cyano outbreak and low alk

[Aquadan]

Hi all, im having a cyano outbreak and im not sure of the cause. i checked all of my parameters today and everything seems on point with the exception of my alk being a little low.

alk 6.832 dkh (hanna checker)
phosphate .02 (hanna checker)
calcium 431 ppm (hanna checker)
mag 1390 (salifert)
nitrate <5 (api) id say around 1
ph 8.1 (api)

I have used ro/di water since the beginning and i feed sparingly.
mon, wed, and fri. either flake, pellet or mysis

I have an oversized skimmer and do a roughly 30% pwc a week.

For flow i use a mp10 and 2 hydor 600 powerheads.

its a 40 breeder with a 40 breeder sump. any and all advice would be much appreciated. thanks, dan

 

[NicoC16]

I am currently undergoing the same issue. It all begins with nitrates, in my opinion. I have recently learned that nitrates although undetached may exist in your system. I have been following New York Steelo on youtube and he has discussed how you may not detect nitrates because the algae. including cyanobacteria may be absorbing it in he water. While this hypothesis may be questionable, I believe in its validity because ever since I have reduced feeding on my tank, all of my hair algae has dissipated. Now for your cyanobacteria. Your best bet is to go ahead and go down to your local fish store and purchase some Chemi Clean. This stuff seems to work for most and I, myself, have begun the dosing process today. I would recommend you go in this path in order to eliminate the issue. Nutrients are the everlasting problem though, so I would strongly consider a refugium if you don't already have one in your sump. I just got a HOB refugium from Aqua Fuge and its great, I recommend it.

 

[melosu58]

We have a good article about it in our SW articles section.

 

[Aquadan]

Thanks for the input. I do have a refugium in my sump but it only has live rock in it. I tried keeping chaeto in it but it didn't last long. It just fell apart and I eventually siphoned it out. I'm open to suggestions for other macros and also toyed with the idea of an algae turf scrubber.

 

[TheGrapeApe]

Why would a refugium help that

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

The macro algae a will feed off the same fuels (nitrate and phosphate) as pest algae, and often times macros out compete the pest algae using up all the excess nutrients before the pest algae can get it, thus eliminating the pest algae

 

[mrvincent]

Alk seems ok. You can raise it slowly overtime... The key is to keep it stable.

PH seems ok.

 

[TheGrapeApe]

Well my refugium is a go I have live rock, sand and macro algae in it and my nitrates are in the way down woohoo