# Cyano questions and is not that I didnt read about it.



## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Hi guys,

So as the tank gets established new things show up, 

here's the deal. 

Tank is 110g tall, very tall, 28 inches

I have 4 HO T5's 56W each but 3 of them were actinic blue and one of them I guess color max or something because it was pink.

Hating the blue colour for more than a month now, enough is enough. I went and bought myself 10,000K daylight T5- I replace one of the actinic, and voila, let it be light. Gorgeous, yes, problems, that too.

So right away I noticed very little Cyano on some rocks not visible before with the blue lights. well, guess what, with the increase in the frequency, in 3 days the Cyano is more visible, lets just say. I tried to control the lights and the time on, that seems to help but only momentarily. I have different plugs, one turns on 3 lamps and the other one only one. So I kind of play around with them. I read this from another post:

"Manual removal is always best to reduce it quickly
-Lights are temporary. Cyano comes back quickly in the same spots
-More flow didn't do much IME, but still a good thing for overall tank health
-Make sure to rinse sponges and replace floss frequently as this is usually where the problem comes from.
- Feeding is subjective, so this is entirely up to you.
- I didn't see you mention the use of carbon as this is very easy to use.

Try the above and the cyano should go away pretty quickly in such a small tank."

Ok I dont have carbon or floss and I do use 100% RO water....Do water change once a week. Clean skimmer once every 3 days.

Also, my BTA's have gone insane. They have grown already, they all moved on me to other higher rocks, they're very pink .... could this 10,000k be a grow light then, when combined with the other 3 lamps?

Did I mention I got the new lamp only 3 days ago???? 

What do you guys think about the Cyano, is it a strict light issue im having?


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## disman_ca (Nov 12, 2011)

_Invitation to comment on something I don't know enough, offer accepted._

I'm not an expert nor do I claim to know much about anything other than I enjoy the hobby. The only safe advice I have for you is to take it slow and be careful how quickly you react to a little bit if Cyano showing up. Its normal to have it show up from time to time and it is usually a sign of something else not evident to you "yet". Pay attention to how your nitrate and phosphate levels may be changing. You'll never be 100% free of cyano, control it by exporting the stuff that it thrives on is best. If you have a sump make sure you grow chaeto or some other alga to consume the extra PO4 and NO3. Use a phosphate reactor to supplement your skimmer.


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

oh and I wont get a phos reactor with phosban... i know some of you will suggest. Something simpler for now? Like a filter sock.... carbon filter?


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## disman_ca (Nov 12, 2011)

Carbon works too, just make sure it is in a high flow area or use a reactor to keep it in constant motion.


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## Flexin5 (Nov 12, 2011)

I think the problem is with the new light. with T5's as the bulbs age they kind of loose their strength, so when you replace them and they are back to 100%a algae bloom may happen, expecially if you replace the white bulbs. i know with my LED's if i turn up the white i can expect more algae. sounds like your BTA's are liking the new amount of light tho. 

i'm no expert but to get rid of it, you can start by cutting down on how long you have the lights on for. then manual removal, and watch phosphate and nitrate levels. you can always toss in a bag of carbon into a higer flow area in the sump to see if carbon will help.


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## warfanax (Mar 5, 2012)

I switched to mh+t5 combo and started to have cyano problems right away. I dose vinegar, use gfo, add kalkwasser etc... Salofert kit says nitrate 0.2 ppm, Elos High resolution phosphate test says 0.04ppm phosphate. I dont have a single algae issue. I have mp10 and 3 more powerheads and I still dont understand where does this cyano come from. 

If you want a quick and easy remedy for your cyano problem, I suggest you to use Chemiclean. Within 48h it will be all gone for sure...


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

usual stuff in the new "tank". Cut lights to 8 hours and do more water changes.
Phosphate reactor will help, but ....

that what I always do, after installing new tank

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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Thank you all. I'm 100% sure its the new lights... so I'm working on that, and I will investigate on the carbon... now I heard of siphoning and also manual removal to control it. How do we exaclty work on the manual removal? I will do a water change tomorrow and and will try the syphon on it... now I read about flow and its true it seems to be on the rocks where the flow is low. I'm contemplating on buying one more powerhead.... do you guys think 4 ph of 3200 litr per hour is good for a 110g. I did the conversion a few weeks ago and I believe I was about 10 times my water volume. I guess I will try one thing at a time starting with the lights tomorrow. Is not very bad at all, but I don't want it to get bad.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

sig said:


> usual stuff in the new "tank". Cut lights to 8 hours and do more water changes.
> Phosphate reactor will help, but ....
> 
> that what I always do, after installing new tank


+1. How long ago was this tank set up? Most likely it's all part of the long term cycle new systems tend to go through.

If you have a skimmer, skim wet. Watch your NO3/PO4, and wait.


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

ameekplec. said:


> +1. How long ago was this tank set up? Most likely it's all part of the long term cycle new systems tend to go through.
> 
> If you have a skimmer, skim wet. Watch your NO3/PO4, and wait.


yep, is only one month old. pardon my ignorance, when you say skim wet, you mean increase the skimmer to raise the bubbles all the way to the top of cup.

what worked today; decreased the lights, water change and siphon, and with a brush i brushed all the cyano away. LOL. that worked....


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

Yeah, skim so the bubbles come higher up the neck. You'll have what seems like more dilute skimmate, but you'll end up pulling more out of the water column.

For a new tank it's pretty normal. Diatoms, cyano, hair algae. It comes and goes.


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

Thank you all, so after your replies i cut on the light, did a water change and siphon the cyano. It showed up again but very minimal.... well see how it goes. I am going to research on adding the carbon..parameters are normal....


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## warfanax (Mar 5, 2012)

Becareful with carbon. I started to have cyano problems after I started dosing vodka or vinegar. Never had any cyano beofre even my nitartes were 40 and phosohates were 1 for months. 

Now my phosphate is 0.03 and nolitrate is 0 and still have cyano at the same spot and doesnt go away. I am now gonna stop dosing carbon to stop cyano.


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

They cyano can bloom as well since it also uses organic carbon to grow. The idea though is that you supply extra carbon to help other nitrogen/phosphate consuming bacteria that can be removed by skimming. If you stop carbon dosing without addressing your nitrate/phosphate issues, the cyano will probably get worse.

It's probably a low flow area - have you tried moving things to get a little more flow there?


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## warfanax (Mar 5, 2012)

ameekplec. said:


> It's probably a low flow area - have you tried moving things to get a little more flow there?


I have 3 koralia nanos and mp10 in 40 breeder. Right-front corner (where cyano only grows) seems like getting plenty of flow. I say this by looking at a coral on my sandbed. However, flow definetely affects where it grows.

I just dont understand how can I have cyano with 0 nitrates and phosphates. Dont even have a single algae in my tank. Only suspect is vinegar imo


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## ameekplec. (May 1, 2008)

There was an article in Coral magazine a while back about some researchers figuring out that cyanobacteria are so successful and tend to linger because as the nutrient balances shift in the aquarium, they can shift their metabolism to use more of one substrate than another. 

Also, keep in mind, even if your test kits are showing 0s there's most likely some amount remaining in the tank, either at a level too low to register, or it's consumed before you're able to measure it. 

If you get some snails or other creatures that eat cyano or disturb the sandbed, you'll probably be able to easily kick lingering cyano.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

warfanax said:


> Becareful with carbon. I started to have cyano problems after I started dosing vodka or vinegar. Never had any cyano beofre even my nitartes were 40 and phosohates were 1 for months.


you should try brandy. it could help 

"Actually it has more to do with the ratio between Phosphate and Nitrate according to Claude Schumacher of FaunaMarin.

If your method reduces one more then the other then the ratio is out of balance and this allows Cyano to proliferate. This is a known issue with these bacterial methods like vodka, sugar, acetate dosing."

go to RC and read about dosing. 
Most of the problems in our tanks start because we have no clue what we are doing ( applies to myself also)

At the moment when I stopped all experiments, my tanks are perfect and all growing perfectly

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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

sig said:


> you should try brandy. it could help
> 
> "Actually it has more to do with the ratio between Phosphate and Nitrate according to Claude Schumacher of FaunaMarin.
> 
> ...


I like SIG's approach!!! lol


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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

ameekplec. said:


> They cyano can bloom as well since it also uses organic carbon to grow. The idea though is that you supply extra carbon to help other nitrogen/phosphate consuming bacteria that can be removed by skimming. If you stop carbon dosing without addressing your nitrate/phosphate issues, the cyano will probably get worse.
> 
> It's probably a low flow area - have you tried moving things to get a little more flow there?


So the Cyano came back in the same areas after cleaning, but like you said, absolutely in the dead areas......

I want to buy one more powerhead to create more current. However, I have another dilemma. I bought myself a little hammer head, last week, and i am trying to find a spot with very little current in my tank, is quite impossible.... the little guy is not dying but hes never fully out and not that happy. I am afraid if I increase the current will be the dead of him.... the DEAD spots where the Cyano is are not actally that dead, there is some current, just not as much... what to do... we shall see but the Cyano is not out of control at all, so keeping an eye on it.


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## sig (Dec 13, 2010)

do not know if it will help you, but I used small nano powerheads (do not attache to the glass, just drop in the tank) and point it directly on the places when I got cayno in the "new" tank. I also found that Strawberry Conch - Strombus luhuanus are the best cleaning tool for the *surface *of the sand

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## Letigrama (Jul 6, 2008)

sig said:


> do not know if it will help you, but I used small nano powerheads (do not attache to the glass, just drop in the tank) and point it directly on the places when I got cayno in the "new" tank. I also found that Strawberry Conch - Strombus luhuanus are the best cleaning tool for the *surface *of the sand


Thank you, I will look into those nano heads. I heard about the Strawberry Conch too, but I havent seen them in the shops. i will start to look for them.


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