algae problem.

[Islandoftiki]

Chemiclean cost $10 and air pump will remove it within 48 hours.

 

ChemiClean is massively effective against cyano, and I have yet to hear of anyone having any problems when it was used per the directions. I did a lot of research before I even tried ChemiClean.

[NaturalViolence]

 

Perhaps when phosphate/nitrate reaches a certain point, GHA starts out competing cyano.

 

Not a chance. Whether I had high nitrate/phosphate or low nitrate/phosphate back then cyano would easily outcompete all algaes. It would just grow faster when the nutrient levels were higher.

 

And my tank is currently cleaner than it has ever been yet I have no cyano and plenty of GHA in the fuge.

 

GHA is much more effective at taking up nutrients than macroalgae afterall.

 

True, but what does this have to do with cyano?

 

I would guess some cyano is still living in your tank in small amounts?

 

This is true for all of us, not just me. Every tank has at least a few species of each group of algae and cyano in the water. That's why you get blooms when your nutrient levels climb. They don't just pop out of thin air, they were there all along. Nothing short of a ton of bleach is going to completely rid any system of cyano. It's just that most of the species are limited to very small populations most of the time due to competition for nutrients.

 

After I got rid of the cyano, I had a skimmer so I started carbon dosing and it has never returned.

 

I wish I knew why.

CO2 also feeds cyano

 

CO2 is a major nutrient for all photosynthetic organisms. Are you implying that cyano is preferred over algae in high CO2 environments? Again my tank contradicts this as I have high PH (low CO2) despite high aeration.

 

I guess one thing to keep in mind is there are many different species of cyano so saying you had cyano and I have cyano... doesn't mean we had the same cyano or that it would respond the same way.

 

This is true. However their cellular structure is similar enough that it shouldn't matter much under these conditions.