Cyano and how to get rid of it...
- Thread starter goma
- Start date
jimv
Member
I have a bag of GFO in the back chamber but I ordered a reactor that should be in next week. I am hope that will help.
slfcaptain
Active Member
jimv
Member
Its gone down a bit but nothing like yours. I'll post a pic tomorrow once I get the lights back on. I'll do a water change first thing in the morning. My reactor is scheduled to come in on Wednesday. Your tank looks great!
slfcaptain
Active Member
You'll get it, patients really is the key.
Have you testef phosphates and nitrates? I am curious if yours bumped up.
Steve
Have you testef phosphates and nitrates? I am curious if yours bumped up.
Steve
slfcaptain
Active Member
I used a turkey baster to blow the stuff off a couple of times a day (morning and night). That helped get it into the water column to be filtered out.
Steve
jimv
Member
I tested this morning and my parameters are as follows:
PH 8.2
Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0
KH 7
Calcium 520 + my scale in my API test kit only goes to 520 and I went a couple of drops over and it didn't change color.
Before:
After:
I do see some coming back already after just on day of light. I also did a water change with new salt (Red Sea Coral Pro). Hope my reactor helps out when it comes in this week.
slfcaptain
Active Member
Look a lot better. Did you go right back to your full photoperiod or are you ramping up to full? I started at 5 and am working up. Earlier in this thread it said that you could go a week with a shorter photoperiod to knock the cyano back (I think Glenn wrote it?). So I decided to ramp up slowly hoping that the cyano won't explode again. It also gives the purigen and GFO more time to suck up the nitrates and phosphates and the reactor should help.
Your calcium seems high. Are you dosing calcium? I use Red Sea Coral Pro and fresh saltwater is usually around 430 for me. Do you test Mg?
Your calcium seems high. Are you dosing calcium? I use Red Sea Coral Pro and fresh saltwater is usually around 430 for me. Do you test Mg?
jimv
Member
I did the 3 day blackout, 1 day with only the blue LED's on and then went back to the full lighting cycle. I can try cutting back the lights a bit but I only run them 7 hours a day. Did you get a spike in your phosphates once you did not have algae to consume it? I was somewhat expecting a spike in my phosphates.
I just finished a box of Kent Marine Reef Salt, this is the first water change I have done with the Red Sea. I have some B-Ionic 2 part but have not been dosing. I have not been testing Mag but I did order a test kit that should arrive with my reactor.
slfcaptain
Active Member
So I did some phosphate tests before, during, and after the blackout using the Hanna Checker and got readings of 0ppm, 0.02ppm, 0ppm respectively. So according to these tests I did see a little bump but then it dropped again, I hope the GFO and water changes got it. My nitrates also rose. Before the blackout nitrate was consistently at zero but rose to between 0.25-0.5ppm during and have stayed there so far. I am running purigen. As long as the nitrates stay low and I don't have another algae bloom then I will be satisfied with that little bit of nitrate. Maybe you still have a bit of cyano sucking up the phosphates.
If this blackout doesn't knock out the cyano then you could repeat it again in another month. It might take a couple of rounds to beat it.
BTW, I made a mistake in a previous post. My freshly made saltwater has a calcium of around 450-460ppm, higher than I stated. I just started dosing Alk on my tank. I had been in the mid 6s-7s dKH and through testing frequently (daily for a week) I was seeing a daily drop of about 0.15dKH day-to-day. My calcium has been steady in the 430's but the tank was using more alk than my water changes were providing. Using the Red Sea salt I would expect your Alk to rise unless your inhabitants are using more alk than water changes are replenishing.
If this blackout doesn't knock out the cyano then you could repeat it again in another month. It might take a couple of rounds to beat it.
BTW, I made a mistake in a previous post. My freshly made saltwater has a calcium of around 450-460ppm, higher than I stated. I just started dosing Alk on my tank. I had been in the mid 6s-7s dKH and through testing frequently (daily for a week) I was seeing a daily drop of about 0.15dKH day-to-day. My calcium has been steady in the 430's but the tank was using more alk than my water changes were providing. Using the Red Sea salt I would expect your Alk to rise unless your inhabitants are using more alk than water changes are replenishing.
jimv
Member
I got my Mag test kit and my Mag is at 1320 so I probably did not need to buy a Mag supplement but I have it on hand just in case. I set up the phosban 150 last night, some of the algae started to come back so I hope it helps. According to the directions I only need 4 tablespoons of carbon and 8 tablespoons of GFO for my RSM130. I sure does not look like much. I doubled up on the carbon. I hope it helps.
slfcaptain
Active Member
I have an update on my cyano problem. The blackout did knock the cyano back but it is slowly growing back. Also getting some other nuisance algae too. I am at about the six month mark on my bulbs so I ordered new bulbs and they will arrive next Monday. Would it be helpful to do another blackout before installing the new bulbs? I think my last blackout ended on 9/26, can I do another blackout this close together?
Jim, how is your cyano doing?
Jim, how is your cyano doing?
jimv
Member
Mine is starting to come back as well. My hope was that the phosphate reactor would have helped out a bit more. I was thinking of another blackout myself. I am running LED's so in theory my light spectrum should not change. I have 2 blue to 1 neutral white LED ratio on this tank. My nano has 1 blue to 2 cool white and I do not have this issue. I wonder if my color ratio has anything to do with it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk