Cyano war

AlexLS

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 4, 2020
Messages
22
Reaction score
40
Location
Timisoara
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So I have tried battling cyano for a few months.

It is covering the sand bed and rocks for quite some time. I have been trying to remove as much as possible with water changes but keeps coming back.
I believe the trigger was a few months ago when my skimmer failed and started overflowing 2 weeks of junk for a few hours.

Nevertheless the tank sits at around 0.5 ppm NO3, and 0.01-0.02 Po4. I don't try to keep this values, but whatever I do it just drops.

So first I decided to wait it out, after a month and a half did not seem to stop and after each clean came back the same.

So, I decided to feed less, from 3 times a day to only 1. This had absolutely no effect over the cyano but started losing corals and No3 and Po4 dropped to 0. So after few weeks I had to do something as my LPS were shrinking and looking bad.

So back to 3 times a day and lots of cyano. Then I tried the route to fix my nutrients. So slowly I was ramping up No3 and Po4. This, by adding N and P additives.
Now, No3 was easy, once I rise it to a level, it tended to stay there and drop only with water changes.
Po4 however, disappears over a day. For example, unless I was dosing from 0.01 to 0.05 I had no chance to actually rise it, as at the sundown it was back to 0.01 or less again. I had to pump ml of phosphates daily only to swing from 0.05 in the morning to 0.01 in the afternoon. Nevertheless, cyano still stand strong and I believe it actually got worse.
Left the tank alone no more "mad scientist adjustments" and started dossing KZ Cyano Clean bacteria. Week 5 now, absolutely no improvement.
So looked at microscope. Good news, no dino, bad news...cyano crap is there.

I am not a big fan on nukes like cyanoclean. I can't even buy it in this country but as a last resort, I believe in 2 months I may receive my package.
My plan is, however, to put that away and never use it. Until then, I hope I can make some progress and while not completely remove it at least be in a good direction.

I am out of ideas today. My No3 is 0.4, Po4 0.021 (Hanna) dosing just KZ Cyano Clean.
Tank is a reefer250, with RSK 300 Skimmer, around 8 fishes ( pair of clowns, gramma, firefish, pair of tailspot blenny, banana wrasse and a cardinal)
I have a fudge that runs on minimum brightness 3 hour per night just to keep a fist-size chaeto alive.

I attached some pictures. Does anyone has any idea how to battle these better?

20210616_155438.jpg 201973415_4329773957084791_3174487987695865626_n.jpg
 

brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
View Badges
Joined
Dec 9, 2014
Messages
29,494
Reaction score
23,574
Location
tejas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0

we won the war in two hours here.
 

Deep

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 11, 2020
Messages
419
Reaction score
481
Location
Singapore
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Try a week of dosing 6% H2o2 every 12 hours at 1ml per 8 gallons. It worked for me. I then also started running an oxidator. Also your Nitrates/phosphates are really low - that will lead to other issues if availability is also low as residual.
 
OP
OP
AlexLS

AlexLS

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 4, 2020
Messages
22
Reaction score
40
Location
Timisoara
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Try a week of dosing 6% H2o2 every 12 hours at 1ml per 8 gallons. It worked for me. I then also started running an oxidator. Also your Nitrates/phosphates are really low - that will lead to other issues if availability is also low as residual.
What do you mean by oxidator?
 

PeterC99

Solarbenchmark.com
View Badges
Joined
Aug 28, 2020
Messages
6,385
Reaction score
30,074
Location
White Plains, NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
 
OP
OP
AlexLS

AlexLS

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 4, 2020
Messages
22
Reaction score
40
Location
Timisoara
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Today test results: Po4 - 0 and No3 0.2. Would you dose N and P to correct or leave it like this? Or I am just feeding cyano more.
 

Deep

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Sep 11, 2020
Messages
419
Reaction score
481
Location
Singapore
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Today test results: Po4 - 0 and No3 0.2. Would you dose N and P to correct or leave it like this? Or I am just feeding cyano more.

Dose but bring it up gradually. If Po4 is really zero, it might remain zero for a while even after you start dosing.
 

Mastering the art of locking and unlocking water pathways: What type of valves do you have on your aquarium plumbing?

  • Ball valves.

    Votes: 72 51.8%
  • Gate valves.

    Votes: 70 50.4%
  • Check valves.

    Votes: 35 25.2%
  • None.

    Votes: 31 22.3%
  • Other.

    Votes: 9 6.5%
Back
Top