Cyano? Overdose of Strontium? Things are dying.

[tablesalt]

For the past few days, my zoanthids have been all closed up, my leathers have shrunk up, and I have been getting more and more cyano (presumably) over the past few days. My crabs and snails have mostly stopped moving over the past week (but the shrimp are fine). I am trying to narrow down what exactly I have done wrong.


If this is not red cyano bacteria, please let me know.


Water paramaters are as follows

Temperature-78.5 (stable)

Salinity 1.025 (recalibrated to make sure)

DKH-9 (usually about 7)

PH- 8.2

Nitrates (undetectable)

Nitrites (undetectable)

Ammonia (undetectable)


Basic tank setup Max-E170 (40 gallon tank) with aquafuge 2 refugium, carbon, skimmer, ATO, and IceCap1k gyre (running at 10%). I dose Iodine 1x per week and put in 1 teaspoon of Kalk per 5 gallons of ATO.


Tank is 4 months old with 5 months old live rock (dead shrimp method).

Up until 2 weeks ago, the tank was stable. 2 weeks ago I bought a toadstool leather and a sebae anemone. I had difficulty getting the anemone to mount and drastically reduced the flow by turning off the Icecap 1k gyre. After a week of difficulties trying to get the anemone to mount, I took it back to the store so I didn't kill it. I tried to feed it a few times during this time. I exchanged it and paid a little extra for a finger leather coral, 2 feather duster worms, 2 scarlet leg hermits, and a bottle of Strontium & Molybdenum. My troubles started (I think) when I put my new goodies in and dosed Strontium & Molybdenum (1 cap full) and turned my gyre back on. I have also had an inconsistent experience with the brightness of the light in my fuge. Fish seem to be happy.


I am thinking hard and can only come up with a few possible issues that may be nuking my tank.


1. Strontium & Molybdenum overdose?

2. Too much flow?

3. Something unseen came in on the new acquisitions?

4. DKh is slightly higher than normal at 9 vs 7.

5. Fuge light being inconsistent could cause issues?

6. Corals unleashing chemical warfare on tank contents?


The only thing I can think of to do now is to do a 5 gallon water change every day for the next few days until things calm down. I would appreciate any thoughts you may have.

 

[John3]

From my experience cyano seems to pop up in areas with not enough flow. I know dosing too much strontium can have a negative affect, but I am not sure if 1 capful is going to push you over the edge.

I don’t have experience with gyre pumps, is it adjustable? If so are you sure you went back to the old settings that were working. The cyano could have popped up from the period of low flow. Higher flow again should make it disappear.

 

[John3]

Also you will want some nitrates and phosphate. When those go to zero bad things typically follow. What you never seem to hear is that the guys striving for ultra low to no nitrates/phosphates is that they are supplementing them at a controlled rate, basically feeding the corals on a schedule.

 

[Ubergroover]

Also you will want some nitrates and phosphate. When those go to zero bad things typically follow. What you never seem to hear is that the guys striving for ultra low to no nitrates/phosphates is that they are supplementing them at a controlled rate, basically feeding the corals on a schedule.

I run a ULNS tank you are 100% correct. We add nutrients back in for feeding. Even-though I run a ULNS tank I had cyano issues for a while until I adjusted my light spectrum and bought a RODI. The RODI being a main contributor. Cyano has the ability to adjust its height in the water column to where its photosynthesis is producing enough nutrients(it likes the spectrums at the top). If the light is good then its going to eat PO4/NO3. It really is as simple as that. The trick is finding what works in your tank. Stop dosing and do a large water change. Dont over feed fish or corals. see what happens. Test your top off water for PO4. Use a goods GFO. Use an oversized skimmer if possible.
Anemone's are a good sign something is out of whack. The added fish load in your system probably triggered it more than your dosing. Good luck hope everything turns out good.