Cyano during cycle?

[Johnny Cakes]

Hi all: Me again with some questions.

55gal with about 75lbs of LR/Base/Reef rock. about 920 gph of flow going on with 620 of that coming from powerheads.

Mid cycle (fishless) readings:
NH3/NH2 ---- .25ppm (down from 5- 7 ppm)
NO2 ---- .8ppm
NO3 ---- 50ppm

It looks like I have a cyano outbreak going on. Algae on the glass, some of the equipment, and rocks. I am thinking cyano b/c the cyano on the rock is producing bubbles and I understand this is typical of thriving cyano.

Is it time to do my after cycle water change to dump the NO3?
How much of a water change should I do?
Should this eliminate the NO3 fuel source for the cyano?
Is NO3 most likely the fueel source at this stage of the cycle?

Any ideas?

Thanks for the help.

 

[dskidmore]

You probably want to wait until NH3 and NO2 reach 0. At that point order your cleanup crew and do a very large water change (50% or more). The cyano outbreak is normal at this stage in the game. If all is well, your cleanup crew will take care of it after the cycle is over.

 

[Johnny Cakes]

You probably want to wait until NH3 and NO2 reach 0. At that point order your cleanup crew and do a very large water change (50% or more). The cyano outbreak is normal at this stage in the game. If all is well, your cleanup crew will take care of it after the cycle is over.

Thanks. Patience, Patience, Serenity Now, Serenity Now.

The hard part is waiting for the readings to keep falling that little bit to hit 0. At least when they were spiking I could see some changes in the test kits on short ored, now its fun just trying to figure out which shade of purple I have or if the kit is more yellow than green.

PS I saw your location, I love Genny Cream Ale. But have to switch to Genny light if I see it.

 

[dskidmore]

I'm actually not a beer drinker. The Genesee Beer Company gets it's name from a river that flows up the center of NY state. I live in the city at it's mouth, Rochester.

 

[roka64]

Mid cycle (fishless) readings:

EXCELLENT JOB!!!

You probably want to wait until NH3 and NO2 reach 0.

Definitely.

Johnny,
How long/what lighting are you using?

 

[Johnny Cakes]

[quote="roka64
Johnny,
How long/what lighting are you using?[/quote]

Was using 6 hrs of lighting to keep any photosynthetic organisms on the LR alive, and I saw a few feather dusters that hitchiked and actually made it through the NH3 and NO2 spikes.

Using the a PC lighitng fixture with 2 x 65 W 10,000K daylights and 2 x 65 W actinics.

Have cut it back to about an hour to keep at least a little photosynthetic activity going on, but may need to just cut it off completely to control the growth.

Guess the snails will have their jobs cut out for them when they come into the picture.