Pretty sure I have some Cyano going on

[redstang]

Bound to happen. Newb with too small a tank, maybe a little higher bio load, and not quite frequent enough water changes to make up for it. It's not that bad. No huge strands of hair or anything. Just a pinkish tint to the sand.

Really didn't notice it till I vacuumed up some sand and then noticed how pink all the rest was. So I did a 25% water change and vacuumed out as much as I could. Which was most. Also cutting down the photo period.

Now to hunt for the culprit. My guess is overfeeding. I finally ordered something I should have had before I bought fish, a TDS meter just to make sure my RODI is really RODI quality. I'll also be picking up a phosphate kit next week t make sure I don't have anything leaching phosphates.

My nitrates have typically been high. In the 20-40 range. So I'll do water changes till it's 5 or so and then make sure I'm doing a weekly water change rather than every 1.5-2 weeks. See if that keeps them under control.

For media I replaced my plain old chemipure with the elite version. Anyone know if that will help? I'm admittedly still a little confused as to what I gain from it other than better water supposedly.

Next month will also bring in a protein skimmer. Had that on my amazon wish list and when I showed my wife what we had growing she said do what it takes to get rid of it. Whether I PS helps or not I'm getting one :evil:!

Any other recommendations? Fish seem happy. Corals seem happy.

 

[dawgface]

Probably higher bioload and overfeeding.

Seems your onctge right track with weekly water changes and adding a protein skimmed. My only question is what are you feeding?

 

[redstang]

DawgFace;691357 wrote: Probably higher bioload and overfeeding.

Seems your onctge right track with weekly water changes and adding a protein skimmed. My only question is what are you feeding?

Flake and pellet. Occasionally some frozen mysis.

I was way overfeeding the flake though and have cut back significantly. Pellet's weren't as bad but I'm more careful with those too.

 

[mcphock]

You don't really sound like you're a noob! You do sound like you've got a good plan to deal with the cyano though.

 

[redstang]

McPhock;691361 wrote: You don't really sound like you're a noob! You do sound like you've got a good plan to deal with the cyano though.

Yeah, I'm a newb . Only started the tank in June. I have done a lot of reading though. My hope is that I get these mistakes out of the way now so I don't make them with a big tank.

 

[sleepyreef]

I had bad cyano and I didn't even have fish. I just did around 25% water changes every week and vacuumed out all the cyano I could find when doing the water changes. It has been three weeks and it has cleared up to the point that it doesn't start to appear unless I let the water change go over 8-9 days. I don't have a skimmer. I think mine was due to bad RODI unit. I didn't use any chemicals and only really have live rock as my filter.

 

[redstang]

SleepyReef;691379 wrote: I had bad cyano and I didn't even have fish. I just did around 25% water changes every week and vacuumed out all the cyano I could find when doing the water changes. It has been three weeks and it has cleared up to the point that it doesn't start to appear unless I let the water change go over 8-9 days. I don't have a skimmer. I think mine was due to bad RODI unit. I didn't use any chemicals and only really have live rock as my filter.

I'm hoping a bad RODI isn't my source. It was bought from a LFS going out of business and the membrane section was sealed. I'm still guessing that mine is overfeeding and not being diligent on my water changes.

I've had 3 snails die in the last month or so. Not sure if that means anything though.

 

[slowjazz]

RedStang;691382 wrote: I'm hoping a bad RODI isn't my source. It was bought from a LFS going out of business and the membrane section was sealed. I'm still guessing that mine is overfeeding and not being diligent on my water changes.

I've had 3 snails die in the last month or so. Not sure if that means anything though.

Kind of hard to kill them.. (unless you have a hermit crab ) Did you check your water parms? Sound like maybe your salt or ph may be too high. Snails could die off if they ran out of food, but i doubt that is your problem. how is the water temp?

Everybody with a new tank will go though cyano at some point. The trick is getting the good bacteria built up enough to handle your load. Do you any fish at this point? (you started in June?) What size is your tank?

 

[redstang]

slowjazz;692351 wrote: Kind of hard to kill them.. (unless you have a hermit crab ) Did you check your water parms? Sound like maybe your salt or ph may be too high. Snails could die off if they ran out of food, but i doubt that is your problem. how is the water temp?

Everybody with a new tank will go though cyano at some point. The trick is getting the good bacteria built up enough to handle your load. Do you any fish at this point? (you started in June?) What size is your tank?

pH has been pretty steady at 8.1 since startup. I use DD H2Ocean Mag+ Pro salt. Salinity could be an issue as it got up to 1.026 at one point but I slowly brought that back down to 1.023. Temp has been between 78-80 with very slow swings. Generally it's between 78-79.

Biocube 29gal. 5 fish. 2 Ocellaris clowns, Yellow Watchman Goby, Tailspot Blenny, and a Six-line wrasse. All but the YWG are juveniles. YWG is bigger than most I see in LFS.

I do have hermits but I don't think they're the culprit on the turban's. It's possible on the Nerite though.

As for the cyano I may have found a potential culprit beyond overfeeding or just being a new tank. I newbly bought an RO unit thinking it was RODI. My TDS meter is reading 2-3 on the output. DI cartridge has been ordered.

So far it's not really making a comeback as I have cut the feeding back as well as the light schedule although I haven't really seen it much with lights on over the last few days. Sand looks fairly clean though.

 

[slowjazz]

RedStang;692354 wrote: pH has been pretty steady at 8.1 since startup. I use DD H2Ocean Mag+ Pro salt. Salinity could be an issue as it got up to 1.026 at one point but I slowly brought that back down to 1.023. Temp has been between 78-80 with very slow swings. Generally it's between 78-79.

Biocube 29gal. 5 fish. 2 Ocellaris clowns, Yellow Watchman Goby, Tailspot Blenny, and a Six-line wrasse. All but the YWG are juveniles. YWG is bigger than most I see in LFS.

I do have hermits but I don't think they're the culprit on the turban's. It's possible on the Nerite though.

As for the cyano I may have found a potential culprit beyond overfeeding or just being a new tank. I newbly bought an RO unit thinking it was RODI. My TDS meter is reading 2-3 on the output. DI cartridge has been ordered.

So far it's not really making a comeback as I have cut the feeding back as well as the light schedule although I haven't really seen it much with lights on over the last few days. Sand looks fairly clean though.

Seems like alot of fish for a young tank. cutting back on lights and food does help things alot. I have two turbos and a bunch of flat shell snails. (forgot thier name) When my Cyano broke out I cleaned the sand and cut the lights. out-break lasted about a week and all was gone.
Just very odd that you lost some snails. Would not think the cyano starved the snails. did you notice extra food on the sand when you had your out-break? Maybe you had a spike in the water or maybe some copper..ect got in the water?

 

[nanoreefer]

<span style="font-size: 13px"><span style="font-family: Calibri">How about flow, Do you have any power heads in there and if you do what&#8217;s the gph? From my experience I've noticed having good flow helps control it from happing.</span></span>

 

[redstang]

slowjazz;692406 wrote: Seems like alot of fish for a young tank. cutting back on lights and food does help things alot. I have two turbos and a bunch of flat shell snails. (forgot thier name) When my Cyano broke out I cleaned the sand and cut the lights. out-break lasted about a week and all was gone.
Just very odd that you lost some snails. Would not think the cyano starved the snails. did you notice extra food on the sand when you had your out-break? Maybe you had a spike in the water or maybe some copper..ect got in the water?

The cyano and snail deaths may be completely unrelated. At least one, and maybe both of the turban snails died before the cyano was noticeable. Food never stayed on the sand long. Either the hermits, fish, bristle worms, or snails got it.

I test every other week and never had measurable ammonia or nitrites. My nitrates were always in the 20-40 range. I need better test kits but I'd alternate between API and an Instant ocean kit(I believe it's IO).

Doubt copper got in. I have none in my house and water through my RO unit is the only water that got in there.

NanoReefer;692409 wrote: <span style="font-size: 13px"><span style="font-family: Calibri">How about flow, Do you have any power heads in there and if you do what’s the gph? From my experience I've noticed having good flow helps control it from happing.</span></span>

MP10 running between 40-50% in reefcrest mode. I hope flow isn't the issue !