Cyano Issues With IO mix

[Tank2379]

Hey guys just wondering if anyone has experience or has ever experienced Cyano issues with IO since doing regular water changes and fighting cyano when I was on Tap water it seems as if even with my RO/DI unit I am still getting a Cyano Bloom right after every water change my feedings are every other day or every two days. My lights are on not all day 7 hrs or less some days maybe 4hrs. and i have been doing frequent PWC every week since I got my New RO/DI unit. It's bee over a month and I am still seeing a Cyano Bloom after my water changes. Just wondering if I am doing something wrong? or if something could be wrong with my Salt mix. Let me know....

Thanks

 

[buddha_red]

post your water readings including phosphates if you have the kit

 

[Tank2379]

post your water readings including phosphates if you have the kit

My water parameters are in checked. My Phosphate shouldn't be that bad if I am not feeding as much. And plus it would be kind of hard to get a Phos reading if Cyano is abosorbing it up.... I am just wondering if my Salt mix having issues with it being Phosphate Free. I read somewhere someone was having issues with IO cause they kept getting Cyano, but i can't remember which Thread that was..... Well my 160 gallon bucket of IO is almost out and I'll change mixes soon.... and see if that could had been the issue....

Thanks

 

[Ziggy953]

I don't want to throw fuel on the flames but I had more issues with cyano when I was using IO. I am not 100% sure that was the cause but it seems a little odd.

When you do your PWC make sure to siphon the cyano out of the tank, if it is on the sand bed take a bit of the sand in the siphon as well.

After I finished my last bucket of IO I switched to Reef Crystals and I haven't had as many issues with cyano. I had a bit of an outbreak recently but that was due to all the mess I dealt with upgrading to the 120. Before I broke the 72 down I hadn't had any cyano issues for many months. Was it because of the switch to RC? I don't know.

There are a lot of people that use IO and have for years with no problems.

 

[ccCapt]

I would look elsewhere for the cause. I know many people and have seems some awesome tanks where only IO salt is used. 2 good examples of tanks I have seen where only IO is used would be the 500g reef at Penn State U and Sanjay's 500g reef tank in his house.

 

[Tank2379]

I would look elsewhere for the cause. I know many people and have seems some awesome tanks where only IO salt is used. 2 good examples of tanks I have seen where only IO is used would be the 500g reef at Penn State U and Sanjay's 500g reef tank in his house.

I don't want to throw fuel on the flames but I had more issues with cyano when I was using IO. I am not 100% sure that was the cause but it seems a little odd.

When you do your PWC make sure to siphon the cyano out of the tank, if it is on the sand bed take a bit of the sand in the siphon as well.

After I finished my last bucket of IO I switched to Reef Crystals and I haven't had as many issues with cyano. I had a bit of an outbreak recently but that was due to all the mess I dealt with upgrading to the 120. Before I broke the 72 down I hadn't had any cyano issues for many months. Was it because of the switch to RC? I don't know.

There are a lot of people that use IO and have for years with no problems.

HHHHMMMMM!!!! I am just wondering maybe if I am not Siphoning enough out?... But that can't be I usually scoop it out with a cup to get it all out.... Well I will look into it more and see what else could be the problem. Maybe that Phospate remover would do the trick.

 

[Tank2379]

Thanks everyone for all your great Input.

 

[melosu58]

I agree with Larry. There are several folks that have made this cyno claim with IO but the proof just is not there that IO caused it.. I know several folks that use IO and they have nice looking tanks.

 

[thincat]

I agree with Larry. There are several folks that have made this cyno claim with IO but the proof just is not there that IO caused it.. I know several folks that use IO and they have nice looking tanks.

Is it true that some limpets eat cyno???

 

[Justin_Toronto]

I hope IO doesn't enhance the chances of cyno, I use IO.

 

[Ziggy953]

I don't think anyone will say that using IO will enhance or cause cyano.

Speaking from my experience with that mix I had more cyano issues when I was using it. Now that could have been any one of a million other reasons. As Mike and ccCapt pointed out there are a lot of people that use IO, and have used it for years, with great success. Heck it is one of the best selling most popular salt mixes on the market. Like I said, it just happened that while I was using IO I had more issues with cyano then when I wasn't.

I prefer Reef Crystals over the other brands but that is a personal choice and based on how my tank responds to that mix.

 

[Fluff]

I always had cyano issues as well with IO. What helped me with it is that Innovator suggested I check my alk levels. Turned out they were low and were adjusted accordingly and the cyano subsided quite a bit. It didn't cure it, but it certainly helped alot, at least in my case.

 

[Ziggy953]

I always had cyano issues as well with IO. What helped me with it is that Innovator suggested I check my alk levels. Turned out they were low and were adjusted accordingly and the cyano subsided quite a bit. It didn't cure it, but it certainly helped alot, at least in my case.

I'm glad you posted this.

This is exactly the point I was working towards. This proves that other issues could be the cause of the cyano and not the use of IO. It never occurred to me to see if low Alk was the issue in my system. I know a lot more now then I did back then.

 

[Innovator]

Most of the time a salt mix does not cause algae unless a particularly bad batch, but compositions change once water is mixed (ro/di or not) and especially when added to aquarium dynamics. Most algae problems can be solved by maintaining recommended water chemistries (including alk, ca, po4, etc), limiting import (overfeeding or feeding unnecessary foods), maximizing export (water changes, skimming, and use of macroalgaes), and decreasing possible stagnant areas via water flow.

 

[Tank2379]

It didn't cure it, but it certainly helped alot, at least in my case.

Most of the time a salt mix does not cause algae unless a particularly bad batch

I'm glad you posted this.

This is exactly the point I was working towards. This proves that other issues could be the cause of the cyano and not the use of IO.

I understand this issue is happening with other users of IO and I am not saying that everyone is experiencing Cyano with IO. Just wondering if it's not higher Alk solving the issue. Then like Innovator says it could be a bad batch. and your right IO is highest selling salt mix on the market and there could be a few that leave that are not measure to the standards that are recommend for SW keeping which is causing outbreaks of this sort. But maybe I'll stay with it and see what happens you never know it could be a slight miss reading of my test kits or maybe I had a Bad Batch of IO.... But I guess we all would never know the real true of this out break.... Keep me posted if anyone has any other updates on this or experienced and issue. I am glad I have you guy here for help and support... I greatly appreciate the help.

Thanks

 

[ccCapt]

I understand this issue is happening with other users of IO and I am not saying that everyone is experiencing Cyano with IO. Just wondering if it's not higher Alk solving the issue.

The problem wouldn't be the alk level of IO, because it has 1 of the highest alk levels (12 dKH) of any salt, it would be the alk level in the tank.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I think the "IO=cyano" thinking comes from a "salt study" that Borneman presented one time. If I recall correctly, in his test he ended up with cyano in the test tank that used the IO. There was no other testing done to determine if the cyano was directly related to the IO, and the test procedure was a hotly debated topic (and still is in some circles.)

Strictly in my opinion, that "test", combined with anecodatal evidence from other users of IO, has promoted the thinking that IO can cause cyano problems. As noted earlier in the thread, there are soooooo many parameters we can futz with in our tank (knowingly and not-so-knowingly!), it would be impossible to pin something down to a certain salt mix.

 

[ccCapt]

As noted earlier in the thread, there are soooooo many parameters we can futz with in our tank (knowingly and not-so-knowingly!), it would be impossible to pin something down to a certain salt mix.

 

[melosu58]

I agree.

 

[Justin_Toronto]

I think the "IO=cyano" thinking comes from a "salt study" that Borneman presented one time. If I recall correctly, in his test he ended up with cyano in the test tank that used the IO. There was no other testing done to determine if the cyano was directly related to the IO, and the test procedure was a hotly debated topic (and still is in some circles.)

Strictly in my opinion, that "test", combined with anecodatal evidence from other users of IO, has promoted the thinking that IO can cause cyano problems. As noted earlier in the thread, there are soooooo many parameters we can futz with in our tank (knowingly and not-so-knowingly!), it would be impossible to pin something down to a certain salt mix.

Agreed. Though with the chance of IO being a contributing factor for cyano, I think I'll try something else next time. Just to be safe. I doubt it 'causes' cyano, but it may lend to wate perimeters that allow cyano to grow easier... just like using some tap waters doesn't mean you'll get algae blooms, but it can increase the chances for some.