jackson6745

SPS KILLER
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NJ
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You should try to buy some live established rock from someone. Things happen faster this way :) IMO Pukani rock is terrible. It has so many little small holes which stores detritus/waste. Adding more dry rock isn't exactly my theory :) Not sure how severe your cyano outbreak is, but I highly recommend Special Blend. That stuff works wonders (search it on reef central).
 

Paolissimo

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soo for the past 2 weeks my tank has been "cold" At night it has dropped to 75.9 degrees (yes yes i know)and during the day the most it has reached was 78. Cyano took a big hit, didn't disappear completely but it did die off. So from what I can tell it doesn't like cold temperature. The only thing that died was unfortunately a fire and ice frag, that never really did very well in my tank. Having said that, I did change the ro/di filter and last night i added a big block of Marine pure high performance biofilter media. This should give me more surface area for bacteria to colonize and test Jackson theory that more bacteria in the tank = no cyano. Lets see what happens. Jackson regarding special blend, I honestly think you are correct, because this cyano outbreak started when I started removing the sand from my system. Soo before I add chemicals, i wanna test other possibilities, ie grow more beneficial bacteria in the tank like you suggested.
 
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piranhapat

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Westchester, N.Y
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My theory is what ever caused your cyano. It will have to run its course. It can take a few weeks or few months. We all can say bacteria and lighting and water movement plays a role. But I have added Special Blend exactly two big bottles never helped. I removed the sand which it got better. I found the best thing was remove as much cyano by siphon and using a filter sock and replace the same water back. Do less water changes. Have TDS meter reading zero. Low phoshate and not over feeding. I also removed LR in sump. System running better.
 

LatinP

Look at my bare bottom!
Location
Staten Island
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I think Jackson hit it on the head, my old tank never had Cyano until I started using GFO, chemical or bacterial imbalance I think threw it off wack. Removed the GFO and it disappeared after cleaning. Added new GFO in a smaller dose and it was fine. Too much of anything is bad and every tank is different. That tank was originally filled with RO/DI and my TDS was always zero so it definitely wasn't the water.
 

Dan_P

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Connecticut
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I think Jackson hit it on the head, my old tank never had Cyano until I started using GFO, chemical or bacterial imbalance I think threw it off wack. Removed the GFO and it disappeared after cleaning. Added new GFO in a smaller dose and it was fine. Too much of anything is bad and every tank is different. That tank was originally filled with RO/DI and my TDS was always zero so it definitely wasn't the water.

Hard to see the connection though between cyanobacteria growth and GFO use, especially the notion that "x" amount causes cyanobacteria but less tha "x" does not. Why did you start using GFO in the first place?
 

LatinP

Look at my bare bottom!
Location
Staten Island
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For no particular reason at all other than buying a dual reactor when one of my old phosban reators had a leak. I had no visible signs of red slime to begin with, just made an observation that it did start appearing when I filled the GFO portion of the reactor about half way and then subsequently disappeared when I took the GFO out completely. Went to a smaller dose just to see if it was related and no red slime ever came back.
 

Chefjpaul

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NYC
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Gfo in heavy amount will, in my experience, cause bacteria growth.

It throws off the no3 & po4 balance.
Heavy phosphates & no nitrates = bacteria.

I had same issues until I cut my GFO down, and just change it more often.
I drove both no43 & po4 too low to fast and never was able to bring back no3.
Some also dose nitrates due to removing to much via carbon dosing in turn causes the same issue, until a balance is found.
We need trace amount of both and find the equilibrium.
I could be wrong, but it seems to work for me so far.
 
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Hockeynut

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Location
Jackson, NJ
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I am also battling Cyano right now and nothing I have tried to this point has worked. I also could probably change out my 2 year old ro membrane but my tds meter reads 0 after Di resin so I can't see how this could be the problem.
Unlike the previous posts I know what brought on the Cyano, it was a die off due to a major alk swing I had about 2.5 months ago.
I have blacked out my tank for 4 days and slowed it but it is now coming back. I'm willing to try most things but not any chemicals like slime away, I do know people who have used this and had good results I'm not willing to take a chance.
I have been doing 12 gal water changes a week and syphoning it off my sand but it comes back. My nitrates are at 5 and phosphate at .03
Maybe I will try the special blend and see what happens
 

Dan_P

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Location
Connecticut
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For no particular reason at all other than buying a dual reactor when one of my old phosban reators had a leak. I had no visible signs of red slime to begin with, just made an observation that it did start appearing when I filled the GFO portion of the reactor about half way and then subsequently disappeared when I took the GFO out completely. Went to a smaller dose just to see if it was related and no red slime ever came back.

Interesting. There have been other posts reporting an association of GFO and cyanobacteria growth. The difficulty in understanding this is that many GFO users don't report a problem. Also, cyanobacteria growth has been blamed on many causes.
 

Dan_P

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Location
Connecticut
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I am also battling Cyano right now and nothing I have tried to this point has worked. I also could probably change out my 2 year old ro membrane but my tds meter reads 0 after Di resin so I can't see how this could be the problem.
Unlike the previous posts I know what brought on the Cyano, it was a die off due to a major alk swing I had about 2.5 months ago.
I have blacked out my tank for 4 days and slowed it but it is now coming back. I'm willing to try most things but not any chemicals like slime away, I do know people who have used this and had good results I'm not willing to take a chance.
I have been doing 12 gal water changes a week and syphoning it off my sand but it comes back. My nitrates are at 5 and phosphate at .03
Maybe I will try the special blend and see what happens

Where is the cyanobacteria growing? What type of substrate is in use and how deep is it?
 

Dan_P

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Location
Connecticut
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It was on rocks and sand till I sucked it out and blacked out for 4 days now it's just on sand. I have about an inch to a inch and a half of sand

I have cyanobacteria that refuses to die, but I probably have a somewhat unique situation. My sand is very fine silica sand about two inches deep. The other day I withdrew water from the sand bed and found the phosphate level to be 1 ppm and the iron 0.1 ppm whereas the system water has undetectable nitrate, phosphate and iron levels! No one seems to know whether this situation is normal or not. I think it might be feeding my cyanobacteria mats. As an experiment, I am going to attempt to carefully suction out this nutrient rich water without disturbing the sand bed and see what happens to the cyanobacteria.
 

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