cyanobacteria is gone

[disaster999]

im not really sure why the cyanobacteria keeps coming back. ive treated my tank for cyano 3 times already. they will go away for a while, then come back again. im sure i have enough flow in my tank

 

~15-16gal of water total. quietone 3000 pump. t-ed of for chiller (~150-200gph) the rest goes to the tank. after headloss im guessing 350gph going through the display tank

 

my parms are all normal

calc 420ppm

alk 9-10

mg 1200-1300ppm

nitrate 5ppm

phosphate 0-0.3

[HecticDialectics]

you might wanna just try adding a powerhead to the tank and seeing what happens... another 2/300 GPH

[bdare]

Cyano comes from excess nutrients. Reduce the nutrients and the cyano goes away. I wouldn't reccomend "treating the cynao" rather revise husbandry habits to prevent it in the first place.

 

Are you running a fuge? Skimmer? Can you add a phosban reactor with some GFO and ROX carbon? How many fish? How much do you feed?

[disaster999]

got a skimmer and fuge, not running any phosban or carbon. i have 3 fish, 1 shrimp, and 1 snail. i guess im feeding everyday which could contribute to the excess nutrients

[bdare]

got a skimmer and fuge, not running any phosban or carbon. i have 3 fish, 1 shrimp, and 1 snail. i guess im feeding everyday which could contribute to the excess nutrients

 

What kind of fish are they? 3 could be a lot in a 15 gallon tank.

[disaster999]

clown, firefish, and a flasher wrasse

[xbwolfx]

get rid of the flasher wrasse, imo.

[kermitthedaniel]

um really the answers or rather questions you should be asking him are, do you use tap water, tap water has phosphates in it, no matter what you do? so do you use tap water for water changes or even for evaporation? if so that is probably the biggest reason behind it. also do you have a powerhead or anything else in the tank to create current or is it just the return? try to get a Koralia 1 to help that also.

[disaster999]

ro/di water, no tap

 

i have 4 return nozzles pointing at different areas of the tank creating flow

[bdare]

Yeah... it's definitely not a flow issues. I agree that is a lot of fish for a 15 gallon tank. I think you either need more water volume / rock or you need to lose either the clown or the wrasse.

[$aint]

what kind of lighting are you running? when was the last time you changed your bulb?

[Pickle010]

Sounds to me like you've been treating the symptoms and not the cause - so yeah.. it will keep comming back unless you figure it out.

 

This has worked for me in the past... hopefully it helps you out as well:

 

Cyano grows on top of nutrient rich areas of low flow. There are a number of things that need to be correct or possibly corrected to combat this without the use of chemical additives. The biggest thing is to get rid of the extra nutrients.

 

1. Evaluate your feeding. If you are feeding more than can be eaten in about 1-2 minutes it is too much and the remainder of it is falling to the rock and sand and becoming nutrient.

 

2. Evaluate your flow. If you have areas in the tank where there is little to no flow this can be corrected by adding power heads or repositioning the ones you already have. You don’t need to create sand storms just have water moving over the area to keep detritus suspended in the water column for removal by your filter – skimmer.

 

3. Evaluate your water changes. The solution to pollution is dilution! You want to continually remove unneeded nutrients as well as replace those things that are used by the system. 10% weekly is a good change schedule. Some do 20% every other week and some vary the schedule from there, but a good start is 10% per week.

 

4. Evaluate your lighting schedule. About 10 hours of daylight is all that is needed.

 

5. If you have a cyano outbreak do the above 4 items and:

 

a. At water change time siphon off the cyano first. It will come up easily almost like a blanket.

 

b. After siphoning stir the affected areas a little to suspend any detritus for the water change and filtering - skimming removal.

 

c. Use a turkey baster now and at every water change in the future to again suspend the detritus for removal by the water change and your filtering – skimming.

 

Keeping nutrient levels low to non-existent will help to avoid cyano outbreaks and any algae outbreaks as well as keep your tank and you happy happy.

 

I don't know who posted that originally... wish I knew so I could give them credit. I just saved the info.

 

Good Luck

[disaster999]

ill keep the fish for now, i cant take it back to the lfs, they dont take returns or store credit here. once it leaves their hands, its my problem now. besides i plan on upgrading the tank soon.

 

im using 4x24w t5ho lighting right now with the stock bulbs that the fixture comes with. the bulbs are less than 5 months old. the actinic runs for 9 hours while the 10,000k lights run for 8 hours. going to upgrade to better quality bulbs, ati, or uv bulbs, this weekend as i dont like the color of the stock bulbs much.

 

my fish and shrimp will eat up all the food i throw at it in less than 1 min. i do see some flow into the rocks, but my shrimp will chase after it. i ill cut back on feeding to once every 2-3 days

[HecticDialectics]

your flow is probably a LOT less than you think it is if you have 4 different nozzles.. must have a crapload of twists and turns, etc.

[bdare]

High flow only masks the underlying issue. It will keep it from forming but why not knock it down for good with water quality?

[HecticDialectics]

High flow only masks the underlying issue. It will keep it from forming but why not knock it down for good with water quality?

 

 

Sure... water quality also needs some work but right now he's having cyano problems. Cross the first bridge first, imo.

[disaster999]

Thanks for the help. Ill go and mess with my nozzles, 2 outlet instead of 4, changed the bulbs and run carbon. hopefully that would help.

[bdare]

Thanks for the help. Ill go and mess with my nozzles, 2 outlet instead of 4, changed the bulbs and run carbon. hopefully that would help.

You might try to get some GFO too...

[HecticDialectics]

You might try to get some GFO too...

 

+1

 

 

And just moving to two nozzles isn't gonna add a very significant amount more flow. You need a more powerful pump, or a powerhead you can stick in the tank.

 

chemiclean also works well short-term to zap the problem. but nutrient problems must be fixed too

[Boomboy]

remember to when you test for nitrates or phosphates, it can be misleading, its reading the excess nutrients in your tank, your algea and cyano is using up the rest, so it could be higher than what you are reading, and that is why it is growing. also do a couple water changes, over the next week, maybe one ever other day. about 2 to 3 gallons, and keep doing that, feed a little less, but dont stop feeding cause your fish need food. try the flow and pick it off by hand. its a tough battle but eventually you can win it.

[Noobeef]

I'm having problems with Cyano as well. All levels read out at zero (nitrates, phosphates, etc) and I have a lot of flow. It's actually growing on some rocks that are directly in the flow of the powerheads (4 inches away, lol). My water quality should be pristine anyway as the bioload is very light. I feed every other day and I only have a six line, an ocellaris and a royal gamma in a freaking 40 gallon tank. Its cycled as well. I honestly don't know where the nutrients are coming from. I look all around the tank and I don't see any build up areas of detritus. I have 2 balls of chateo in my fuge, a skimmer pulling all sorts of wonderful junk. I'm really at a loss.

[disaster999]

i feel your pain. my water level is pristine too and cyano keeps coming back. but one day it magically disappeared and this annoying brown algae (not diatom) starts to grow every.

[metalhead311]

I'm having the same issues in my 10g. I have only one damsel, a sea urchin, 2 small hermits, and a 12 assorted snails and I'm pretty sure my issue is from overfeeding every other day. I'm going to switch water sources. I've been buying premixed water from a LFS and I just found out today its just tap water from a hose mixed with instant ocean. ACK! No wonder it was so cheap. Get what you pay for right... I found another guy thats sells RO/DI water with the Hawaiian salt mix for a few dollars more per 5g. So I'm gonna try a few water changes with his stuff first before I go get the Chem treatment.

[disaster999]

ok cyano is gone, but this algae is overtaking my tank

 

 

 

 

water pram is all normal. calc 420, alk 8.5 mg1350, no phosphate, no nitrates and no ammonia

[adolfo425]

I have the same problem. I am thinking its a process where a tank matures. I seen it on other tanks that have been running long. It comes around and goes away.

 

Adolfo