PDA

View Full Version : Phosphate, Nitrates and Cyano


The_King
01/05/2019, 01:04 AM
I don’t have corals. Just fish. Nitrate phosphate 0. I had cyano once before and I used chemiclean and phosguard and it went away quickly. After few months, it’s showing up again now. Chemiclean and phosguard don’t seem to be working much this time around. But I have been reading threads here and got more confused. In order to get rid of cyano, do I reduce or increase phosphate. Also, where does nitrate come into play in all this ? I am using RODI water and have been doing water changes every few days. Feeding normal twice a day. Light is on about 10-11 hours a day. More blackouts ?

I’d prefer natural ways to clean it instead of phosguard and chemiclean etc. don’t feel too comfortable.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

eutimio
01/05/2019, 01:35 AM
Are you positive your test kits are good?
If so, you never want these at 0. Never.

The_King
01/05/2019, 01:41 AM
Are you positive your test kits are good?
If so, you never want these at 0. Never.



Will increasing these help in getting rid of cyano ? Over feeding and less water changes will do that. That’s what I wanted to know actually.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

eutimio
01/05/2019, 04:01 AM
Not necessarily. Cyano from my limited experience with it appears when there’s an imbalance of some sort. I know...pretty vague.
What I mean is your parameters might look good and get cyanobacteria.
New tanks get it in the first year or so, established ones have cyano explosions or patching here and there.
Increasing flow, running carbon and sucking it out of the tank is common practice to get rid of it.
I wouldn’t rely on overfeeding to increase nutrients because I simply don’t know how your tank might react...rotting food is not the best way to up nitrates and Phosphates.

I always do one thing at a time watching closely for adverse effects.
I dose my tank with nitrates because they always fall to 0.
That could be an option if you are comfortable trying it.

Other more experienced members could probably give you more info and options but that’s all I’ve got:)

Jonesrd1
01/05/2019, 08:03 AM
You say Cyanobacteria which is the largest group of Archaea so removal of the unknown is hard to determine. Are you dealing with what is commonly called red slime?

mcgyvr
01/05/2019, 08:43 AM
Siphon it out (as much as you can) during your next water change..then turn lights out for 3 days (or more if you dont have corals)... Repeat as needed...

And actually
Without corals just turn off lights until its totally gone..

bertoni
01/05/2019, 07:47 PM
Feeding more is unlikely to help with a cyanobacteria bloom, but nothing is impossible. I might try the opposite approach. Sometimes, but not always, GFO can help, as can reducing feeding.

Spending a few minutes a week siphoning out the slime will help export nutrients, but I wouldn't spend more time on such maintenance than that, personally. The lights-out treatment sometimes helps, but I'd do some water changes to remove nutrients during the dark period. Dying cyanobacteria will dump various sorts of things into the water column.

I don't think cyanobacteria are part of the Archaea branch. They seem to be their own branch, or part of Archaebacteria.