Established tank cyano bloom...possible cycle??

[aquanut6]

I'm in the process of changing the landscaping in my tank and I'm having a cyano bloom as a result.

My tank has been established for 4 years with no major problems, just the normal outbreaks. Tank specs:

- 4 ft 120g (in wall)
- 6 bulb tek fixture
- 25 g fuge with a 6 inch sand bed
- coralife superskimmer with a mesh mod
- powerfilter for carbon and polyfilter
- 100+ lbs of live rock
- a number of lps and softies in the tank
- 3-4 inch bed in display, mix of crushed coral/aragonite sand

I have not tested for anything as all creatures in the tank are doing fine.

The cyano is currently on the sand bed and slowly creeping up the rocks. I notice the first batch of cyano after I rescaped about 25 lbs of rock. I rescaped another day, about 25 lbs again, and the cyano looked worse. I just rescaped about 50 lbs of rock and I'll bet the cyano will be even worse...

Do you think my tank is going through a cycle as a result of the rescaping? Initially, I thought it was that DI in my RO/DI was bad but I don't have any signs of cyano in my prop system that uses the same water. The biggest difference between the two systems is that my prop system has a 65g fuge with an 8 inch sand bed with chaeto and red grape algae of which both grow nicely. The chaeto in my 120g barely grows but at an extremely slower rate...

[rotleybutii]

Its the rock, I just put in about 20 lbs of DIY rock and I am having a cyano bloom as well. I had this happen before and it took about a month to go away. I did a large water change and removed alot of the gravel in the process. I remove the cyano once a day and it seems to help.

[Gordonious]

Two quick questions. 1) Has your skimmer been outputting any more then normal? 2) Has the TDS on your RO unit changed at all?(Do you have an inline TDS tester or a handheld meter)

Jon

[ezfelker]

I had this same problem a few weeks ago - changed MH bulbs and cleaned out my pumps - end result was more light and more flow. My reward cyano...

Skimmer has been normal and everything seems healthy, so I've just been brushing it off the corals. It seems to be receding now, so I'm just sticking it out for now.

[aquanut6]

Ez, that's interesting. I forgot to mention that besides changing the landscape, I changed the flow in the tank as well and increased it about 5x what it was with the additon of a koralia 4 pump and an mj1200....hmmm, is it possible that more flow is bringing up stuff that had settled on the substrate and causiing the cyano bloom??? inquiring minds would love to know :crazy1:

[ezfelker]

That's kind of what I'm thinking, I hadn't blasted out my rock since the last water change, which would have been sometime last year :rolleyes: . It took my tank a good 10 hours to stop snowing after I cleaned the pumps. Anyway, it's got me considering ditching the substrate and going BB.

[aquanut6]

Well, sounds about right.

And I thought I was bad with water changes..... ;)

[krikor]

I love BB... run a reef and my FOWLR tank BB.

An extra bonus is that you dont need a light for under the stand!!! ha ha

Easier to keep clean... though you still get nice blooms when a pump dislodges and kicks up dirt... you just need a CL with jets on the bottom of the tank to keep that junk stirred up. I have the jets all set up... but nothing attached to it being i changed my plans... ha ha

[aquanut6]

I definitely like the idea of BB but having a substrate just makes it more appealing and natural to me. Plus, I like the mix of sand with crushed coral because the crushed coral allows all kinds of creatures to live within them. Keeps my mandarin nice and fat after he was introduced all emaciated....

[FishTri]

Not that I would have inside information, but did you also change lighting recently?

[aquanut6]

Not yet, Alan. Still the same bulbs...

[Jay4Robin]

Its the substrate all stired up. It will clear its self up. Just do a few water changes.

[aquanut6]

That's what I was figuring, Jay.

[MinibowMatt]

I have never seen a bare bottom ocean....can you guys point me to one?
Once I see that, I will switch out my sand too.


:smokin:

[krikor]

Theres gotta be parts of the ocean that have just rock slabs for bottom... ha ha

[ezfelker]

You actually guilted me into doing a water change and once again diligence has been rewarded. I now have frags of a green chalice and green/purple digi...:rolleyes:

On a positive note, I sucked out a good amount of sand. BB here I come. As my daughter reminds me daily, it's not the ocean. It's a fish tank.:p

[ribs]

I'm stealing that line first! "It's not the ocean, it's a fish tank." -ribs

I did run a 120 with a 6" sandbed for 3+ years very very successfully. I tried to disrupt the bed as least as possible tho. Any disruption would easily put off the balance so I tried to avoid it.

[ribs]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11138864#post11138864 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by aquanut6
I'm in the process of changing the landscaping in my tank and I'm having a cyano bloom as a result.

BTW:
http://i59.photobucket.com/albums/g297/ccreighton77/pointlesswithoutpics1.jpg