NonSequitur Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I finally got fed up with the cyano in my tank.. nitrites and nitrates consistently test at 0 (lots of chaeto, caulerpa, gracilaria, and mangroves in the fuge. I don't have a phosphate test kit), I've changed and re-changed water flow patterns, TLC didn't seem to do much, so now I'm going to do a 72 hour blackout that I've heard people mention is usually successful. My question: When you use this method, do you typically turn off your refugium lights as well, or just the display tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnj Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Shut it all off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddybluewater Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 How old are your lights? If they are older than 8 months it may be time to change them. Do you have cyano in the fuge? If not then keep the light on to keep PH more stable. What is your water source for top off and water changes? If ti is not RO water then that is probably the source of your problem. You can get rid of cyano in 4 days with Maracyn, but it is a temp fix if you don't find the problem first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innate1 Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Hey I feel your pain. Cyano almost got the best of me. I did the more flow, redirect the flow, lights out, red slime remover you name it I did it. All while my tank tested w/in normarl params. I was using a converted wet dry filter as my sump and I guess the flow through there was my problem. I recently installed a sump and my tank is looking great. I don't know if this helps you or not I just wanted to point out that no one ever mentioned that I should look at my sump. I don't think the lights out will work. You have to keep looking till you find the cause or the red menace will just come back. If you want some help brainstorming LMK and I'll come over and see if I see anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Non- I keep my fuge light on when I do 3 days of darkness. I don't keep it 100%, just on its normal cycle of being on when the tank lights are off (nighttime). I had a cyano problem this spring and the 3 days destroyed it and it hasn't come back since. The other people on this thread are right tho - unless you find the source, it will come back. Cyano has been around for millions of years so it is good about coming back! Things to check: - excess feeding - is all the food getting eaten w/ minimal (or none) hitting the sand bed? You might try feeding every other day. The fish will survive and they'll be hungrier when you do feed so less food could get caught between rocks, etc and cause issues. Also, try feeding less - top off water - should be RO/DI and have a TDS reading of 0. - Bad flow. The cyano in my tank shows up between towers of live rock where the flow isn't great - lights. Over time, lights experience a spectrum shift which can cause algae to pop up. My rule of thumb is to replace my bulbs (PC and MH) every 6 months. - phosphates - you said you were not testing for these so I'd grab a test kit and see where they fall. If you buy it from Aquatek, take in some water to them and have them test it on their colorimeter for phosphates. It will test in the low range - mine were .03 - where normal test kits won't register. And avoid Aquarium Pharamceuticals test kits. I've only had bad luck with them. - Nitrates - you said these were fine so you can probably rule that one out. If your test kit is old, you might get Aquatek to test for them as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonSequitur Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 Thanks for all of the suggestions. I recently changed out my lights, the lamps I was using when I started the tank were old PCs, but I just put in a pair of new MH lamps (SPS 14k), so that shouldn't be it, at least in most of the tank. I did notice one corner that gets about 30 mins of direct sunlight in the late afternoon, so I'm going to adjust the curtains to block that and see if it has any effect. My sump is actually a converted wet/dry, with the bioballs removed, macro and mangroves in the left chamber, skimmer and return pump in the right, so that could be part of it.. I'm currently tweaking a new sump made from a 37g rubbermaid container, with proper baffles and such. Hopefully I'll bring that online soon, which should help. My top off water is RO, but I don't have a DI yet. I'll probably take a sample in to aquatek this week to have it tested.. I know RCA uses API tests, which are what I have and are reading 0. I know I can't have 0 nitrates, though, or else there wouldn't be cyano. I'll get a phosphate test while I'm there as well. I have the parts for a carbon/purigen reactor that I haven't put together yet, I have plenty of PVC, so I might make a second to run GFO as well. Also, I'm almost certain that I'm overfeeding, with probably too small of a cleanup crew, so I'm going to cut back on that as well. I figured with a slightly oversized skimmer (euro reef rs-80 on a 55g currently with 2 fish) I could get away with it, but I'll cut back, and work on targeting the food better so that it all gets eaten instead of just swirling around the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Non- running a phosphate reactor/media will help as well as running carbon. Adding DI to your RO will help as well. Your RO gets the water very clean, but still with enough TDS that it could cause an issue. When you feed, try turning off most, if not all pumps. My tank goes still when I feed so that the fish has the maximum chance to get any food. And if any hits the sand bed, the cleanup crew can get there before it gets blown away. If you have tons of fish, you might be able to get away w/out turning off the pumps. Cmanning and dapettit both have lots of fish and whenever they feed, nothing gets away. We're talking 15-20 fish including some big eaters such as tangs. For now, try turning off the pumps and see if that helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonSequitur Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 I was really good about turning off the pumps at first, but got lazy about it in the last couple of weeks. I'll go back to doing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I was really good about turning off the pumps at first, but got lazy about it in the last couple of weeks. I'll go back to doing that. the easiest fix for this (besides stop being lazy) is to get a controller. Push one button on the controller (or on your iphone if you have one) and the pumps shut down! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonSequitur Posted October 5, 2009 Author Share Posted October 5, 2009 I'm actually working on an arduino based controller. Probably won't save any money over buying one (particularly a reefkeeper light), but i've always wanted an excuse to play with microcontrollers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+dapettit Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I did notice one corner that gets about 30 mins of direct sunlight in the late afternoon, so I'm going to adjust the curtains to block that and see if it has any effect. My tank is right next to window in the living room and the bedroom window also leaks light into my tank. I had a bad case of cyano until I shut the blinds on these two windows. Since I reconfigured my power heads (they are all on the back wall) I shut them off during feeding. All the advice above is dead on. I just wanted to let you know about our outside light problem and how the fix helped with the cyano (along with only feeding every other day). Dave- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I had the opposite issue with cyano. I had it in the fuge but nothing in the main tank. I didn't change the main tank lights at all. Turned off the fuge lights for 3 days. Daily water change/siphon out cyano. Not a problem at all anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+mcallahan Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Z- Was that right after your tank got started? I had bad cyano in the fuge at first, then it all disappeared once the tank got rolling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarathustra2 Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 Not right after but I had added more sand to the DSB right before it happened. I was also feeding very heavily to see if I could get away with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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