I'm still dealing with it though it has subsided somewhat.
Nasty looking stuff indeed, can really ruin the look of a tank in no time.
I was reading on another site that with my specific fixture, current usa satellite the bulbs change spectrum at 6-9 months and predispose the tank to a cyano outbreak.
Another factor, low alkalinity - which I find in such a small volume is an issue when using distilled water.
I changed my bulbs at 9 months, and have started using my well water for water changes - it's hard and apparently phospates aren't an issue right now.
My question would be what clean up crew is effective in eating cyano? I have a couple of crabs, and some snails but none seem interested in it.
tx
Treating cyano in a planted tank is the same as treating it in a freshwater tank. Don't deal with the results, but rather find the cause.
What's the spectrum on the bulbs you are using? As well, what kind of flow are you looking at? Additionally, you said "apparently" phosphates aren't an issue, has that been tested and at what levels?
65 w 10000k daylight
460 nm actinic
65 w 6700 daylight
2 maxi jet 600s and a small whisper hob
had the cyano issue before I was using well water.
According to some posts in AC it is pretty difficult to determine real phosphates level in SW tank.
More you have - more absorbed by algae and the same quantity in the water column. So even after people started using the PH reactors the level didn't go down, they just mentioned that the agae began dissapear...
From a little bit of searching, a lot of people seem to be of the opinion to stay away from lights with a fair bit of red in the spectrum. That would mean loosing your 6700K bulb
Bringing down nitrates also helps, dunno if you have any right now. As for a cleanup crew, sand-sifting/sleeper gobies will clean it up.
nitrates are zero
One of the most important things here.......Is water movement.
how many power heads have you got?..........redirecting your flow to the bottom would certainly help.........remember cayano is a bacteria.....!!!
are you overfeeding?.......... ???
anyways . keep us posted.
I'm not overfeeding.
I have 2 maxi jet 600's for flow and a small whisper hob which I add carbon to when needed.
It started in accordance with the lifespan of my bulbs.
I'm with BigDaddy, that you'd better use 10000K instead of your 6700K lamp (or maybe even higher K temp), as such a lamp is good for planted FW tank, but not very useful for SW tank. (BTW, even this is not dealing with your problem, there was very nice post on AC about history dealing with SW light: http://aquariacanada.com/forums/showthread.php?p=126720#post126720)
What I'm not sure that this lamp can be a cause of the problem. I tried to figure out why I got the cyano outbreak at some point and should say, that I not only changed the MH bulb, but also tired to encrease Ca level and used some stuff, that actually also had some trace elements. There was no changes in even the flow direction, but cyano appeared in no time... Before I thought that the light was the source of the problem, but than I realized that cyano in my sump/refuge, where I use only CF lamp from HD that is 4200K dissapeared as well. So, now I think it should be some elements/additives in the water that caused it. Are you adding some additives.
As for clean-up crew - I cannot tell you who is really taking care of it, as it was cleaned during night time. I never saw snails eating it, saw hermits "trying" it, but besides them I have tons of stomatellas, that work only at night, long-spine urchin, which is grazing even GSP, and some large conch about 4" that also works at night, but mainly on glass. Also small snails (looks like cerith but if so, they are very slow growing as they all are about 1/4" or maybe little more) covering rocks and glass during the night.
Also, you mentioned the nitrates are 0. I managed to lower it to 10-20 ppm, but no less and I'm definetly not over feeding and using skimmer 24/7 (for the last 2 weeks - before just only every other day at night)... ???
Regards
I don't understand how it could be my daylight bulb causing the outbreak. This is originally what was in the fixture when I started the tank up. My only thought was due to the deterioration of the bulb over 9 months it changed spectrum.
I purchased the bulbs from marinescape.
I don't add any additives to the tank. I know my calcium is up there on it's own. Does calcium contribute to cyano?
My nitrate is in the yellow zone,,,,,what test kit are you using gvv?
Julie
I had an outbreak last month that has gone away totally. I hope you can get rid of the hateful stuff as easily as I did. Maybe I was lucky but I got off the frozen BS to cut down excess nutrients, redirected my flow to hit the spots where cyano was accumulating and reduced my daylight lamp timer from 12 hrs to 8. I run my 50/50 bulb (10k,true actinic) for 14hrs.
I cant even see a trace of it in the substrate or on the LR now.
I forgot to mention that,PC bulbs have an average life spand of roughly
6 t0 8 months,there after they tend to loose most of its spectrum....... >:(
however if using 6700k bulbs which are a bit yellowish that can be the problem.
its unfortunate that with PC bulbs there isn't anything higher than 10000k that I know off.......
also depends on the brand of bulb..The sunpak which comes with Current USA
are very cheap in term of quality........I have a dual 96 current USA fixture (no longer in use)
I did find a rapid change after only 5 months of use at 12 hours a day.
Coral life which is a step higher that Sunpak is far better quality,and a bit pricier,
but you get what you pay.....
just my extra pennies Julie. ::)
Hi Julie,
I'm sure that calcium is not a source of the problem, in my case it were some additives that get with it.
Kennyman gave a good idea to reduce the light period and also reduce feeding. Also if I remember correctly you are not using the skimmer on the regular basis. Try to use it 24/7 for some period of time and look if it helps or no.
I'm also not sure to use well water is better than using RO water. If you think that RO water is not good, than how old is your cartriges and how often you use RO unit. I have mine for a year and I'm happy with the water it produces.
Regards
My tank is very shallow at 12 inches, so I do have some intense lighting at 6-7 reaching right to the sand bed.
I will cut back on the number of hours for lighting, but that means less looking at the tank :P
Thanks for all the tips, I've read alot on cyano and it seems no one knows exactly what triggers it.
Only what can make it disappear.
Julie
Quote from: Julie on August 24, 2006, 06:23:48 AM...I've read alot on cyano and it seems no one knows exactly what triggers it.
Here you are right :)
i had the same outbreak with my tank. cut your lighting back by a few hours(if you don't have die hard light corals). make sure the cyano gets super high INDIRECT current. its should go away in about a week or so.
I skimmed through this (ha) but, better flow and less dead spots helps keep the cyano at bay too.
As soon as I turn the skimmer on, the cyano outbreak goes wild.
There is an explanation for this, the bubbles and extra aeration must support the cyano.
The powerhead trick has worked, it seems to be going away finally.
Thanks so much for the suggestion!!!