# cyanobacteria but why?



## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

Ok this is stressing me out.. I have cyano growing on my sand bed.. I did upgrade to my 90 two weeks ago and the gravel was all stirred up but on my tests everything shows up as zero.. i thought i was having a mini cycle but it does not show on any tests.. my light run fluorescents for 12 hours a day and metal halides for 5 hours a day so i dont think its a light issue though i did upgrade from 175w mh to two 150w hqi's this week. but for this tank size i should in theory have more light. Im running 4.45 watts per gallon.. I dont get it.. i just changed all the carbon in my canister thinking it may be expired so hopefully that will clear up what ever is contaminating the water that the test kits cant pick up on. phosphates=0 nitrates,amonia,nitrites=0 .. bah im stressed..


----------



## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

Possible your flow is low. that is what triggers it in freshwater. I'd say try to get more flow on the affected area.


----------



## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

i ruled that out already as i have over 2000 gph total flow.. and my corals are already getting whipped around in the lower portion of the tank. the flow is so strong my brain coral only opens half way and my coco worm looks like its gonna fly out of its tube.


----------



## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Two weeks is still "young" after the system conversion/upgrade.

The stirring up of the sandbed during the change will fuel the cyano growth even though it tested zero for the "usual suspects" as there are other compounds in the substrate that cyano can utilize that cannot be tested easily.

Think of it as starting from square one and at least that the water is safe for the inhabitants .

Believe it or not, light is a contributing factor for cyano as it's going to take some time for the system to get back "on track". I suggest cutting the FLs and MH photoperiod back:

- MH 2hrs/day (have it on when you will be home the most)
- FL 4hrs, 1hr before MH come on and 1 hr after MH shut off

In the meantime, siphon out (not brush off) the cyano until it has stopped appearing. Once that is achieved, then gradually increase the photoperiod by 1hr/week and monitor algae and cyano growth.

Just be patient, it will settle down .

BTW, what color temp are the MH and FL bulbs?

HTH


----------



## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

i am running 14k halides and a combo of actinic and 18k t5's. these are all high kelvin bulbs with very little red or green output. i knew it was going through a mini cycle because before the cyano i had a algae bloom . i upgraded from a 55 to the 90 and after removing all the liverock in the 55 i had maybe 25 gallons of water.. i ended up adding 70 gallons of new water to the new tank.. but i figured all the live rock was enough to seed it.


----------



## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Using higher K bulbs do not necessarily help in deterring cyano growth but it does reduce it's rate of growth.

There are other factors as well such as the LR itself cycling/adjusting in the new set-up as the flow around it will be different, thus like the sandbed, will re-establish microbial colonies in it's preferable areas due to water flow and light exposure. During this "lag time" is when problematic issues can arise.

HTH and hang in there


----------



## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

what your saying makes sense as the rock is arranged completely different and half of it was burried before but is now exposed with no coraline and very white. alot of the good coraline rock is now barried so i guess that stuff will now have some die off also.


----------



## Announce (Aug 27, 2008)

Sunlight tends to be a favorite for cyno, any open windows? Depending on what type of syno it is there are some medications, although they have a tendency to tick off corals and it doesnt prevent them from growing back


----------



## UnderTheSea (Jun 2, 2008)

Tap Water ?


----------



## conix67 (Jul 27, 2008)

Other than the cyano, how are the corals doing in the new tank and lights?


----------



## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

corals are doing better then ever. cyano is only on sand and on one side of glass. none on rocks or corals. i have no sunlight in the basement either.. i added some red slime remover tonight and shut off the skimmer.


----------



## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

apparently im colour blind.. my wife tells me its brown not red.. so im having a diatom outbreak. now i feel dumb.. been along time since i had one , like 7 years.. so i guess all i can do it wait it out.. from all the reading ive done its probably the new lights since i went up from 175w se metal halide to 300watt hqi's.. and its funny because it all started two days after i got the new lights.. even a guy who's been at this for a while can make a newbie mistake.


----------



## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

I had a bit of red slime in my tank and I added some maracyn to it. it was gone.


----------



## blossom112 (Mar 19, 2008)

cano is almost impossible to get rid of and a big pita .... I had batteled it for 4 months with waterchanges and sucking it out just to wake up and it be everywhere again .... red slime remover works great and I had it gone in 2 weeks ...

New tanks have diatom outbreaks like wild it will go everywhere this is a good thing after the diatoms the copepods come but after that your tank will most likly turn green but dont fret it will all go away .

congrats!


----------



## cablemike (Jan 7, 2009)

well this is not a new tank, i upgraded so its already full of life. But it starting to break now so i hope i dont go through the algae stage or my corals will be dust.. i will be buying a uv sterilizer if things go in that direction.


----------



## Brian (Mar 14, 2006)

I'm currently having a diatom outbreak myself along with hair algae :S


----------



## Sunstar (Jul 29, 2008)

funny I don't mind the hair so much. diatom is not as bad as it was a couple weeks in I had diatom on everything. then my periwinkle woke up and nommed then my slugs iwth hats made appearances and growing growing growing!


----------

