Cyanobacteria sand bed only! HELP!

[SputnikNYC]

Hey all...

My tank is a little over a year old, i have a semi deep sand bed 2-3", i started to get allot of cyano when the tank hit his first year mark. The cyano only lives on the send bed, no where else!

NOTE: I haven't vacuumed my sand bed up until the cyano appeared and noticed some black silt when disturbing the sand bed, especially under cyano patches!

I have a descent water movement, number of Hermit Crabs,number of Serith and Nasarius snails, few Brittle Stars and a Yellow Watchman Gobby for a clean crew!

To fight cyano, i remove cyano infected top layer of the sand bed when doing water change, but it still appears after a few days!

Any advice?

P.S. Filtration and equipment are in my sig below!

[aecasasus]

Where are you getting your water from? Keep up with your water changes and manual removal and you will eventually win!

[Psirex]

get your nitrates and phos down, not sure if your mdeia needs to be changed out of not big enough reactors, obviously its an issue with nutrient export.... Also you may want to increase the amount when doing your water changes. I don't see a skimmer listed (or maybe i missed it?)

[SputnikNYC]

Where are you getting your water from? Keep up with your water changes and manual removal and you will eventually win!

My water comes from an RODI SpectraPure 5 stage filter (new filters). I keep removing cyano affected sand, but i'm afraid i'm running out of sand :)

get your nitrates and phos down, not sure if your mdeia needs to be changed out of not big enough reactors, obviously its an issue with nutrient export.... Also you may want to increase the amount when doing your water changes. I don't see a skimmer listed (or maybe i missed it?)

I keep all my media fresh at all times, skimmer is a AquaC EV-120 running with a Mag7, it got much more efficient after i got a NP bio pellet reactor running a few months back! My water parameters are all good (Salifer/API)!

[Sk8r]

Punch the blue number under my avatar and you'll find, among others, a post on Algae: read down the list: no-cost treatment that will rid you of the stuff.

[SputnikNYC]

Here are some pics i just made with my point and shoot!

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/9476/img1048cv.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/690/img1048cv.jpg/)

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/5577/img1049rc.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/718/img1049rc.jpg/)

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/9835/img1050xe.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/593/img1050xe.jpg/)

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/6726/img1051sp.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/17/img1051sp.jpg/)

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/9413/img1052z.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/32/img1052z.jpg/)

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/3129/img1053s.th.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/593/img1053s.jpg/)

[SputnikNYC]

Punch the blue number under my avatar and you'll find, among others, a post on Algae: read down the list: no-cost treatment that will rid you of the stuff.

Thanks for the tip, 3 days with no light sounds good, but how do you think my SPS's will react to that?

[Allmost]

you can stir/siphon the top layer of the sand too. since you are running NP pellets, then the cyano is from the left over po4 in sand bed, which will take some time to come out fully. you can make that faster by siphoning the top layer since it looks deep.

JMH.

[cthedaytrader]

How deep is your sand bed? Do you ever vacuum it?

I find that if I dont vacuum my sand bed once a month I am amazed by how much crud comes out of it. I keep a very shallow sand bed and routinely vacuum it, but when I don't I find that cyano can form on the sand bed, even when my tank has no signs elsewhere.

I assume it is from the build up of debris in the sand bed providing a "high nutrient zone" in the tank close to the sand bed, even through my test kits have no nitrates or Phosphates.

I find this is the same for a low flow zone where nutrients can accumulate if there is a dead zone in your flow.

I would imagine the flow closest to the sand bed is also lower than most of the tank or it would be a constant sand storm.

If you never vacuum your sand bed, I would be carefull if it is deep and hasnt been vacuumed in a long time or ever it is probably packed with detritus. So I would suggest vacuuming it in small stages with each water change.

[4ddiction]

add a conch, they do wonders. But make sure what is fueling the problem.

[Sk8r]

Re a lights-out: corals really don't mind. I was interested to view www.breathebonaire.com during a hurricane pass, and for several days, it was dark at that webcam, which focused on a natural reef. I wondered how everything would come through, and sure enough, one morning the sun was back and the familiar occupants (like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood) started going about their usual things.
You can feed your fishes during that time, but the corals (many) are night feeders, so they're not unhappy. Sps as well, just comes right through it.
Run your skimmer at top efficiency as that stuff dies out, and you may have to do this three days a month for several months, but after that, it'll be a while before you have the problem again (everyone gets it sooner or later). You might also check out your bulbs: it often hits in the 6th to 8th month of MH as lights begin to expire.
Mostly though, it's everywhere, and it'll bloom now and again, but 3 days' dark and patience will get rid of it.

[Reef Bass]

You have a substantial accumulation of cyano fueling nutrients in your sandbed. I had a similar issue before I started vacuuming and stirring my sandbed. I would siphon the sheet of cyano off the sandbed and it would be back the next day. Once I started vacuuming and stirring my sandbed, the cyano went away. And all the corals improved color as well.

[dbartkow]

What type of sand are you using that you can vacuum it? Mine seems way too fine to do that.

[chartwell]

When did you change your bulbs last? I had the exact same issue, cyano on the sand bed only. I do stir/lightly vacuum my sand when I do water changes, but it would come right back. I realized my MH bulb was a year old and my T5's were 18 months old (oops) and I changed them out, and the cyano is reduced by 95% Does anyone know how or why old bulbs cause cyano? Seems strange, but I'm a believer now!

[SputnikNYC]

My T5 bulbs are fairly new (4-5 months).

I figured i'll siphon the top layer of sand and recycle the water, meaning, i will siphon in the 5g. bucket through the micron sock, clean the sock, let the waste settle at the bottom of the bucket and then put that water back in the tank through the clean micron sock again! And repeat the same thing! What do you think? That gives me an opportunity of not being limited by the amount of water i change while siphoning!?

[Acronic]

cyano is a normal side affect of NP pellets. Some believe it is because of the strain of bacteria that the pellets feed. Just a thought if nothing else is working, attempt adding another form of carbon like vinegar or vodka to feed different strains of bacteria. Salt is expencive and the filter sock is a good idea.

[SputnikNYC]

cyano is a normal side affect of NP pellets. Some believe it is because of the strain of bacteria that the pellets feed. Just a thought if nothing else is working, attempt adding another form of carbon like vinegar or vodka to feed different strains of bacteria. Salt is expencive and the filter sock is a good idea.

Thanks :) I started to get cyano before i had NP pellets, that was the reason i decided to try the pellets. I'm gonna try that water recycle siphon routine, hopefully it will help, i wouldn't wanna to replace the sand.

[AquamanSE]

I know your running the NP Pellets but pick up a bottle of Nopox (Methonal) from RS. I know there are some who will eat this up but it worked two days later I siphoned what remained & it never came back. Since then I have pulled GFO & run straight Methonal. After a few sand bed snails will only help keep it in shape.

[89Foxbody]

Using NO3PO4X got rid of my Cyano as well. I'd highly recommend it.

[msderganc]

Old thread, but did you solve the cyano? I'm in the same boat.