Critique My Reef’s Problem

[spsick]

Hey crew, I’ve got a weird issue on a pretty mature tank i’d love some input on. I’m pretty stumped.

Out of nowhere with no changes other than bumping up strontium (Salifert and Triton showed it low) I’ve got a Cyano outbreak and quite a few of my corals are angry, specifically my SSC and Pink Lemonade colonies lost almost all PE and Zoas partially closed.

My only thought is a wonky batch of salt. I use Red Sea Blue Bucket

System Details:

65 gal custom tank w. Synergy overflow been up 9 months since upgrade from 40bdr
Trigger 26 sump
Apex
Deltec SCA1351 Skimmer
Tunze Silence 1073.040 Return
2x Jebao SW8
2x Jebao PP4 (lots of flow!)
6x36 DImmable Sunpower- 2x B+, 2x Actinic, 1x P+, 1x C+, all bulbs less than 6 months old.
2 bulbs 11 hours, other 4 run 7 hours, 7 inches above water line
40+ lbs mature rock through 2 upgrades over 5 years
Refugium running 6 hrs reverse cycle, started Chaeto but ended up being mostly HA which i prune regularly. Tempted to just discontinue as the tank thrived beforehand and now i just get baby snails in my skimmer volute constantly.
Weekly 15% WC inc siphoning detritus from sand
7 Stage RODI w/ Pro DI and 2x Chloramine blocks, all stages changed regularly- 0ppm TDS
C02 reactor keeps pH 8 at night to 8.5 day
1 chunk frozen Reef Frenzy daily (soaked in Selcon then strained though net)
2 pinches pellets 2x daily from auto-feeder
1in square nori every day or 2
5ml Acropower 2x/week
Tank gets a wave of bubble algae once a year and I add 10 emerald and it subsides mostly until they die off.

1 small Kole Tang
1 Midas Blenny
1 Flame Hawk
1 Onyx Clown
2x Striped Blennies



Params (before the cyano), all tests Salifert except Hanna Phos checker

78 degrees verified with NIST thermometer
1.026
Alk- 7.5
CA- 420-440
Mg- 1300-1350
K- 400
N03- 1-2 (since cyano started less than 1)
P04- .03 (since cyano started less than .01)


So I’ve seen nutrients drop but I gather that’s the cyano. I gather its sucking them up.
I have been getting a .5 degree temp spike every afternoon since summer started. Prior to upgrade i had a 6x24 sunpower that didn’t get as hot. I have a fan controlled by apex that comes on .2 over my set temp.

Tank has thrived throughout the years and I haven’t seen cyano as long as the system Has been running. Is this putting off something that irritates some corals or is it more likely a batch of salt? Ive done several 20% WC with no change. Many other acros haven’t missed a beat but it’s obvious something is out of balance. I got a Triton test just before the cyano showed up with nothing out of the ordinary aside from Sr, wanted to test after a previous test showed high tin which led me to find a split pump magnet in my mixing bin.

Ive included some current pics, one from a few months ago, and one from just before the upgrade for fun.

 

[Amboss72]

Is this tank located in an area where the sun hits it at different angles during the year?

 

[ReefGeezer]

Amboss72 asked a good question. You feed a lot... Selcon, Acropower, Reef Freenzy, Nori, etc.. That could make for some pretty high DOC levels that are encouraging the Cyano. Reducing feeding, adding a little GAC, and skimming very wet for a while might help.

 

[spsick]

Good question indeed. No direct or semi direct sunlight at any time of year.

Should have mentioned I skim fairly wet. The small cube of food I feed once gets soaked in tank water/selcon and drained before feeding in a net and the nori is a 1” square so I’m under the impression I’m feeding very light. When I fed less my acros were pretty pale and n03/P04 were undetectable. Feeding less is certainly doable if that will help my goal.

I do have GAC and a bag so I can toss some in the sump easily.

 

[Amboss72]

Boy I wish I had something ground breaking to add but I simply see this stuff when nutrients are too high or too low or there’s a change in lighting or a change in flow. Boy that rhymes! I personally just suck the Cyano out with freezer line tubing or air tubing and let my phosphates and nitrates rise a bit. The corals then have some food to bring back their color. If you think this is a flow or light issue make a change and see how they respond. It’s very obvious you’re very diligent with your tank. Very diligent! I just suck the Cyano out and see if by doing so an equilibrium is accomplished and everything returns to a happy state. I wish you the best!

 

[spsick]

Cool, thanks for the input! The weird thing is I haven’t changed anything and it’s switched from normal healthy green algae on the rocks and glass to cyano. That’s why I thought maybe the salt is a bad batch (high silica or something)

 

[spsick]

I guess this makes a more sense- DINOS! Gah! It just looks so much like cyano and doesn’t have many bubbles like I remember from seeing it in a tank years ago. Makes sense why i’m losing snails.

I did the peroxide test from here and got no bubbles whatsoever:

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

@mcarroll I am linking a thread I started that noticed my ORP was super low and I thought that was probably due to dinos. Anyone else notice the same thing? https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/can-dinos-cause-really-low-orp.325625/#post-4035164 I'll continue updating there.

www.reef2reef.com

So on to treatment, I can easily gut the fuge which I was considering anyway. I have some Sodium Nitrate to dose if it comes to that but i’ll start with feeding heavier. If I have to I can add a UV.

Tank today:

 

[Hemmdog]

I guess this makes a more sense- DINOS! Gah! It just looks so much like cyano and doesn’t have many bubbles like I remember from seeing it in a tank years ago. Makes sense why i’m losing snails.

I did the peroxide test from here and got no bubbles whatsoever:

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

@mcarroll I am linking a thread I started that noticed my ORP was super low and I thought that was probably due to dinos. Anyone else notice the same thing? https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/can-dinos-cause-really-low-orp.325625/#post-4035164 I'll continue updating there.

www.reef2reef.com

So on to treatment, I can easily gut the fuge which I was considering anyway. I have some Sodium Nitrate to dose if it comes to that but i’ll start with feeding heavier. If I have to I can add a UV.

Tank today:

That acro colony is sweet!

 

[Halal Hotdog]

When was the last time you cleaned the powerheads? There are cures that do not use antibiotics, but knowing what caused this bloom will be helpful is preventing future issues. I imagine the amount of dissolved organics combined with lower flow in certain areas is laying way to cyano. Our tanks have a flora of bacteria and episodically some start thriving. There is always a cause, but doesn't mean we will know what it is every time. If everything checks out then I would treat the cyano and see if it comes back.

 

[spsick]

When was the last time you cleaned the powerheads? There are cures that do not use antibiotics, but knowing what caused this bloom will be helpful is preventing future issues. I imagine the amount of dissolved organics combined with lower flow in certain areas is laying way to cyano. Our tanks have a flora of bacteria and episodically some start thriving. There is always a cause, but doesn't mean we will know what it is every time. If everything checks out then I would treat the cyano and see if it comes back.

I clean them monthly, and I have a crazy amount of flow for a tank this size. I figured out (post above) this is Dinos which makes much more sense given my diligent maintenance and low nutrients.