Cyano with undetectable phosphates! Why?!

[Mhayes462]

I have cyano but my nitrates and phosphates are undetectable on the test kits. Why is this? How do I get rid of it? All I've read is to lower phosphates and it will go away. It has not! I have even ran gfo in a bag for a day a couple of times. I also vodka dose. Other than that, everything is doing great.mit isn't a lot, just get a little on my glass and back wall and return nozzles.


Mike Hayes

[wonderz]

nitrates and phosphates are undetectable probably because they are being absorbed by the cyanobacteria so your test kits weren't able to pick it up in the water column. You can try to run UV to get rid of whatever cyanobacteria that's in the water and manual remove the ones that's attached to the surface.

[Psirex]

GFO takes longer than a day to lower Phos significantly...

what is your feeding schedule, light schedule, Bio-load, tank size, sump\refugeium setup.

if you want to get rid of it quick use chemi-clean and do a 3 day lights out period. But it's a mute point if you don't get the source of the issue under control...

[BigCountry74]

what kind of light are you running?

[HeavyWater]

Originally Posted by wonderz

nitrates and phosphates are undetectable probably because they are being absorbed by the cyanobacteria so your test kits weren't able to pick it up in the water column. You can try to run UV to get rid of whatever cyanobacteria that's in the water and manual remove the ones that's attached to the surface.

+1 I find that when Cyano is present, it REALLY abosrbs phosphates out of the water. I would test your RODI water for phosphates to get an idea if the water source is the problem.

[Psirex]

Originally Posted by HeavyWater

+1 I find that when Cyano is present, it REALLY abosrbs phosphates out of the water. I would test your RODI water for phosphates to get an idea if the water source is the problem.

If Phos is present in your RO\DI water then get a new source or replace the membranes\cartridges.

[brandon429]

I must know...were you only testing po4 after your cyano prob? I have seen lots of threads where PO 4
Was already undetectable before the outbreak.

[Dadekster]

Manual remove it while running GFO or whatever method you are using to lower phosphates. From what I understand it is VERY effective at taking phosphates out of the water. To beat that you have to remove the cyno and give your other method of control an upper hand in allowing it to remove the phosphate before the cyno restablishes itself. Could take a bit of time and work and it's so easy to let those phosphate build up again due to poor husbandry/over feeding etc. If that still doesn't work take a look at your lights would be next move.

[kendec65]

Not to take away from the original poster, but I set my tank up about 6 weeks ago with medical grade RO water from where I work have no fish just cycling and I have a 2 X 4" patch of this on my sand. I have the lights out not feeding it and have no idea what to do. suggestions?

[Mhayes462]

My tank is a biocube 29. Stock lights: 36w 10000, 36w actinic, plus marineland reef led with 21x1watt LEDs. The stock bulbs are a month old. I have the aquaticlife 115 skimmer in chamber one, media basket w/ floss, purigen and chemi-pure elite, and a fuge rack with chaeto in ch 2. Carbon in chamber 3 every other week. I vodka dose and do 4 gallon water change every week. Blow off my rocks every other day. Ro/di tests 0 tds. I just installed it a month ago. Di resin is silicabuster. I have four fish, I feed the corals every 2-3 days and let the fish get the leftovers. My cyano is not a major problem, just enough to be annoying. It is on a lobo that I am trying to rescue and on my return nozzles that make them look an ugly brown. It also came off my glass by the sand bed when I cleaned it with the mag cleaner. Just didn't understand why I was having this when all my params are near perfect.


Mike Hayes

[Mhayes462]

Kendec65: normal new tank syndrome. It should go away soon. Are your lights always off? What about room lights or windows that could let light in? If you want to get it out now you can siphon it out.


Mike Hayes

[Mhayes462]

What should I do to eradicate it?


Mike Hayes

[BigCountry74]

it grows in my fuge every now and then but not in my DT. that's why I was asking about your lights. my fuge has crappy lighting etc. of course 1 peice of live rock down there grows blood red coralline too.....it's like a box of chocolates everytime i peak down there..lol

[Mhayes462]

Havent noticed any in the fuge


Mike Hayes

[ek9vboi]

How old is the tank?

[Reeferz412]

When you say leftovers, there could be leftovers in the crevices of your LR, even though you said you blow it off. And there are no deadspots in your tank? Also age plays a big factor, is it a fairly new system?

[Mhayes462]

I bought it already established, but the livestock had been taken out. Only water, ls, and lr. I've had it for 3 months now.


Mike Hayes

[Mhayes462]

So the conclusion is, is that no matter what(even if the test kits read zero) cyano is a super algae that can live off anything?



Mike Hayes

[marinetechknj]

Everybody thinks Cyano only comes from high Phosphate levels this is not true, Phosphates can feed a Cyano outbreak. Cyano comes from a high DOC and DOM level. It is not an Alga as most already know, but a bacteria that feeds on Dissolved organic carbons. I would change your carbon first, then test the total dissolved solids in your RODI water and make sure your Skimmer is up to par. Do not use any additives , this will only mask your problem for a little while.

[marinetechknj]

BTW, Vodka is used as a carbon for good bacteria. If you overdose this it can cause an outbreak of cyano, the dose needs to be increased slowly enough for the good bacterias population to grow large enough to consume it.

[Sk8r]

it doesn't need either. Poke the blue number under my avatar, go to the article entitled Algae, and about halfway down, you'll find the procedure for ridding a tank of cyano.

[Mhayes462]

Thanks for the replies. My tds is zero, and skimmer is working good. I haven't had it back since I cleaned everything and leveled out my vodka dose.


Mike Hayes

[Meshmez]

Originally Posted by Mhayes462

So the conclusion is, is that no matter what(even if the test kits read zero) cyano is a super algae that can live off anything?



Mike Hayes

Your test kit reads zero because the cyano eats it up as soon as it enters the tank, not because there isnt any there...

[M Woodhill]

I have the same problem

nitrate=0 phosphate=0

cyano still thrives in tank

[Mhayes462]

I put stronger lights on my fuge, and now my chaeto grows like crazy. I pulled out my return nozzles and cleaned them and siphoned out any cyano I could. No problems since.


Mike Hayes