Cyano with decent nutrient levels.

[welshgazz]

Hi, I'm starting to get cyanobacteria on my rocks however my nutrients are decent:
Nitrate 5
Phosphate 0.1
Salinity 1.025.

My tank is a 40g cube with 5 g sump. I have flow from the return pump and a 4000lph DC wavemaker which seems to move water around. I have soft coral and lps that don't need massive flow.
Would it benefit if I put a small 1000lph in to help?
Any other suggestions please?


The tank was established for 2 years then moved to my house. Been set up for 2 months with new sand. The fish are happy and the corals in there are doing well.

 

[Australian_Reef]

Just a symptom of the tank move I’d say. Just keep siphoning it off and wait it out.

 

[Euphyllia97]

+1 on tge tank needing to rebalance after the move :)

 

[Fish Fan]

Hi, I'm starting to get cyanobacteria on my rocks however my nutrients are decent:
Nitrate 5
Phosphate 0.1
Salinity 1.025.

My tank is a 40g cube with 5 g sump. I have flow from the return pump and a 4000lph DC wavemaker which seems to move water around. I have soft coral and lps that don't need massive flow.
Would it benefit if I put a small 1000lph in to help?
Any other suggestions please?


The tank was established for 2 years then moved to my house. Been set up for 2 months with new sand. The fish are happy and the corals in there are doing well.

Are you sure it's Cyano? Can you post a pic of the tank and the algae?

If it's Cyano, that's fueled by excess organics in the system, are you dosing anything like carbon? Manual removal, and increasing flow can also help.

That said, your nitrate and phosphate are too low, and having very low to zero nitrate and/or phosphate invites dinoflagellate algae. I would be looking to raise both your nitrate and phosphate, even if you don't have dinos, it's healthier for any corals you may have or want to get. Nitrate between 5 ppm and 50 ppm, and phosphate between 0.06 ppm and 0.3 ppm is what a lot of us aim for now:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/randy’s-thoughts-on-nutrient-target-ranges.1087/
More on Cyano removal:


More on Dinos:


Good luck!

 

[Australian_Reef]

Chill mate. He replaced the sand

 

[Fish Fan]

Chill mate. He replaced the sand

I assume your comment is aimed at me? None of my replies are ever AI generated. The OP has their nitrate and phosphate too low, in my opinion, which invites dinos.

 

[Australian_Reef]

The op said cyano though. It’s quite ridiculous sir to suggest those parameters are too low. Ridiculous I say.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hi, I'm starting to get cyanobacteria on my rocks however my nutrients are decent:
Nitrate 5
Phosphate 0.1
Salinity 1.025.

My tank is a 40g cube with 5 g sump. I have flow from the return pump and a 4000lph DC wavemaker which seems to move water around. I have soft coral and lps that don't need massive flow.
Would it benefit if I put a small 1000lph in to help?
Any other suggestions please?


The tank was established for 2 years then moved to my house. Been set up for 2 months with new sand. The fish are happy and the corals in there are doing well.

Please post pics under white lighting and also some contributors besides nutrient levels are lack of water movement, improper or no skimming/skimmer, use of tap water for mixing or top off and overfeeding as examples

 

[Fish Fan]

The op said cyano though. It’s quite ridiculous sir to suggest those parameters are too low. Ridiculous I say.

I have no idea how I've apparently upset you so much with my reply, but I'm sorry

I believe your point is that new sand will experience an ugly phase and that's true. I believe you are also taking the OP's word that they have Cyano, but we don't actually know that for sure because we've not seen pictures, and as I've mentioned, the very low nitrate and phosphate is thought by many R2R members to be a cause of Dino outbreaks. I believe it's more than possible that the OP has dinos with or without some cyano. Dinos are harder to deal with than Cyano, and I would address this first.

I am also sure you've seen charts or advise calling very low or even zero nitrate and phosphate. I promise that this is old information, and not what the majority of reefers aim for these days.

Further, I've linked to an article from Randy Holmes-Farley above. If you're unaware, RHF is a PhD Chemist and a well know reef tank guru for probably 30 years now, and across multiple forums and publications. In the article I linked, Randy shares his advice for target nutrients, and the reasons why, and many of us here at R2R are now following his advice, which is to let nitrate float between 5 ppm and 50 ppm, and phosphate from 0.06 ppm to 0.30 ppm. This is for coral health primarily and to minimize the chance of dinoflagellate algae.

I hope this helps!

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

I dose quite a bit of aminos and have small patches of cyano. Nothing too bad though just another observation if you dose something similar.

 

[twentyleagues]

Are you sure it's Cyano? Can you post a pic of the tank and the algae?

If it's Cyano, that's fueled by excess organics in the system, are you dosing anything like carbon? Manual removal, and increasing flow can also help.

That said, your nitrate and phosphate are too low, and having very low to zero nitrate and/or phosphate invites dinoflagellate algae. I would be looking to raise both your nitrate and phosphate, even if you don't have dinos, it's healthier for any corals you may have or want to get. Nitrate between 5 ppm and 50 ppm, and phosphate between 0.06 ppm and 0.3 ppm is what a lot of us aim for now:
https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/randy’s-thoughts-on-nutrient-target-ranges.1087/
More on Cyano removal:


More on Dinos:


Good luck!

Just pointing out that their parameters do fall within your ranges low end but within.

 

[twentyleagues]

I dose quite a bit of aminos and have small patches of cyano. Nothing too bad though just another observation if you dose something similar.

Aminos can also fuel cyano and dinos I would discontinue use while dealing with this issue.

 

[Fish Fan]

Just pointing out that their parameters do fall within your ranges low end but within.

I had to take a second look, but you're right I first saw 0.01 ppm phosphate, which to me is too low. Thanks for pointing that out!

 

[twentyleagues]

I had to take a second look, but you're right I first saw 0.01 ppm phosphate, which to me is too low. Thanks for pointing that out!

Agree anything below .05-.06 would be too low as resolution even on Hannahs is at best +/-.03.

 

[Fish Fan]

Agree anything below .05-.06 would be too low as resolution even on Hannahs is at best +/-.03.

And I still think of the OP’s nitrate is at 5.0 ppm that’s like the very bottom threshold, and could be lower due to test kit error.

I think it would help to see a pic of the tank or two.

 

[twentyleagues]

And I still think of the OP’s nitrate is at 5.0 ppm that’s like the very bottom threshold, and void be lower due to test kit error.

I think it would help to see a pic of the tank or two.

I am not going to lie I have never been able to achieve less than .1p and 15-20n in a tank more than a year old.

 

[Fish Fan]

I am not going to lie I have never been able to achieve less than .1p and 15-20n in a tank more than a year old.

I've been struggling with my current build with chronically low (zero) phosphate yet high nitrate (>75 ppm), and that's a situation I've never had before. I started to dose a solution of sodium phosphate, but I was called out of town so I couldn't dose, and when the phosphate bottomed out again, I came back to a tank full of dinos Is that a scientifically factual conclusion? Certainly not, but I'm in the camp of when N or P goes to nearly zero or bellow, that's a good opportunity for dinos to grow.

 

[twentyleagues]

I've been struggling with my current build with chronically low (zero) phosphate yet high nitrate (>75 ppm), and that's a situation I've never had before. I started to dose a solution of sodium phosphate, but I was called out of town so I couldn't dose, and when the phosphate bottomed out again, I came back to a tank full of dinos Is that a scientifically factual conclusion? Certainly not, but I'm in the camp of when N or P goes to nearly zero or bellow, that's a good opportunity for dinos to grow.

I tend to agree having phosphate at a testable level does seem to be safer than 0 same for nitrate but not as important.

 

[Fish Fan]

I tend to agree having phosphate at a testable level does seem to be safer than 0 same for nitrate but not as important.

All I know is with this latest tank started with about half well cured crock, and about half new dry rocks, my phosphate seem to be getting bound up by the rocks, and when that happens nothing is happy, except the Dinos

 

[twentyleagues]

All I know is with this latest tank started with about half well cured crock, and about half new dry rocks, my phosphate seem to be getting bound up by the rocks, and when that happens nothing is happy, except the Dinos

Im not going to say new dry rock doesnt bind phosphates because I dont know for sure. My current reef has all dry rock and dry sand set it up in early '24 never bottomed out in either, phosphates were always slightly rising. Currently they are around .09-.12 been pretty steady for months though. Maybe I got lucky maybe its something in the way I handled the starting of the tank, idk.