Cyano showed up today.

[Marines_Wife]

Yesterday I noticed what looked like a little bit of algae on the glass. Today I am sure that it is cyano. I am putting up some pictures just to be sure that it is in fact cyano but I have a few questions.
Why is it showing up all of the sudden?? The only thing that has gotten a bit high lately has been my nitrates at 20ppm, I just did a 25% water change on Thursday, my phosphates are consistently at .5ppm......I have a couple of theories so help me out
I have been guilty the past few days of leaving my lights on for over 12 hours a day. I got excited I finally had my tank temp stabilized.....I know cyano is photosynthetic, could this be causing it?
I feed pellets and mysis every day...twice a day actually. I have been feeding no more and no less then I usually do for about the past month. Could I be feeding to much? From what I have been reading my goby needs to eat at least twice a day and since my clowns are babies it was suggested to me that they eat twice a day as well.
I did also recently (about 2 days ago) turn off my powerhead in the back to urge my BTA to move where there is better flow. Which BTW I have the most stubborn BTA because she is just hangin out in the back nig and beautiful. Very frustrating....
I read that siphoning out the cyano, having a black out for a few days and skipping a day or two of feeding would help this. Is there anything else I could be doing to help?? I would like to kank this early on before it becomes a full blown problem.


002 by EspysWife, on Flickr

 

[little_fish]

Yep that is cyano, and it shows up suddenly because its a bacteria and goes through and exponential growth phase. So it looks like there is none one day, to a ton the next. Your high nitrates and phosphates are definitely feeding it, along with your long photoperiod. If it starts to really grow out of control then you might see a drop in nitrates and phosphates because it is using it up faster than you can test for it.

You have the idea about how to get rid of it, but i would also cut down to feeding once a day. The clowns and goby will be fine.

 

[chuck78]

+1 little_fish

 

[Marines_Wife]

Yep that is cyano, and it shows up suddenly because its a bacteria and goes through and exponential growth phase. So it looks like there is none one day, to a ton the next. Your high nitrates and phosphates are definitely feeding it, along with your long photoperiod. If it starts to really grow out of control then you might see a drop in nitrates and phosphates because it is using it up faster than you can test for it.

You have the idea about how to get rid of it, but i would also cut down to feeding once a day. The clowns and goby will be fine.

0.5ppm is a high phosphate reading???

The nitrates I am trying to get under control, should I do more than a weekly water change and more then 25%?

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

You may want to consider turning that powerhead back on if it fed flow to that corner. Cyano tends to start growing in low flow areas, then spreads out. The stuff is pretty nasty and if not dealt with can smother coral. As for feeding, I feed my fish once every 3 days. I stay away from pellets because they usually dont get eaten and just sit on the bottom. I'd cut back your feeding. Good luck.

 

[Marines_Wife]

I feed them pellets because thats what the clownfish grew up eating, however they seem to enjoy the mysis quite a bit, can I just cout out the pellets all together or slowly phase them out??

Powerhead is back on (begrudgingly) and I am going to do a two day black out/tank starve. Any other suggestions??? Should I do it longer then that?

 

[little_fish]

any phosphates are a high reading

I would stop feeding the pellets too

I would do a longer blackout that than also, 5 or 6 days. I would do a water change before, suck out as much of it as you can, do a water change in the middle, also removing anything that is left, and then a final water change when you turn the lights back on. The best way to beat cyano is by nutrient export, hence all the water changes.

 

[Marines_Wife]

My phosphates have always been at that level. Since day one. What I have changed in the past few days though are the lights.....that would make a lot of sense to me.
I just checked my levels, I did a WC on Thursday. My phosphates are still at 5ppm my nitrates are at 0. I am slowly doing a change to filtered water however, because I know unfiltered can have phosphates.

 

[Northstar24]

Fighting cyano comes down to a few things:
1) less nutrient import (feed less)
2)increase nutrient export (macro algae in a refugium or phosphate / nitrate removal media)
3) low flow or deadspots need to be addressed
4) photo period and / or bulbs. Sounds like you have a long photoperiod. How old are your bulbs? As they age, bulbs shift light output into the Red spectrum, which fuels nuisance algae growth

 

[fastrd400]

Fighting cyano comes down to a few things:
1) less nutrient import (feed less)
2)increase nutrient export (macro algae in a refugium or phosphate / nitrate removal media)
3) low flow or deadspots need to be addressed
4) photo period and / or bulbs. Sounds like you have a long photoperiod. How old are your bulbs? As they age, bulbs shift light output into the Red spectrum, which fuels nuisance algae growth

I have to agree with Northstar. Both the pellets and the Mysis are high is Phosphates. Try switching over to Rod's Food, or Emerald Entree.

How old are your bulbs? I have a photo period of 13 hours, only 7 of which is MH hours.

You can also think about setting up a reactor to run GFO.

The first thing I would change is the type of food, not necessarily the amount.

 

[Marines_Wife]

Fighting cyano comes down to a few things:
1) less nutrient import (feed less)

Im going to move to feeding once a day now. I think Im more upset about it then my fish will be, its my favorite part of the day haha

2)increase nutrient export (macro algae in a refugium or phosphate / nitrate removal media)

I have a HOB refugium set up, however I am wondering if my phosphates are coming from the feeding still??

3) low flow or deadspots need to be addressed

I turned off my maxijet in the back of the tank a few days ago to urge my BTA out of the back...it creates all of the circulation that was where the cyano was. I turned that back on

4) photo period and / or bulbs. Sounds like you have a long photoperiod. How old are your bulbs? As they age, bulbs shift light output into the Red spectrum, which fuels nuisance algae growth

I noticed my bulbs didnt look as bright as they used to so I changed them on Thursday

This is what I have done so far. I siphoned out all of the cyano last night and thoroughly cleaned the glass, then I did a 25% WC with filtered water, and I am having a black out for the next few days, along with starving the tank. I tested my water last night before the WC and the reading on my nitrates and phosphates were:
Nitrates: 0
Phosphates: .5
Im going to do another WC tomorrow, another 25%....like I said before I am doing a blackout/tank starve, changed the bulbs, and turned the powerhead in the back on again. I think I just changed to much to really pin point what it was.....I got excited that I was able to leave my lights on so they were running like 12+ hours a day. Seriously....

 

[fastrd400]

What kind of lights are you running? If you changed the bulbs there is no need for a black out, just reduce the photo period.

 

[Waddi]

I also find that when one of my snails die, the cyano starts to grow from around them, mind you i have only seen this with one snail, so dont know if its common! :D

 

[Marines_Wife]

What kind of lights are you running? If you changed the bulbs there is no need for a black out, just reduce the photo period.

Current USA SunPod 1x250W 14K HQI-MH w/12 Lunar Lights

I noticed it is really only in that one area. No where else in the tank. Just in one corner. Perhaps putting another powerhead to get more movement in that area would help???

 

[fastrd400]

Yeah, that is kinda what I am thinking as well. It seems that you had no issue before the shut down of the one powerhead. So turning it back on I bet will solve the problem. I would not opt for a black out right now, the cyano is really minimal.

 

[Marines_Wife]

Thank you all!!

 

[Marines_Wife]

Should I starve the tank?? I am not lying when I say I NEVER see my goby. but I am working at my desk right now and he is parked on the side of the tank closest to me. Just staring. like Im all f**ked up haha

"woman! feed me!"

 

[fastrd400]

I wouldn't starve the tank, just use a different food like the 2 I suggested earlier.

 

[Marines_Wife]

Ok. I have noticed however with skipping a feeding and the lights off my fish have been more active. My goby has been out swimming more everything. Is there a particular reason behind this?

 

[fastrd400]

They are most likely looking for food during the daytime. They are kind of creatures of habit and used to the schedule I am guessing.