Cyano Problems, assistance needed.

[zergling76]

Hello reef central!

So my tank is about 9 months in age and has been having a rough case of cyano. My tank is a 90g with a 30g sump. In the sump is a reef octopus and (2) two little fishes reactors for carbon and phosphate media. For in tank flow i use a Vortech Mp40w as the only power head in the display (it is turned to 100%). Sand bed is a shallow sand bed of sugar fine sand, the vortech moved it more into one corner so is goes from about 1-3 inches in depth.

My reef inhabitants are a solo wheel man goby, a few rics/zoanthids and a large finger leather. These were moved from my old (30g cube) when i set up the 90. As clean up crew, just about 8-10 ceriths, 4 Turbo and 3 cowrie snails. 3 scarlet legged hermits and one large electric blue legged hermit.

Over the last month cyano has been growing like wildfire across the rocks and parts of the sand. The high flow causes the cyano to grow in tendril like stalks that grab and latch onto what they touch).

My specific gravity sits at 1.024
My Nitrates read at zero
My Dkh is sitting at 9
My Phosphate test reads zero (although i hear they aren't accurate)
My PH is reading a 8.0

All tests done with API kits.

During water changes i siphon out most of the cyano but it seems to be back full force in 1-2 days.

I am not sure what i am doing wrong :( i feel like i am disappointing everyone that comes to look at my new tank with this abomination..

Any advice would be appreciated. I'm really at my wits end..

[nanojg]

pull out all you can, do water changes and run GFO, thats what I would do. Are you using 0 TDS RO/DI water? You might run lights out for 3 days to kick start the cyno killing.

[DoubleM 10]

be carefull when you turn the lights off

you might have a large amonia spike depending on how much you cant get out before hand. it happened to me and i was madd.

caused more headaches.

if i were you i would cut back the time the lights are on. i would not turn them completely off.

its normal so battle it while it runs its course

matt

[fishox]

a cyano outbreak is a normal part of a tank's maturation. I found the best way to deal with it is to reduce the light, reduce the amount of nutrients you introduce (food), increase the flow, siphon out as much as you can, and do frequent small water changes. If you are not already doing so, make sure you are using RODI water. I'd be careful trusting your LFS' RODI. Some aren't as diligent as they should be when it comes to changing the membrane and filters. running a phosban reactor will help with this problem as well as being useful after you've gone through this stage of the "cycle"

[vexeclipse2007]

would you guys recommend Chemiclean? heard it works wonders but also heard cases where it killed everything...I'm kinda apprehensive about it

[fishox]

after 6+ years on this site I have learned not to resort to chemical cures. the advice on RC is to treat the cause, not the symptom. As I mentioned above every tank gets a cyano outbreak several months after the cycle. There are lots of threads on RC about treating cyano. siphon out as much as you can, reduce the food source, and increase the amount of flow in your tank so that there aren't any dead spots. worked for me.