Phosphate o ppm and Nitrate 0 to 2 ppm why do I still have Cyanobacteria

dougj164 · Aug 4, 2020

Helloi my phosphate and nitrate are extremely low (phosphate is 0.00 PPM on hanna phosphate checker and nitrate is 0 to 2 PPM) how ever I am still experiencing small areas of red cyano on sand bed and live rock. I am running a small amount of Bio pellets. The tank in 150 gallon with a reef octopus 5000 skimmer kessil leds I have MP40 with good water flow through out the tank. The tank is only 4 months old and I am taking it slowly only have to tiny clown fish and a few snails I do have a softball size ball of Chaeto in refug that is growing quickly. I am wondering if I could actually have phosphates and the hanna checker cant detect them because the chaeto and the cyano is locking it up as quickly as it is introduced and I should try GFO. I havent added corals yet I wanted to get past these issues first and I plan to use Zeovit system in the future.oh yes I am doing 4 gallon water change per day, any thoughts or recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Doug

Sophisticated Reefer · Aug 4, 2020

0 phosphate can cause bad things anyway, always keep phosphate and nitrate "detectable"

Cyano can be a wierd thing, I also have had it while parameters are good. I think for me carbon and amino acid dosing caused cyano

Buffalou · Aug 4, 2020

I think you hit it on the head, new tank still establishing itself, and any NO3 and PO4 that can be picked up by test kits is being taken up by cyano. Sounds like your on the right path slow and steady. And yes you do want to have some detectable reading, that I'm sure will be visible in test kit eventually. Every new tank I've started it up has gone through same scenario.

Viking_Reefing · Aug 4, 2020

It could be because your nutrients are to low as well or that there is some sort of imbalance between N and P.
But your tank is still new so don’t worry about it, it will most likely go away as it matures.