What the heck is going on???

whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
Horrible cyno in my tank and I can't get it under control!!!
60g acrylic tank
Mag 7 return
15g sump
3 96w PC lights (more on these below)
MSX160 skimmer
2 ocellaris clowns
1 banggai cardinal
1 Blackcap Basslet
140# LR
80# LS
Tank is 6 months old.
No fuge currently.
Weekly water changes of 5g - Oceanic salt
RO/DI - SpectraPure with 2 month old filters (all). Reads 0 TDS - Tap 63 TDS
Now, I moved a month ago and am awaiting a new canopy for my 2 - 175w halides. I had them hanging from the ceiling in my old place but have not put them back up in the new place as the canopy is being built.
I don't have any dead spots in my tank (checked numerous times) but can't seem to beat the cyno. I also have aiptasia bad, but that is a different thread (although I believe it has something to do with parameters, but that is just me!).
Params-
480 Ca (Calcium)
6 dkH (Carbonate)
0 Po (Phosphate)
160 No3 (Nitrate)
.3 No2 (Nitrite)
.1 NH3 (Ammonia)
8.5 Ph
1.026 Salinity
I use a filter sock on my overflow that I wash weekly.
Any thoughts? Suggestions???
I have been losing peppermint shrimp and emerald crabs lately also!

I have not done anything different since I moved, but never had this issue before!
 
socal57che

socal57che

Active Member
Originally Posted by whyamisofl
http:///forum/post/2773000
Horrible cyno in my tank and I can't get it under control!!!
60g acrylic tank
Mag 7 return
15g sump
3 96w PC lights (more on these below)
MSX160 skimmer
2 ocellaris clowns
1 banggai cardinal
1 Blackcap Basslet
140# LR
80# LS
Tank is 6 months old.
No fuge currently.
Weekly water changes of 5g - Oceanic salt
RO/DI - SpectraPure with 2 month old filters (all). Reads 0 TDS - Tap 63 TDS
Now, I moved a month ago and am awaiting a new canopy for my 2 - 175w halides. I had them hanging from the ceiling in my old place but have not put them back up in the new place as the canopy is being built.
I don't have any dead spots in my tank (checked numerous times) but can't seem to beat the cyno. I also have aiptasia bad, but that is a different thread (although I believe it has something to do with parameters, but that is just me!).
Params-
480 Ca (Calcium)
6 dkH (Carbonate)
0 Po (Phosphate)
160 No3 (Nitrate)
.3 No2 (Nitrite)
.1 NH3 (Ammonia)
8.5 Ph
1.026 Salinity
I use a filter sock on my overflow that I wash weekly.
Any thoughts? Suggestions???
I have been losing peppermint shrimp and emerald crabs lately also!

I have not done anything different since I moved, but never had this issue before!
Nitrates are 160? Please elaborate. What test kit are you using? Nitrates should stay under .2 ppm in a reef tank.
Inverts really don't do well in high nitrate environments.
 
errattiq

errattiq

Member
Sounds like you have a mini cycle going on there (explaining sensitive invert loss). How long are your lights on each day? what sort of pumps do you have in the tank for water movement? I had a wicked cyano issue too in my 55gal. I added a koralia 3 and a koralia 2 @ opposite corners of my tank to create a circular flow and my cyano is HISTORY. I guess that is what 1450gph water movement will do for you LOL. It sounds like overkill, but in a 55gal long (4 feet long) it is actually perfect, i aim them into the glass for dispersal and my corals LOOVE it...
-Josh
 
whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
Originally Posted by socal57che
http:///forum/post/2773220
Nitrates are 160? Please elaborate. What test kit are you using? Nitrates should stay under .2 ppm in a reef tank.
Inverts really don't do well in high nitrate environments.
API Reef - Just bought it this weekend. The odd thing is that I have 3 other pep's in there that are just as active as always...along with the snails and crabs! Zoanthids are opening just fine also!
Originally Posted by errattiq
http:///forum/post/2773568
Sounds like you have a mini cycle going on there (explaining sensitive invert loss). How long are your lights on each day? what sort of pumps do you have in the tank for water movement? I had a wicked cyano issue too in my 55gal. I added a koralia 3 and a koralia 2 @ opposite corners of my tank to create a circular flow and my cyano is HISTORY. I guess that is what 1450gph water movement will do for you LOL. It sounds like overkill, but in a 55gal long (4 feet long) it is actually perfect, i aim them into the glass for dispersal and my corals LOOVE it...
-Josh

Well, I haven't fed in 3 days now and the cyno seems to be dissipating. I will be running a closed loop on the tank with a mag18 as soon as I can get some money together.
 
socal57che

socal57che

Active Member
Originally Posted by whyamisofl
http:///forum/post/2774173
API Reef - Just bought it this weekend. .
Where did the 160 nitrate figure come from? I don't see where you got the number 160 from. My kits max out at 100.
Do you really have a nitrate reading that high?
 
whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
My trate card goes -
0
5.0
10
20
40
80
160
This was the darkest blood red color I have ever seen in a test tube.
Every other day I will be doing 5g water changes to dillute the pollution.
 
socal57che

socal57che

Active Member
Wow, I'm certain this is what's killing your inverts. Most inverts are very sensitive to high nitrate levels (some more than others) and yours is over the top. Once the trates come down, I'm sure the invert loss will cease.
 
whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
Thats what I am assuming, but still a little angry!
Hopefully the every other day water changes get things back in order!
 
socal57che

socal57che

Active Member
Originally Posted by whyamisofl
http:///forum/post/2775550
Ran a test today (changed 5g last night) - trate still at 160

5gal at a time isn't going to lower them fast enough. 30% is 18g so I would do a several 20g (if not more) water changes over the next few days.
I just bought a HOB filter to use as a fuge. It should arrive today or tomorrow. I picked up some chaetomorpha from a local reefer to throw in it to help export nitrates and nutrients that nuisance algae feed on.
You may want to do the same. It may help your cyanobacteria issue, too.
 
whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
I moved recently and all my extra fish stuff is in storage (god knows where though!), so at this time I only have enough powerheads and heaters for 5g at a time

My fuge is on hold until Friday, after that....its on!!! (get my bulkhead in Friday)
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
Doesn't sound like cyano. Can you post a picture? Most crabs live off of straight "garbage", so it REALLY shouldn't be taking them out. Is it red, rusty/red, more of brown, straight brown?
I have been working with strands of different dinoflagellates lately. The dino is reproducing like mad, and for some odd reason it appears that most of it wants a host. Crabs, shrimp, fish, etc. ingest it and then the dino sets up shop in the digestive tract or respitory tract and either suffocates or starves the animal it is trying to host for it's food or air (well the food is by accident; it just feeds off of the ammonium and nitrogen). It would form a slimey layer over the sand and rock as well and stop it from doing it's "biological" job. You might also notice a rather tremendous amount of bubbles trapped under it?
But the crab thing is kind of where I slammed on the brakes.
 
whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
The "cyno" is a dark rusty red. I siphoned it all off of the rocks and sand bed last night and it was back this morning.....I will go grab a picture
OT - Candycane, did you ever get my email address?
 
whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
sorry for the crap pictures - the white stuff on the sand bed is pickling lime that I used today to kill some aiptasia
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
Yeah, I am leaning away from Cyano at this point. It may be Chrysophytes. Does it have "eyes", literally? The alga will get darker when the lights go on and get more transparent, as if it was never there, when the lights go off. How did it smell when you removed it? Cyano isn't exactly the worst smelling algae, but Dino is sometimes pretty bad.
 
whyamisofl

whyamisofl

Active Member
Seriously, when I turned off my pumps today to squirt the aiptasia, I almost puked.
It smelled like 2 day old live rock that had sat in the sun
 
candycane

candycane

Active Member
It's most likely Dinoflagellates or Chrysophytes then; they are kind of (ehhhh) closely linked. That crab dying was just not a normal sign of Cyano.
Both of them have their different method of eradication. Water changes can usually be stopped for a bit, so they eat all of the nutrients that they have. But this sometimes causes animals in the tank to start hosting the algae. You can buy a PRECISE PH (like .01 - I used the Milwaukee 101 model) Monitor and use Kalkwasser to drip your PH up to about 8.5 or so (sometimes it effects other creatures and sometimes it doesn't). Seachem Reef Salt has a higher buffering capacity that maintains it for longer; so I have seen that salt get rid of it too. They are kind of bad algae just because the certain methods to eradicate it, can harm other things in the tank.
Edit: But your Nitrate is most likely going that high because the algae is "suffocating" the benficial bacteria out of the tank as of now. Which Cyano doesn't usually do.
 
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