Cyano infection?

Hi All!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Everything has been running smoothly, and everybody seems to be happy. But in the past few weeks I've started to notice pink "blotches" on my sandbed, which seem to be getting deeper, and spreading. I can also see that it seems to be deeper in the sand bed (by looking at the pictures next to the glass).

I can siphon it out, but it just comes right back the following day. I'm at a point now where I'm siphoning and doing small water changes almost daily. It seems to be futile though.

The cyano (if that's what it is) is only on the sand. (By the way my sandbed is less than 2" deep). I haven't seen it on any rocks or corals.

My inhabitants are a clownfish / BT Anenome, a Chromis, Foxface, and a Coral Beauty. Also have two emerald crabs, a peppermint shrimp, and several hermits and snails. Water parameters are fin; Ammonia 0, Nitrates 0, and Nitrites >10.

I have attached pictures. As a sidenote I thought I was getting some great coralline growth; but it all seems to be disappearing. Can that be a sign of another problem?

Pictures are attached. Please let me know what you think,

Thanks!
BK

Can anybody confirm if this is even a cyano outbreak? Or could it be algae? I notice it seems to recede after dark. It's barely visible in the morning. Are my reef days numbered???

Thanks!
Bk

It does look like cyano to me. What type of lights are you running? It might be time to change the bulbs, unless you have LED lights. Lighting is often a factor in cyano issues.

Thanks for your response. Running (6) T-5s, 24". They're about 6 months old; came with the fixture when I bought it new. Are stock bulbs normally "starter" bulbs that don't last long? I will try changing them and see what happens.

Thanks!
BK

I would def change the bulbs. Look into ATI bulbs. That might not be the issue. How much are you feeding? How often? How long do you run your lights? We def need more info to target your problem because that is cyno.how often you do a water change ect ect.

Some people might say add flow but thats not going to help that much. Ive tried it, doesnt work. Heres what ive been doing to battle mine.

I cut the light schedule down, i do more frequent WC's, I feed less....i would def change your bulbs tho. Bulbs that come with fixtures are garbage IMO. No PAR value what so ever. Like i said look into ATI or Geismann bulbs (sp). GL

Cyano often comes down to either nutrient export, or lighting (as it was in my case)

We need more particulars about your system, as Dana has said

In the mean time, try to do small daily water changes, along with a weekly change of 10-20%. Your goal with the small daily water changes is to syphon out as much of the cyano as you can

Dana / Northstar,

Thanks for your responses. I'll address each of your questions; let me know if you need more details.

Lights: I will definitely get some good bulbs and replace the stock bulbs that came with the fixture. My photo-period is set for 10 hours; 8 hours at full power, and an additional 2 hours actinics only.

Feeding: I feed pellets small amount, twice a day. I watch to make sure it is all consumed in a few minutes. Although in researching this problem I have seen that pellets are probably not the best choice, as they lead to phosphates (which I haven't tested for...yet).

Flow: I think I have about the best I'm going to get. It's a deep tank, and not many options to get flow to reach the front sandbed. Interestingly shortly after I started to see cyano I checked my powerheads. Once of them had decided to change directions, and was turning the wrong direction. So I reversed the power plug, which corrected that issue.

Water Changes. Generally I do a 30% change every 2 to 3 weeks. Although recently I have been doing a 2-3 gallon change every day or two, to try to siphon out the cyano. But it seems useless, as it comes right back.

I've noticed that my siphon doesn't really seem powerful enough to pick it all up, and I wonder if most if it is actually getting dispersed back into the tank (although the sandbed looks clean afterwards). Can somebody recommend a better way? It's a challenge to reach the bottom of the tank. And the siphon pulls the water / gunk up into the tube, but isn't strong enough to pull it all the way out.

By the way concerning water changes; I use "Scripps" water which is pulled directly from the ocean and filtered. I am always careful to not collect after it rains, and I store the water for several days or more before using.

My water quality is always the same. Ammonio=0, Nitrites=0, Nitrates<10.

What do you guys think about the picture showing that it (the cyano) is below the sand as well. Is that a major concern, or is it normal?

Thanks again!
-bk

For siphoning the cyano out, go get yourself a 4-6 foot section of half inch vinyl tubing. That will work better than the big siphoners often sold for water changes

As stated before, I would do a small water change each day (whatever it takes to syphon out the cyano) and in addition do at least a 10% change each week. Cyano is normally caused by excess nitrates and / or phosphates in the water column

I would also look at cutting back your feeding, at least until you get the cyano under control. Go down to either once a day, or once every other day. Even the best quality pellets will contain some phosphates

What brand of pellets are you feeding? Also, are you running a sumo / refugium? If so, do you have cheato or some other macro's in it?

That is, indeed, cyano. There are two things going on that indicate to me that you have a high phosphate issue. First of all, you are feeding pellet food, which like everyone has already said, contains a lot of phosphate. Second, your coralline algae is receding, which further indicates high phosphates because coralline has a hard time growing when phosphates are high.

Do you have any sponges, socks filters, etc. in the tank or sump? If so, I would remove them.

IMO, start an algae scrubber if possible. When I started my algae scrubber, cyano growth halted, coralline growth bloomed, as well as coral growth/health.

Northstar24 said:

For siphoning the cyano out, go get yourself a 4-6 foot section of half inch vinyl tubing. That will work better than the big siphoners often sold for water changes

As stated before, I would do a small water change each day (whatever it takes to syphon out the cyano) and in addition do at least a 10% change each week. Cyano is normally caused by excess nitrates and / or phosphates in the water column

I would also look at cutting back your feeding, at least until you get the cyano under control. Go down to either once a day, or once every other day. Even the best quality pellets will contain some phosphates

What brand of pellets are you feeding? Also, are you running a sumo / refugium? If so, do you have cheato or some other macro's in it?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips. I will go with the vinyl tubing as you've suggeted; I'm betting that will do a much better job in helping get rid of the cyano. Also will cut back on the feeding to once every other day.

I don't know the brand I'm using offhand, but I'll find out. Also I do have a refugium with cheato. It stays green, although doesn't seem to grow much (have it on a 12-hour light cycle).

-bk

WannaRace said:

That is, indeed, cyano. There are two things going on that indicate to me that you have a high phosphate issue. First of all, you are feeding pellet food, which like everyone has already said, contains a lot of phosphate. Second, your coralline algae is receding, which further indicates high phosphates because coralline has a hard time growing when phosphates are high.

Do you have any sponges, socks filters, etc. in the tank or sump? If so, I would remove them.

IMO, start an algae scrubber if possible. When I started my algae scrubber, cyano growth halted, coralline growth bloomed, as well as coral growth/health.

Click to expand...

Thanks for confirming for me - was starting to wonder. Is it normal the way it seems to run beneath the sand surface?

I do have a refugium; no socks or filter though. Wish I had space for an algae scrubber, but I barely have enough space for what I've got now. I am planning to try to get the Chaeto growing better though - please let me know if you have any tips! Also thanks for your comment about coralline receding. It's starting to make sense.

-bk

Phosphate reading is 0.25. Is that considered "bad"? Does it mean I'm probably overfeeding?

Thanks!
-bk

.25 is higher than you want it, but since you actually have cyano your phosphates are probably higher than the .25 but the cyano is pulling it out of the water

Are you using tap water or RO/DI water?

Northstar24 said:

.25 is higher than you want it, but since you actually have cyano your phosphates are probably higher than the .25 but the cyano is pulling it out of the water

Are you using tap water or RO/DI water?

Click to expand...

I use "Scripps Water" (filtered ocean water) for changes, and RO/DI for topoff.

Just out of curiosity, have you tested any of the sea water before adding it to your tank? It's probably fine, but when facing an issue like cyano knowledge is definitely power. You want to eliminate as many things as possible, and source water is something I would definitely consider a possible problem. If you have some of it handy, go ahead and test it and post the results here - lets eliminate it from the list