bottled “grunge” eating bacteria. Repeating dosing.
 
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m0jjen

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Todays po4 messurement. Hanna HI774: 0.10 and red sea po4 pro 0.04. Gonna go ahead and test freshly made saltwater with the red sea. I will probably trash the red sea since i have never gotten anything but 0.04 or 0.08. Its not that old but i really feel its either a bad batch or something
 

Aqua Man

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Based on the high dose and long dosing period (28 days) i highly doubt that they do well in an aquarium. As said, i need to dose 20 litres or ~5 gallons ofi t during that timeframe :) And the density of the phyto seems fairly high like other types.
Wow that’s a bunch of phyto!!! Maybe pull the cup off your skimmer so it doesn’t just get skimmed out. That’s if you run one!
 
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m0jjen

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Slight update. This mornings reading: 10 ppm no3 and 0.10 ppm po4. Started dosing phyto yesterday! Will keep posting how the phyto does.
 

elysics

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Ironic using a pelagic cyanobacteria to compete with a benthic species. Maybe @Lasse can explain to me why this seems to work
Why is it ironic? Better to have green cyanos floating invisibly in the water and being eventually skimmed out or eaten, than having red cyano on the rocks and sand.

It is a huge pain to deal with though if you want to breed other plankton. Infects everything if you aren't careful
 
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m0jjen

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Cyano seems to be halted. Id rather have that back tho... Dinoflagellates came pretty quick. Think its Amphidinium (Large-Cell). My snails died pretty darn fast atleast.

S20211010_0001.jpg
 

DeniableArc

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Cyano seems to be halted. Id rather have that back tho... Dinoflagellates came pretty quick. Think its Amphidinium (Large-Cell). My snails died pretty darn fast atleast.

S20211010_0001.jpg
What’s the plan from here? I battled Dino’s for quite some time due to bad p04 test kit and carbon dosing.
 
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m0jjen

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What’s the plan from here? I battled Dino’s for quite some time due to bad p04 test kit and carbon dosing.
Guess its pretty much the same, dose pytho and the diy coral snow. I have pullsed the po4 absorber and wont do any waterchanges for afew weeks.

I change my ID to prorocentrum. It only resides on glas surfaces atm. Got some on my chaeto so i guess ill have to shake it off ever so often.

Keep track of nutrients and reduce feeding to not skyerocket my po4
 

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