Cyano?

tmccaff · Jul 2, 2023

Cyano is caused by low nutrients in water am I correct? My Nitrates showing 3 ppm and phosphates 0.028. I guessing my phosphates too low. I am going by the red sea recipe which states Nitrate 0.5 and phosphates 0.02. However, I think that is way too low correct?

Dan_P · Jul 2, 2023

tmccaff said:
Cyano is caused by low nutrients in water am I correct? My Nitrates showing 3 ppm and phosphates 0.028. I guessing my phosphates too low. I am going by the red sea recipe which states Nitrate 0.5 and phosphates 0.02. However, I think that is way too low correct?

No one really knows why cyanobacteria goes nuts but there are many explanations and many more times more ”cures”. Pick the cures that make sense for your situation. You might get lucky and the cyanobacteria goes away quickly.

Uncle99 · Jul 2, 2023

tmccaff said:
Cyano is caused by low nutrients in water am I correct? My Nitrates showing 3 ppm and phosphates 0.028. I guessing my phosphates too low. I am going by the red sea recipe which states Nitrate 0.5 and phosphates 0.02. However, I think that is way too low correct?

Low nutrients or imbalanced levels are thought to be a contributing factor.

Those numbers may be sufficient in early system maturity, but after a year and beyond, with a moderate to high coral load, nitrate in the 10-20ppm with .1-.3ppm phosphate is common.

The Red Sea numbers reflect dominant SPS IMM, if mixed reef, we need higher levels of N and P to sustain our livestock.