Constant cyano-- please help

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My husband came home and we changed 10 gallons of water. He also translated my nitrites to be .029 ppm, which is just slightly over the max it must be. Although I trust him, I would appreciate verification so I can breathe a little easier, except for ammonia.


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I can only suggest taking a deep breath. Tanks change over time as they season. Mine is 22 years old and I am having the irritation of some cyano. It happens. Your water exchanges will eventually settle the problems out. Don't panic and start changing parameters as you can make the problem worse. Do one thing at a time. Note the results and move forwards.

Your RO is fine at 2ppm. There is something still cycling in the tank, live rock, die off, etc. Keep up the water exchanges as it cures many issues.


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You mentioned vacuuming out the sand, and you never mentioned how much rocks you have ( not the gravel at the bottom, but rocks).
Most of the bacteria we need (BB) live in the rock structures as they are very porous and have a HUGE surface area for their size. The next largest home for BB is in the sand bed. Again, porous coral based sand plus the porous sand bed structure. Vacuuming out the sand would have removed a large part of your BB colonies. Replacing that with gravel ( that is NOT porous) would have removed a significant portion of the BB. Plus gravel is a good hiding place for detritus. Together, those 2 things may be the cause of your current situation.
The original cyano issue may have been a simple over feeding issue (nutrients in > nutrients out) but the vacuuming may have steamrolled it into a more serious loss of BB situation.
This may be one of the few times I think Dr Tim's instant cycle may help, by reducing your ammonia and nitrites.


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mr_X said:
I buy the bulk reef supply stuff. Easy to use and much cheaper than the two little fishies products.
BRS 2 Part Calcium & Alkalinity Total Package - Bulk - Bulk Reef Supply
Click to expand...


I'm also in agreement with X. This isn't rocket science, these chemicals are easy and cheap to get. And safe to store. There are just a few very inexpensive chemicals needed for alk/cal/mg dosing. BRS makes it easy, but if you run as much water as I do, you will find the same chemicals in bulk cheaper than BRS. But if in any doubt, just go the BRS route.


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Last edited:
I know I have to be patient and change, change change the water to get my params back in order. I also know that chemicals are sometimes needed. I can't use them right now because my husband will not dose while I'm gone and I don't want to jack up the tank. And I am looking at the BRS website frequently. I'm not saying I'm not going to ask a dozen more questions, but I will. Every time I leave the house, I'm afraid I'll come home to fried fish (no pun intended) because of the high ammonia. But it went up terribly after the 19 gallon water change. Tomorrow I will be home and will make more salt water up and will do another big water change.


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Dowflakes has been recommend a few times, but I wouldn't trust the manufacturing process as they could slip something else into the formula. Amazon and other web sites sell the raw chemicals really cheap. And they are safe chemicals, so they aren't restricted. Any chemical supply can sell you as much as you want and you can be sure it's pure.

But if your running a smaller system BRS is the easiest way to go.


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Yes, I run a 28 gallon with 25 lbs of live rock, 1/2" of live sand under two inches of, supposedly, gravel right from the ocean. Dry. I put the new gravel in half the tank at the time. I do have some Dr. Tim's live and nitrifying bacteria in the 'fridge. Should I put some of that in there? The gravel was supposed to be finer than what I got, and the "straight from the ocean" thing didn't impress me. People will say anything to make a deal.
I will replace the phosphate and nitrate sponges in the trickle filter with the Purigen, and I already have Chemi-Pure Blue in there. The cyano is back. All the gravel is red/pink. Starting to climb the glass, but I am still worried about the ammonia, mostly.


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Somebody may chime in, but that sand could be creating a big die off that is spiking your ammonia. I always start out with sterile aragonite (some like sand) and let the substrate absorb beneficial bacteria that thrives in your tank, rather than the stuff that might be in live sand. My guess the ammonia spike is die off of some kind. It should work itself out with water exchanges.


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What kind of die-off? That of all the BB? Should I add that Dr. Tim's stuff? I deliberately added the gravel to only a half the tank at a time to allow it to, so to speak, repopulate. This might be the best answer I've been able to get as to why my ammonia is so high and is getting consistently higher. I know I've got to get it down and doing two large (more than 10 gallon) water changes twice a week. Is that enough and how long should it be before I can hope to get it under control?
Thanks for the help, By the way.


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Oh, and just to specify, the added gravel isn't live, it's dry and I rinsed it like crazy before I put it in.


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Let's hear from some of the other folks. I might be tempted to replace the sand slowly with something sterile like fine to medium aragonite. But that's just me. You don't want to make things worse, but you could slowly siphon a bit of sand each water exchange. Rinse the new sand with old tank water and using a cup replace a bit at a time. Might wait until you get back home to get started. A ammonia absorber might be in order for now. The ammonia has to go.


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Yep on the ammonia. I bought Purigen and, to save me from dumping a cat on the floor and having to get out of my chair to look, doesn't it absorb ammonia? If not, what else can I use?
I think I'm overtired and can't think clearly. I found out today that my mom may be going blind, so I'm trying to handle that as well as a sick tank. I can't sleep at night, trying to figure out how to help my tank, and now, my mom. Your opinion on adding the Dr. Tim's BB?


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Anybody else want to chime in and examine Gregcoyote's ideas? Would be interested to hear from everyone.


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Greg could be on to something with that, it could definitely cause a spike if you had a large amount if life die off in the sand bed. And replacing the sand is probably a really good idea. I would wait to add new sand until after you've got all the old sand out though. You could go bare bottom until you get the cyano under control, and it will be much easier with out the sand to remove the cyano. You can also add a little more flow across the bottom of the tank with out the sand, and that should also help keep the cyano at bay. When you add the new sand use a funnel and a piece of PVC pipe a little longer than your tanks height and it will be much easier to get the sand where you want it and keep the water cloudiness to a minimum.
 
You have an option to either change water more often and also change your substrate and start all over again

or

Just use this product which I already had posted earlier. You can never overdose your tank with this one. In fact I poured the whole bottle in my 60 gal tank with no ill effect. It helps your tank cycle faster. It removes ammonia and nitrite.

Nutrafin Cycle Biological Aquarium Supplement (4 oz)

.
 
Ok guys. I will try the Nutrafin. When I come back from the trip, I will work on the sandbed. Flow is adjusted, and is doing fairly well on part of the front. Cyano is climbing the glass in the corner behind the torch. I guess the torch is so thick, the flow can't get thru. We will do several water changes before I leave. How long would it take, without treatment, for the new dry gravel on top of live sand take to repopulate with BB?


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Dry rock or substrate curing depends on the kind of process used to cycle the tank. Normally with no livestock 2 weeks is enough with the right amount of ammonia from raw shrimp. With the presence of livestock in the tank, you can not have ammonia present in your tank therefore the curing takes much longer which could take months. However, if you are adding bb or additives it shortens the process.
 
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