Constant cyano-- please help

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AquaTricia

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Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
540
Location
Jacksonville, Florida
I have read everything I can about cyano, what to do, and how to get rid of it. It is all over the gravel and climbing the walls. Not on the corals, yet. Sorry I can't send a pic, but I just cleaned the tank and I didn't think. Before I cleaned I tested.
PH 8.03
Salinity 1.026
Temp 79 degrees
Mag 1380
Nitrate 10 ppm
Phosphate 0
Calcium 419
Ammonia .5
Alkalinity 6 dkh
Nitrite 30ppb

I am running a 28 gallon cube. A month ago, we changed from the CFL that came with it to LED's currently running at 40% cool white and 80% royal blue. Because I have been vacuuming out the cyano so much, my 3 inch sandbed went to 1/2 inch in the four months I've had it. On August 7, I added gravel to half the tank. On the 15th, I added to the rest of the tank. Gravel was rinsed thoroughly, but the next day, cyano was back. We even vacuumed our sump. Running the filter rack with fiber in top section, Chemi-Clean Blue in second, and a mixture of nitrate and phosphate sponges below Poly-Filter. Change 4-15 gallons of water every 5-8 days. Ok. Can't think of anything else. Corals are mixed softies, hard, SPS. Fish are pajama cardinal, royal gramma, two clowns and purple firefish. Tank has been running for two years. Haven't added anything new for at least a year. I do not dose. I use ro/di for everything with IO Reef Crystals. Long, but thorough. :) any help, or am I just a dummy?


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I have two 266gallon pumps with a wave maker. I have two Koralia powerheads running 650 gallons per hour.


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My husband just helped me take the powerheads out and they are soaking in Magi-Klean. By the time he got home, four hours after I changed four gallons in the tank, the cyano was back on the gravel. A heavy sprinkling, but definately back. He helped me change out half the water in the tank and vacuum the red gravel.


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You need to beat the main cause. The low alk isn't helping your battle either. What kind of lights are they and how long is the photoperiod? Feeding less should also help.


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My lights are newly installed LED's as mentioned above. They are set to slowly come on at sunrise and start to go actinic at sunset, so photoperiod is about 12 hours, same as for us. I feed every 2-3 days. Mostly Cyclop-eeze (probably spelled wrong ;)) and frozen Mysis. Both are washed before feeding. Once in a while I will feed Spirulina, or put in a piece of nori for a couple of hours. Every other week, I feed my corals with a syringe and either Marine Snow or Coral Frenzy.


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Sounds like you got feeding under control :). I'd definitely raise the alk up a bit to 8 or so. This should be done slowly over a couple days. Cyano sucks, I've dealt with it twice. I'd cut the light period down a bit too.


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Oh yeah, raising the alk. I've been reading some interesting articles regarding the chemical composition of raising alk. The best suggestion was 2.7 tsp per gallon of top-off. That will take me a minimum of two weeks to get that in there. Other than dosing applications, which confuse pH and calcium, what would you suggest?


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What brand of LEDs are they? Some are much more powerful than others. Are you just doing weekly wcs and pulling out the cyano then? Or twice weekly? Do you blow your rocks off when you do a wc? Sorry for so many questions lol. Just trying to figure out and help the best I can :)


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Ok. I have RapidLed 5watt, 20 bulbs. Change normally 4-15 gallons of water every 5-8 days. Always blow off everything before cleaning. Of course today, I changed 19 gallons of water in a 28 gallon tank.


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Each bulb is 5 watts?? That's a lotta light lol. Much more than power compacts. I'd definitely lower the light period a bit. The aggressive wcs are definitely a good thing


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We are only using 40% cool whites and 80% royal blues, so I don't have the bulbs jacked way up. It's starting sunset here, so my tank is, too. I can lower the % of color, but would rather not fool around with photoperiod if I can avoid it. New lights, still confused. I set it up the easy way. :)


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Any other ideas? Anyone? The cyano is coming back even after the 19 gallon water change less than 3 hours ago.


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You have excess nutrients coming from somewhere, when was the last time you cleaned your filter media?
 
Well, this afternoon, but it's rinsed (Chemi-Pure Blue) or replaced every time I clean the tank. Also, just in case this is the next question, I thoroughly wash my hands before, during and after working on the tank, never use lotions in case I forget and no chemicals are sprayed in that room. And we have no children.


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Oh, and earlier when I mentioned raising my alk, that was 2.7 tsp of baking soda. Sorry about that.


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Ok the following is jmo, but it's what I would do if it were my tank
1. Cut down photoperiod (I know what you said earlier but it will help)
2. Reduce the power on your white channel a little more (blue too if it has any colors besides blues)
3. Reduce the amount I was feeding, and I like to feed NLS pellets once a week because it's very easy to only feed what the fish will eat by feeding a pellet or 2 to a fish at a time 3-4 times waiting in between for them to completely eat the pellet, I feed different frozen foods the other 2 times I feed a week.
4. Ditch any pads or sponges being used and replace with a media like purigen and phosgaurd (sponges and the like make me wary, I do use poly fill for filter floss but it gets tossed weekly) as they're more efficient
5. Rearrange the power heads so one is pointing at the worst of the problem areas.
6. Check the tds of your ro unit, may be time to replace the filters/membrane.
7. Assuming your ro unit is good you may want to do bi weekly wc's for a while.

And now a couple more questions, were you using 2 korillia 650s or was that total gph, and what test kit are you using for nitrate phosphate test?
 
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