Cyanobacteria problem

NewSchool04 · #1 09/10/2007, 07:05 PM

I can't seem to beat this stuff in my 5 month old 180. It's only in certain areas and they are all very high flow.
I'm testing no nitrates, Alk is steady, typically 3.2 meq/L, and Ca comes in at 420.

The cyanobacteria is only in the front of my tank where I have replaced blown out silica sand with CaribSea aragonite. I have two Tunze 6025 that are modded on two Sea swirls that really give this area a good random flow. The 6025's are on the back of the tank pointed towards the front glass where the cyano shows up.

It's like it's underneath the sand and I can see it, sometimes I come home and it's covered, sometimes it just looks like it's right underneath the sand.

Any ideas?

MrMexReefer · #2 09/10/2007, 07:07 PM

Do you have cheato in your fuge pat? I had a huge problem with the stuff in my 20L, and once i started the HOB fuge, it went away in like 3 days.

NewSchool04 · #3 09/10/2007, 07:25 PM

no, no chaeto. I was thinking about it but not loving the idea of setting up another light even if it's one of those Home Depot cheapos. I think I'm going to have to do it though.

Flint&Eric · #4 09/10/2007, 07:34 PM

my bet is you've got nitrates.... cyano is good at fixing them so your tests are showing up as zero. chaeto will compete with the cyano for the nitrogen and it should go away.

NewSchool04 · #5 09/10/2007, 08:20 PM

Looks like chaeto might be my answer. Any reason why it's only in one area and that area has the aragonite sand?

Aquaticman74 · #6 09/10/2007, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by NewSchool04
5 month old 180.

Any ideas?

I've dealt with it in every new tank I've ever setup for the first 6-9 months. I was having huge problems with it until these past few weeks. IMO/IME it's just a part of the tank establishing itself.

Cheato will help, but don't look for instant results.
Please stay away from the chemical fixes like chemipure. They can wipe out the tank since they kill bacteria(good and bad).

NewSchool04 · #7 09/10/2007, 08:43 PM

Thanks for the advice Mike, I was looking at going that route also. I've never had cyano before so the frustration level was increasing in large amounts each week!

Flint&Eric · #8 09/10/2007, 09:44 PM

i have no idea why the prefer the aragonite. it could be as simple as it leached a small amount of po4 and got established there to aerobic bac microsites pumping out no3 making a feeding frenzy for the cyano.

i've never had a real problem with cyano, so i cant speak from much experience....but running gfo should also help as it binds more than just po4. sucking it out during waterchanges cant hurt either.

like mike said, dont use the chemi clean. also watch any carbon dosing, are you using vinegar with kalk still? the carbon will feed the cyano...

eric

NewSchool04 · #9 09/10/2007, 09:59 PM

I'm not using the vinegar anymore, that was a brief and failed experiment.

I think I'm going to try the chaeto, see how that works.

madadi · #10 09/11/2007, 12:34 AM

i was cyano free for months till i tried a little bit of iron supplement to try to see if my chato can grow faster. bad move! im still trying to get rid of it after so many water changes but it seems to be dieing down now that i added carbon and reduced the light a bit. i know it was caused by the iron for sure. it exploded all over the place the next day after i added it. just in case ur supplementing iron i thought id mention it.

Pufferpunk · #11 09/11/2007, 01:25 AM

If you need some, I'm ready to trim. Good excuse to stop by!

Engine 7 · #12 09/11/2007, 05:37 AM

I agree with Aquaticman74. I get it for a few months when I first setup a tank. I still have a little cyano and some diatoms in my recent tanks sand bed. When I do water changes I siphon off a bunch of it into the water change bucket. I loose a couple lbs of sand each water change but it is starting to go away. Soon the sand will be white and cyano free.
Lots of flow, clean water, and tank age.