Micro bubbles and cyano :(

[Scottm84]

I'm having a right nightmare with my tank at the moment. I've always had a micro bubble problem with my deltec mce 600 which I've tried different things to solve with no joy and now a cyano outbreak which makes me just want to cry :'-( I've just spent £££'s to try and cure it but it just seems like I'm always cleaning it up only for it to return the next morning. My heart sinks every time. I don't want to purchase any other livestock with the tank in this condition and I only have a pair of clowns and about 10 hermit crabs to try and combat it although I understand I need an army of them.

[huma-huma]

Cyano is more of a stage than anything. What are your levels at?? Im willing to bet atleast one of your levels are high which is causing the cyano. As for the microbubbles, could you give us some more detail on your setup? (tank size, sump?,no sump?, if yoi have one how many chambers with what in each?, etc) usually microbubbles are caused by running a skimmer too close to a return pump or allowing falling water to hit near the pump. We can def help ya through this

[Schism]

Originally Posted by Scottm84

I'm having a right nightmare with my tank at the moment. I've always had a micro bubble problem with my deltec mce 600 which I've tried different things to solve with no joy and now a cyano outbreak which makes me just want to cry :'-( I've just spent £££'s to try and cure it but it just seems like I'm always cleaning it up only for it to return the next morning. My heart sinks every time. I don't want to purchase any other livestock with the tank in this condition and I only have a pair of clowns and about 10 hermit crabs to try and combat it although I understand I need an army of them.

Cyano is cuase by excess nutrients, meaning nitrate and phosphate. So what are your nitrates and phosphates testing? how much are you feeding? what size tank? hermits will not fix the problem.

[Scottm84]

Only nitrates are high, about 20ppm. Phosphates, ammonia and nitrite are zero. just seems like every time I a PCM they creep back up instead of going down. I use a canister filter so I'm guessing it's that but I have no room for a sump. Tank size is 180 litre. Water flow is at about 30-35x because I've just upgraded it. My bulbs have just been replaced too. 4 x t5s. 2 white 2 blue. They are all on together for 8hrs and the blues are on an extra 2 hrs either side of the 8. The micro bubbles are from the return hitting the surface but I've since dropped the return below the surface and they are still there

[Scottm84]

I feed once every other day. Oh and my sand bed is only 1" max and I do vacuum it on water changes

[Schism]

How often do you clean and change the media in the canister filter? Its likely contributing the problem if its under maintained. How much are you feeding every other day?

Likely any phosphates are bound up in the cyano. but 20ppm nitrates is more than enough to cause a cyano or other algae issue. Also you have additional nitrates bound up in the cyano itself. Large water changes and siphoning out the cyano will get your nitrates down and everything in check. Canister needs cleaned

[Scottm84]

I clean the canister every week. I rinse the sponges in a bucket of tank water and dip the trays of bio media in and out of the bucket to clear any excess waste. The sponges get replaced every month and carbon is replaced when it's needed. I feed very little, quarter of a frozen cube if that

[Schism]

Originally Posted by Scottm84

I clean the canister every week. I rinse the sponges in a bucket of tank water and dip the trays of bio media in and out of the bucket to clear any excess waste. The sponges get replaced every month and carbon is replaced when it's needed. I feed very little, quarter of a frozen cube if that

Trays of biomedia? If you have live rock then the biomedia is doing more harm than good. Even with the washing your going to get nitrates. More frequent replacement of media au be needed. Weekly water changes? How much?

[Scottm84]

10% weekly change. So my problem actually is the canister? I thought it could be. Do I just remove all bio media now and replace with what? Or is the canister actually needed at all? I do have about 25kg live rock in there

[Scottm84]

Or not enough weekly water change? I use my own RO water but not RO/DI

[Schism]

Originally Posted by Scottm84

10% weekly change. So my problem actually is the canister? I thought it could be. Do I just remove all bio media now and replace with what? Or is the canister actually needed at all? I do have about 25kg live rock in there

Upping your water change volume for the time being will help remove any nutrients still present. I thing the canister is the problem especially if you have biomedia etc that is not being changed etc. replacing all the media would help but i would not use the biomedia since you have live rock. Not you dont need the canister but there are some things u cam do with it. Many people run carbon and gfo in the or live rock rubble.

[Scottm84]

I will remove the biomedia and hope it has a positive effect. I have been thinking about a fuge but cabinet space is restricting and I only have a 15litre nano cube spare to use for it. Considering tank volume also inlet and outlet from the fuge it maybe difficult to do but I have been advised on here it could still work

[huma-huma]

Originally Posted by Scottm84

I will remove the biomedia and hope it has a positive effect. I have been thinking about a fuge but cabinet space is restricting and I only have a 15litre nano cube spare to use for it. Considering tank volume also inlet and outlet from the fuge it maybe difficult to do but I have been advised on here it could still work

Really any size fuge you can run is better than nothing

[Scottm84]

Thanks I'll have to get moving then to get one sorted because the sooner I remove this cyano the better

[huma-huma]

Plus a fuge can double as a hospital tank incase someone gets injured

[Scottm84]

This is true, see nothing bad can come of having one. I'll be looking to get it set up sooner rather than later. Thank you for your help