Cyano Issue

[NYCKeith]

Has anyone had this problem before and can you let me know what you have done to correct it. I have tried everything. None of my parameters are high except MG. I have narrowed it down to it seems to be remaining in my sand but I cannot get it out of there. I do weekly 20% water changes and have done chem clean twice. I'm stumped on how to get this out of my tank aside from taking the sand out and starting over.

 

[samster]

What kind of sand are you using? How long has the tank been up and running? Tank parameters might help

 

[NYCKeith]

Its a fine grain about an inch and a half deep. Its a 69 gallon Red Sea Max E-260 tank. Yesterday testing was
Salinity 1.024 (still is today)
Temp 77.4
Nitrate 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Ammonia 0ppm
PH 8.2
Alkalinity 9.8
MG 1600ppm
Phosphate .16ppm
CA 450PPM

did a 20% water change today.

 

[petecomas]

0.16 phosphates seems high to me. What are you doing for filtration?

 

[Donewiththisplace]

What are you using to test?

What's the light schedule like? Lighting type?

Feeding schedule?

If something is driving the phosphates we gotta find out what. Look at the most obvious causes first...excess food, lighting, something decaying in the tank?

Have u tested the water you use to do changes?

 

[NYCKeith]

I have 2 clowns, Fox Face, wrasse and coral beauty in the tank. I had a wrasse that had died but I couldnt find it and found it about a month ago (3 months after it died). I had ordered a clean up crew about about a month ago and I'm not convinced they all arrived alive. I feed the fish three times a day and have been monitoring to see if they eat it all and it really seems like perhaps I'm not feeding them enough because its gone in a matter of a minute and they nibble on the cyano all day long.
My filer is what came with the Max E-260. (link below).

My lights are the AI Hydra 26? HD (90W)*. My settings are
UV 11, Violet 28%, Royal 79%, Blue 79%, Green 10%, Red 0%, White 19%

I use Nutra Sea water for my water changes.

 

[NYCKeith]

forgot the link
http://www.redseafish.com/aquarium-systems/max-aquarium-systems/max-e-series/#unique-identifier

Thank you everyone for your input...much appreciated.

 

[samster]

What's the lighting schedule like? I think you should do more than a 20% water change if you had disappearing fish and inverts in the system. Maybe your lights are on to long and aggressively feeding? I had a cyano problem once when I used play sand which might could have been silica based.

 

[petecomas]

I find it hard to believe that a dead fish stuck around for three months without getting eaten by CUC and/or decomposing, so it likely died more recently than that. Maybe it was hiding for a while before it died? In any case, a dead fish and dead CUC would definitely add nutrients into the water. My guess is you are reading 0 nitrate because the cyano is consuming it before it builds to a detectable level. Often, these problems take several weeks or months to develop, and it can take that long to resolve them once you know what the problem is.

If it were my tank, I would increase the water changes -- maybe 10% every two days, siphon out any visible cyano as it appears, cut back on the feeding to once or twice daily, and make sure the lights weren't on longer than 6 hours or so per day. Then test your nitrate and phosphate every day. If you keep removing the cyano, your nitrate should start being detectable and phosphate will likely increase -- then the water changes should bring them down again. Keep at it for a few weeks and see what happens.

 

[ZANYMASTER]

Having the same issue myself.doing small changes and siphoned a lot but lights play an issue too.Changed out the bulbs but no change so going to Rowaphos

 

[pecan2phat]

NYCKeith,
Try this:
https://www.microbelift.com/product/special-blend/
For the last 13 years whenever I developed Cyano, this has always worked and is natural vs a chemical or antibiotic.
Takes 5 weeks at 1.5x dosage but better then using any erythromycin based solution and many fish stores including Petco stock it.

 

[NYCKeith]

Thanks everyone. It sounds like I have my lights on too long. Will change it down to 6 hours. I have 8 hours full right now with 2 hour fade in fade out. Will also cut down the feeding to twice a day and increase the water changes. Thank you everyone. Will update on how everything goes.

 

[Donewiththisplace]

I agree that the dead fish was probably more recent than that...and was probably dragged out from its hiding spot after it died by the cuc. So that's a good source of unwanted nutrients.

Additionally, I would cut the intensity of the lights down too.

I run a hydra 26 too, and have them around 45 blues, 55 whites.

Perhaps there is too much light. Scale it back, deprive the algae of light a little bit. And shorten the schedule a little bit.

 

[SteveZz]

I just came across this video that discussed a little bit about Cyano that you may or may not find interesting.

https://www.facebook.com/ATM.North.America/videos/671144033082289/

They start the discussion at the 4:50 mark.

 

[jadakiss]

I used to always have some issues with phosphate till I stepped up my weekly husbandry .
1. 20% water change every week
2. Make sure u have new bulbs
3. Rinse every shrimp if u feed in ur tank with rodI
4. Don't feed as heavy
5.make sure ur Rodi cartridges are new
6. Get a tds meter
7.I would change the phosban media EVERY WEEK... I KNOW BUT I LIKE TO MAKE SURE IT'S PULLING PHOSPHATE AT ITS MAX.

After that NEVER EVER DID I HAVE ANY ISSUES. EVER