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Mystery Cyano


KoonRoss

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I've been battling cyano for about 3wks now. I've read and tried just about everything I've seen on NR, so this is my plea for help. It's a BC14 with rapidLED retrofit

 

nitrates, nitrites, phosphates all come up zeros

religious 20% water changes every weekend, and 48hr after chemical attacks on this scourge

 

1. I put in a macro to help outcompete for nutrients

2. No fish, so no feeding. I stopped feeding corals except the duncan, and I feed him single chunks of shrimp, so nothing ever floats way in the water column

3. Lights: Actinics for 8hrs. whites for 5hrs

4. Flow: MJ900? (I think that's what I put in) 2 Koralia nanos on opposite sides of the tank

5. Was running floss, CPE, and ceramic rings at the beginning. Took out the rings over the course of week two of the problem. had a mini-cycle that definitely didn't help.

6. Tried Ultralife Red Slime remover with and without CPE still in. Recomended dosage and extra dosage

7. Tried Chemiclean with no CPE at recommended dosage.

8. Dipped unglued rocks in H2O2.

9. running floss only with Chemiclean and a bubbler for the past 24hrs to no avail.

 

Everything I tried, I tried for 24-48hrs.

 

I'm concerned that I may have a dead porcelain crab in there; I just haven't seen him in a while.

 

It's the holidays, I'm becoming a father in a month, and I have a big project going at work, so I'm already stressed out. Any help would be much appreciated. I will happily provide any more information that people want.

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jedimasterben

You have phosphate whether or not your test shows it. Remove CPE and run carbon and GFO/Phosguard separately. Change GFO every other day for a week, then change it out weekly from there. Cyano will die out.

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Harrisonbored
You have phosphate whether or not your test shows it. Remove CPE and run carbon and GFO/Phosguard separately. Change GFO every other day for a week, then change it out weekly from there. Cyano will die out.

 

+1

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You have phosphate whether or not your test shows it. Remove CPE and run carbon and GFO/Phosguard separately. Change GFO every other day for a week, then change it out weekly from there. Cyano will die out.

Running GFO separate from carbon. I'll change it out every 48hrs. Wish me luck!

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Also, you did not list what kind of water you are using, is it tap or RODI? Also what do you have for CUC?

I'm using RO from the LFS and their saltwater. Friends don't let friends use tap water!

CUC is maybe 6 astrea, 3 tiny blue leg hermits, 1 small hermit, 1 nass, 2 stomatella (those dudes are sweeet!), and a Turbo (Fast-Eddie)

 

Since my last post, I've been running GFO and changing every 48hrs. Replace floss daily. 10-20% WC every 48hrs.

I noticed my PH and dKH were both too low, so I've been buffering with Kent "Nano Reef part B," which is correcting the problem. I will have to keep an eye on calcium levels, but I think it'll be fine. I put an air line in the back chamber to raise dissolved oxygen and help with buffering PH. I've also added an airline to my water storage for the same purpose.

 

Every morning the tank is freaking pristine, and every evening the cyano is back, but I think it's declining. All the corals are showing excellent growth. The only one that seems really irritated by the problem is the AoG.

 

I may try a new LFS today and try to grab some ceriths.

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Coming out of a three day black out, water and GFO change. The lights were on for about three hours today and I can all ready see signs of it starting to come back. I just dosed 1ml H2O2. I am at my wit's end!

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jedimasterben

Blackouts don't work if the source is not found and eliminated. 1mL of peroxide will do absolutely nothing unless you've got a tank less than a gallon.

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Blackouts don't work if the source is not found and eliminated. 1mL of peroxide will do absolutely nothing unless you've got a tank less than a gallon.

Thanks for your input; but it doesn't really help me. Anything constructive you could say? I really have no idea where excess nutrients could be coming from, but I'm obviously missing something.

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Thats a weak dose of peroxide to use exactly right Ben

 

 

 

Clearly the op is wits end I get that. Use two mils, that's better and still forgiving

 

 

The bulk of your effort should be continually removing it with a siphon hose

 

Spend two weeks working with this and 2 mls 3x per week consistently

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Thats a weak dose of peroxide to use exactly right Ben

 

 

 

Clearly the op is wits end I get that. Use two mils, that's better and still forgiving

 

 

The bulk of your effort should be continually removing it with a siphon hose

 

Spend two weeks working with this and 2 mls 3x per week consistently

Okay. Thanks

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And honestly Ross to beat it in my tank peroxide wasn't even used I just siphon removed it over and over till it never came back. Peroxide nevr hurt anything to dose it carefully but its track record in fixing cyano is only about 50/50

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  • 1 month later...

Cyano has been beaten.

I abandoned h202 and any cyano removers.

I added an air pump in an attempt to increase dissolved oxygen levels and help buffer.

I buffered Ph to 8.3 on a daily basis.

I did 2 water changes per week siphoning all visible algae with airline tubing.

 

I also added 2 fish right after my last post and began feeding them daily. I think this was an ill-advised move, but for some reason it felt right.

 

I've not seen hide nor hair of the gunk since about a week after my last post. (appx 6wks)

 

This is all good, because my baby boy was born last tuesday (Darwin's birthday!!!) and he will undoubtedly be occupying much of my mental faculties.

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  • 1 year later...

So . . . almost exactly 1 year later I'm fighting cyano again. I'm going to do the same regimen again and not stress out over it, but I'm wondering what people think about the 1 year thing. My thoughts are:

 

1. purely coincidence.

2. angle of the sun shining through the window this time of year throws things out of balance.

3. This was enough time for occasional missed waterchanges to catch up to me. (20-30% every week, but sometimes every other)

4. A gremlin only active in Minnesota winter sneaks in and feeds the tank 5 times a day.

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So . . . almost exactly 1 year later I'm fighting cyano again. I'm going to do the same regimen again and not stress out over it, but I'm wondering what people think about the 1 year thing. My thoughts are:

 

1. purely coincidence.

2. angle of the sun shining through the window this time of year throws things out of balance.

3. This was enough time for occasional missed waterchanges to catch up to me. (20-30% every week, but sometimes every other)

4. A gremlin only active in Minnesota winter sneaks in and feeds the tank 5 times a day.

 

 

Anytime I'm lax at all with my tank cyano comes roaring back at me. I think that some tanks have combinations of food type, frequency, lighting etc. that make them more susceptible to cyano than others.

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Hello from MN :) I had some cyano at one point... got angry.... dropped a bunch of $ on an mp10 to increase flow, bought a skimmer, and dosed vodka and it never game back.

 

Ofc that was all kind of drastic...

 

Does your temp fluctuate in winter at all? I have seen posts of relating cyano to temp swings. No idea if that is valid or not though.

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