The red manace - Help

[donniea1800]

Hey I need some ideas. I have had my 50 gallon tank set up for about 2 years now. Everything has been fine and now all of a sudden I am getting cyano on the rocks and a little on the sand. I cant really think of anything different that has happened to cause this. It appears I still have good flow in my tank and my T5 bulbs are about 7 months old which I am replacing. I have a phosphate reactor running and a Reef Octopus BH100 HOB skimmer as I have no sump. I usually only run the BRS GFO and BRS Rox 0.8 carbon. I do 5 gallon water changes every week with a 10 gallon change every 3rd week. The only thing I have changed is salt as I was using Seachem reef salt but now using Red Sea Coral Pro. I did notice the cyano before the salt change so I don't think its the salt.

Any other recommendations to get rid of this stuff? A LFS sold me some chemiclean but I am hesitant to use that. I would prefer to fix it naturally if I can. I have never tried any kind of carbon dosing as I don't know if my HOB skimmer would provide enough power for carbon dosing. I have always heard you need a large and powerful skimmer for that. For corals I have mainly LPS and softies. I do also have a clam and a rock anemone. Everything is doing well except for the cyano so something must be off but I cant figure it out.

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0.1 at most, told I need some for my clam
PH - always run about 7.9 to 8.0
Alk - was low but got it up to 8
Phosphate - don't test but run GFO constantly
Calcium - 400
Temp - 79-80
Salinity - 1.026

 

[Sniperhank]

What kind of water are you running? Might be coming in that way, but cyano is normally a nutrient issue.
That being said, I switched to Red Sea coral pro and had a cyano outbreak... I'm switching back to kent and well see what happens, but I've read about others having this issue.

 

[donniea1800]

I am using RODI water. I have my own filter and I just changed the filters. TDS is showing 0 with my meter. Interesting you mention you had a problem with the Red Sea salt also. Makes me wonder. This bucket wasn't cheap but maybe I should try to switch back to Seachem and see what happens. I tried Reef Crystals once but did not like it. The Seachem was leaving alot of scale on my bucket so a changed to the Red Sea.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

That being said, I switched to Red Sea coral pro and had a cyano outbreak... I'm switching back to kent and well see what happens, but I've read about others having this issue.

Really? I've been using it for a while and have never had that. Op I would just up the wc's and pull out as much as you can. My bet would be the bulbs, as they age they tend to grow more algae, I usually change them every ~4 months or so but if I let them go for 6 the algae really takes off

 

[Sniperhank]

I like to alternate salts with what is on sale, why I tried Red Sea. I'm back to kent as I loved it when I used it.

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

I am using RODI water. I have my own filter and I just changed the filters. TDS is showing 0 with my meter. Interesting you mention you had a problem with the Red Sea salt also. Makes me wonder. This bucket wasn't cheap but maybe I should try to switch back to Seachem and see what happens. I tried Reef Crystals once but did not like it. The Seachem was leaving alot of scale on my bucket so a changed to the Red Sea.

Red Sea tends to leave a nasty bucket too, so be prepared.

 

[donniea1800]

Thanks everyone. So my plan is to up my water changes to 10 gallons per week. I will continue using the airline tubing to remove as much cyano as possible during my water changes. I am getting new bulbs this week so I will see what that does and I am adding another power head. I have been feeding LRS Reef Frenzy which I know does have extra stuff for corals so maybe I need to cut that back as maybe its adding to many nutrients. So at this point I should not try the Chemiclean? I have read some bad experiences so I am hesitant to use it. If the cyano does not get better I may switch salts after this bucket is done. Thanks.

 

[Sniperhank]

I'd cut back on what you can in terms of feeding. I siphoned and lost more sand than I wanted.

 

[donniea1800]

So I see some of you like the Kent Reef Salt. Any issues with it? Seems alot of people like it.

 

[Sniperhank]

No issues on my end. Mixed really well and fast. Not sure if it was it or the reef crystals that left a ring around my bucket, but doesn't really matter in the end.

 

[Gregcoyote]

Most coral foods are phosphates in a bottle. My bet that is that's the true cause of the cyano.

 

[mr_X]

How about your lighting shifting spectrum? What lighting are you running and how old are the lamps?

 

[Gregcoyote]

Old bulbs can set it off.