Unstopable cyano!

[Alexreefer]

My tank has been set up for 7 months now and is getting a lot of cyano and gha of vodka dosing. I've tried chemiclean but has no effect. All my corals have now closed up. Have all Lps. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Below are my parameters.
Nitrite-0
Ph-8.25
Ammonia-0
Nitrate 12 ppm with nyos, 15 with salifert
Phosphate- .5
Alkalinty- 16.5
Calcium 425
Magnesium-1280

 

[ddrueckh]

Alkalinity 16.5...is that a typo?
Vodka, GFO... have all led me to trouble algae in the past. I don't use any of it anymore. I just keep a large refugium full of Chaeto and no problems with nutrients of pest algae (knock on wood).

 

[Alexreefer]

16.5 is correct I dont know why it is so high after I just did a water change. Any ideas on what to do for the cyano?

 

[tripdad]

That Alk is a problem, need to get it down SLOOOWWWLLLY! No fast changes. Go to Melev's Reef, a sponsor, and get the cyano treatment he sells. It kills a different strain than Chemiclean. Perhaps that will work, did for me.

 

[Alexreefer]

Is it red cyano rx? And sorry if its a stupid question but how do I bring down my alk slowly?

 

[tripdad]

The easiest way is to do water changes with new water of a much lower Alk. Here's a link for the other http://www.melevsreef.com/product/redcyano-rx

 

[AngryMike2016]

Bring it down slowly by simply not dosing any alk. How did it get so high in the first place? If you're vodka/vinegar/nopox dosing, I would stop it. Carbon dosing feeds bacteria in general, not just the good stuff.

 

[tripdad]

I would also try and lower your phosphates to around .08 or .10 with the same water changes. I'm not a big fan of GFO but others have good results with it for Po4 reduction.

 

[Alexreefer]

Ok ordered the cyano rx and should come later in the week. For now I will continue scrubbing the rocks and stirring the sand. while doing 30% water changes and running Gfo. What Do you guys think about the nitrates? Are they a little high, they where really high before but added some micro bacter7 and biological media and it started coming down. Do you think such a high alk is from a faulty test. I could test with my red sea. And just picked up a hanna from my lfs. Would checking my water change water help as well? I use ro/di water

 

[Alexreefer]

All corals are still closed and cyano is still growing everywhere. Anything I can do to slow down the cyano until my cyano rx comes?

 

[tripdad]

You can do a " lights out" period for a few days. However, you say your corals are already stressed out so maybe think on it for a day or two before committing to one. Yes, check your test results against another source and test your freshly made saltwater before using and adjust. The nitrates are not a concern for me at this point, just my opinion.

 

[brandon429]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/s...r-a-full-rework-skip-cycle-reassembly.525310/


Free cyano cure. Stirring is opposite of how we clean there, check each example

 

[brandon429]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-official-sand-rinse-thread-aka-one-against-many.230281/page-18

Another 40 examples. Cyano cannot beat a full tank cleaning, but it can beat partial ones

 

[NS Mike D]

Aside from the ALK, zero NO3 and carbon dosing screams cyano!!! Your tank is perfect for growing cyano and starving corals.

Cyano can get N from other sources so while no one knows for sure why cyano (which is ever present) decides to mat up, observations it tends to occur with very high nutrients and with little to no NO3.

This is very common with carbon dosing, NO3 drop too fast and corals can't use the PO4 without any NO3 but yet the cyano can thrive.


stop the vodka dosing and get your NO3 up to target levels and focus on keeping your corals happy so they outcompete the nuisance stuff for nutrients and space.

 

[tripdad]

His No3 is at 12 to 15ppm. Thats fine and hardly zero. Siphon, clean, get things balanced.

 

[Alexreefer]

Thanks for all the great advice and will start scrubbing down every square in of rock and sand

 

[biophilia]

Cyano can be outcompeted very easily by diatoms if you want to avoid drastic measures like extended lights out, chasing nutrient levels, and dosing powerful antibacterial products.

Regularly dosing a little sodium silica to the tank can suppress both cyano and dinoflagellate growth and gives your snails a tasty snack to boot.