Tank 11 Months Old - Cyano - High Nutrients - Best Course of Action?

[sanzz18]

So my tank is 11 months old. I noticed in recent weeks a little bit of Cyano growing with lights/receding at night. This week it seems to be a little worse. I know it is not dinos because I battled them in the beginning, know what they look like, know what they smell like , and also have a microscope to confirm.I know cyanobacteria is a very common thing that everyone will at least get a little taste of at some point. I am just trying to figure out what I should do. I had let water changes and a little maintenance slip away, life just got busy this year.

My nitrates are between 25-40 (Nyos) and phosphates are 0.5 (Hannah ULR). They have been high for some time with no real Cyano issues. The only thing I changed recently was add a refugium 2-3 weeks ago in attempt to help lower my nutrients. I was also just about to start carbon dosing and lanthanum dosing/or GFO as I simply do not have the time to do frequent large water changes on a 180g system.

What do you guys think I should do? Let it be while I work on lowering nutrients slowly? Are high nutrients even the cause (I see other posts about Cyano but with people having low nutrients)?

 

[aquariumreefers]

Test your TDS in your RO water. Also might want to try

Red Cyano Rx - Blue Life USA​

 

[sanzz18]

Here is a picture of it. With the orange filter it almost look a little like dinos or something but I can assure you guys in person it is red like Cyano.

 

[sanzz18]

Red Cyano Rx - Blue Life USA

My TDS is 0. I actually just changed all the filters in my 5 stage a couple months ago. I also really want to stay away from using chemicals. Already beat dinos once and read some stories of that or turf algae forming after some of these products used.

 

[G Santana]

I'm in a similar situation, what I have chosen to do/try is dosing Vodka.
I'm at the end of my 5th week and nitrates have started to fall.
I didn't see much movement the first two weeks but I tested yesterday and there is definitely a downward trend to my nitrates.
Once I get my nitrates where I want them, I'll post the results and the length of time it took me to get there

 

[sanzz18]

My main question is if the cyano is related to my high nutrients or not. I also have the cyano growing in my chaeto now.

 

[sanzz18]

So back for a little more advice. Before I got a hold of the cyano, my phosphate was 0.6 and nitrates almost 60. I did a series of 25% water changes (45g each time) and ran GFO. Got my levels down to 0.2 ppm and about 25-30 for nitrates and watched my cyano dissapear.

Weeks later, cyano is back. My nitrates are currently 25 (just did a waterchange tonight got it down to 18.9). Phosphates are 0.14 with the chaeto growing extremely well.

What could be the reasons it is coming back? Thought I had a grasp on it.

 

[mcgullen]

Hi. I think you have several questions instead of one. Please let me know if the below helps.

1. Your nutrients in excess of what your corals need created a suitable environment for cyanobacteria to bloom. This is clear. But why did cyano bloom at this specific point in time and not before?

Most likely because you introduced some component to your system that came with highly viable load of cyano. Like the new refugium. Where did the macroalgae in it come from? This is like dosing nitrfying bacteria in a bottle to an uncycled tank with excess nutrients, to intentionally cause a beneficial bacterial bloom. Instead, in this case you unintentionally dosed cyanobacteria to your system, causing an undesirable bloom.

2. Now that cyano bloom has already happened, will lowing nutrients be the most effective way to quickly and meaningfully control cyano?

Probably not. Cyano has gained a foothold in your tank's biomass. It would be hard, if not impossible, to selectively starve out cyano without equally starving corals etc.

While lowing nutrients would help prevent another bloom in the future, it won't be the most effective thing to do for the immediate issue.

3. So what to do?

Reduce cyanobactetia's share in your biomass daily. Mechanical removal of you want to avoid chemicals. Remove as much as you can with gravel vac etc. Run fine filter socks to catch loose patches or cyano film in water column. Wash it out daily.

Strong powerful UV sterilizer 24/7.

You will see marked improvement within days.

In the long term, activated carbon, chemipure, GFO, refugium etc will all help to keep nutrients low.

 

[sanzz18]

Hi. I think you have several questions instead of one. Please let me know if the below helps.

1. Your nutrients in excess of what your corals need created a suitable environment for cyanobacteria to bloom. This is clear. But why did cyano bloom at this specific point in time and not before?

Most likely because you introduced some component to your system that came with highly viable load of cyano. Like the new refugium. Where did the macroalgae in it come from? This is like dosing nitrfying bacteria in a bottle to an uncycled tank with excess nutrients, to intentionally cause a beneficial bacterial bloom. Instead, in this case you unintentionally dosed cyanobacteria to your system, causing an undesirable bloom.

2. Now that cyano bloom has already happened, will lowing nutrients be the most effective way to quickly and meaningfully control cyano?

Probably not. Cyano has gained a foothold in your tank's biomass. It would be hard, if not impossible, to selectively starve out cyano without equally starving corals etc.

While lowing nutrients would help prevent another bloom in the future, it won't be the most effective thing to do for the immediate issue.

3. So what to do?

Reduce cyanobactetia's share in your biomass daily. Mechanical removal of you want to avoid chemicals. Remove as much as you can with gravel vac etc. Run fine filter socks to catch loose patches or cyano film in water column. Wash it out daily.

Strong powerful UV sterilizer 24/7.

You will see marked improvement within days.

In the long term, activated carbon, chemipure, GFO, refugium etc will all help to keep nutrients low.

So, I literally only have 2 corals in my 220.6. About to start adding more next week. With that said, I really don’t have a nutrient uptake other then waterchanges.

The macroalgae came from Algae Barn.

I just can’t get why it was literally, completely (visibly) gone and why it came back full force again. I did nothing different. I definitely want to avoid chemiclean but I do have it on hand if needed.