brad
05/03/2008, 01:05 PM
I used to have the most cyanobacteria when the lights go off. Lately I've noticed no cyano when I got home from work, so I thought my water was better. Then I noticed I had no cyano when the lights first turn on, a lot of cyno grows, and it goes away the longer the lights are on. Today, I added kalkwasser to raise my pH from 7.9 to 8.3 when the cyno was its worst, and all the cyano almost instantly disappeared.
My hypothesis is that since cyano are photosynthetic, all things being equal, there should be more the longer the lights are on, similar to how they usually act in my system. All things are not equal, photosynthesis raises the pH later in the day, causing it to drop at night enough to liberate precipitated phosphate, eliminating the cyano. The kalkwasser rapidly precipitated phosphate, also eliminating the cyano.
If this is correct, any efforts to remove phosphate from my system should be done when the pH is low. I do dose sugar or vodka for nutrient control, but do so when my pH is highest (under the assumption oxygen is also highest, and too much sugar cuts oxygen). Would I be better off dosing sugar when the pH is low? Would it be worth remove the rock without coral to a separate tank and lowering the pH to remove the phosphate and put the rock back?
Cyanobacteria add nitrogen (they are nitrifying) and carbon (they are photosynthetic) to my system, but cannot add phosphate since phosphorous is not in our atmosphere. Is it possible as much aquarists hate cyano, they are beneficial to our systems, reducing phosphate by adding carbon and nitrogen the same way adding vodka does?
Or am I way off?
My hypothesis is that since cyano are photosynthetic, all things being equal, there should be more the longer the lights are on, similar to how they usually act in my system. All things are not equal, photosynthesis raises the pH later in the day, causing it to drop at night enough to liberate precipitated phosphate, eliminating the cyano. The kalkwasser rapidly precipitated phosphate, also eliminating the cyano.
If this is correct, any efforts to remove phosphate from my system should be done when the pH is low. I do dose sugar or vodka for nutrient control, but do so when my pH is highest (under the assumption oxygen is also highest, and too much sugar cuts oxygen). Would I be better off dosing sugar when the pH is low? Would it be worth remove the rock without coral to a separate tank and lowering the pH to remove the phosphate and put the rock back?
Cyanobacteria add nitrogen (they are nitrifying) and carbon (they are photosynthetic) to my system, but cannot add phosphate since phosphorous is not in our atmosphere. Is it possible as much aquarists hate cyano, they are beneficial to our systems, reducing phosphate by adding carbon and nitrogen the same way adding vodka does?
Or am I way off?