does light affect cyano growth?

[nyk]

The reason im wondering is because I have enough flow on it to make it wither away at night but when the lights come on it grows thick again. It also only grows under direct light. In the cave in my rockwork is the least amount of flow but it has no light but champ doesn't build up there. Any input on a solution would be helpful.

 

[ripped tide]

Light does effect cyano. You may be keeping them on too long, or it may be an improper spectrum(generally a result of old bulbs). Do you have Phosphate, nitrate, or silicate? What are your feeding practices?

 

[grouper therapy]

How long has your tank been setup?

 

[jef4y]

Yes. Light & flow are key issues in Cyano.

I recently had a bit of cyano outbreak in my sump after putting the lights back on after being out for a few months. The lights were old and the poor spectrum combined with low flow = cyano outbreak.

 

[budsreef]

I believe the three major factors contributing to cyano are: light-too much, too long, or wrong spectrum; flow-not enough in the affected area; and nutrients-primarilly nitrates and phosphates. Cyano is photosynthetic, I'm going by my suspect memory here, so it converts carbon dioxide and probably something else to release oxygen. As your lights go out the flow doesn't make it wither it just releases the gasses and starts up again first thing in the morning when the lights come back on.

So if your bulbs are fresh and spectrum isn't an issue then you could have the lights on too long, your feeding too much, have too high of a bioload, not doing enough water changes, not using RO/DI water, or you don't have enough flow.

 

[jef4y]

The interesting piece in my scenario is that it's growing ON my chaeto in the sump. LOL..

I'm hoping that the reduced photo-period & fresh bulb will do the trick.

 

[nyk]

Well my tank has been up for about 2 months I would say. The bulb is the one that came with the tank when I bought it. Not sure how long the guy used it before me. My levels are good and I do a 15% wc every Sunday. I use ro water only. I think I need to change the bulb and see if that helps.

 

[mph84]

nyk;712856 wrote: Well my tank has been up for about 2 months I would say. The bulb is the one that came with the tank when I bought it. Not sure how long the guy used it before me. My levels are good and I do a 15% wc every Sunday. I use ro water only. I think I need to change the bulb and see if that helps.

if its only two months old I wouldn't worry too much about it. Thats just one of those things that happens to a new tank. Changing bulbs is a good idea though, especially if you don't know how long they have been in use.

 

[grouper therapy]

It is probably the hydrogen sulfide that is being released from the bacteria breaking down the organic matter from anaerobic areas of the tank. While light definitely contributes to cyano growth it is not the "cause" of it. Cyano bacteria has the ability to store the energy it receives from the light and use it to obtain electrons from sources other than H2O such as Hydrogen sulfide. Once your tank reaches an equilibrium of bacteria needed to handle the bioload it should reduce if not quit it's production of hydrogen sulfide and thereby much of the cyano bacteria. What size skimmer are you running on what size tank?