Having Cyano... Levels okay?
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Category: Specialized Discussion
Forum Name: Reef Chemistry
Forum Description: A place to discuss reef chemistry.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=43379
Printed Date: July 28 2026 at 7:10am
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Topic: Having Cyano... Levels okay?
Posted By: Spbeyond
Subject: Having Cyano... Levels okay?
Date Posted: September 12 2010 at 9:23pm
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Hey guys, Just figured I would post these levels and see what you guys think.
Calcium 420 KH 7 Phosphate: .5ppm Nitrate 0 Salinity 1.024 PH 8.0 Temp 80 Couple nights ago noticed my long spine urchin started spawning (alot) DO you think this extra biological waste in the water is causing cyano issues? Thanks guys. ------------- 90 Gallon Reef w/4 bulb 54W t5 I buy, sell and restore pinball machines. Got one in the basement? ;) |
Replies:
Posted By: Luckedout
Date Posted: September 12 2010 at 9:36pm
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Could be the urchin. How much do you feed? How about photo period? Old bulbs? Skimmer?
------------- -Ben 90g Mixed reef www.body-balancechiropractic.com |
Posted By: Spbeyond
Date Posted: September 12 2010 at 10:04pm
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Bulbs could be old. Just started a new skimmer (new to me) runs a bit, then stops and just froths then runs. Gotta figure that out. I feel a decent about about every 4 days. Photo period about 12 hours total. ------------- 90 Gallon Reef w/4 bulb 54W t5 I buy, sell and restore pinball machines. Got one in the basement? ;) |
Posted By: sanddune600
Date Posted: September 12 2010 at 10:12pm
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.5 po4 is high imo do you run cheato what kind of light are you using if you do ------------- Andy Jorgensen My number is four three 5 7 six four 8 0 three four |
Posted By: Spbeyond
Date Posted: September 12 2010 at 10:26pm
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Yeah I got cheato with some old POS light under there. Like a 24 inch power compact uggly thing. Maybe I should swap it with the one I got from you... ------------- 90 Gallon Reef w/4 bulb 54W t5 I buy, sell and restore pinball machines. Got one in the basement? ;) |
Posted By: Luckedout
Date Posted: September 12 2010 at 11:18pm
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If you need more chaeto, I just threw out a bunch and I really need to trim mine down a lot more. Let me know and you can just swing by my office anytime. I just run a daylight compact flourescent and my chaeto grows crazy fast. I just use a clip on fisture from home depot. Getting the skimmer to work would be a big step in beating it. You could cut down your photo period a bit to get on top of it. Do you have a decent CUC? I need to come see your tank btw.  ------------- -Ben 90g Mixed reef www.body-balancechiropractic.com |
Posted By: SGH360
Date Posted: September 12 2010 at 11:20pm
| go to mark peterson signature it has ton of information about red cyano. increase water flow. reduce feeding. reduce lighting periods. how old are the bulbs it may be giving out the wrong spectrum. more water changes will reduce your cyano problem |
Posted By: Spbeyond
Date Posted: September 13 2010 at 10:43am
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You do need to come see it. Anytime. Its not that impressive but anyway. Thanks for the ideas guys. ------------- 90 Gallon Reef w/4 bulb 54W t5 I buy, sell and restore pinball machines. Got one in the basement? ;) |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: September 13 2010 at 3:01pm
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Look at the dKH. It's only 7. It should be closer to 10. Also, the PO4 level is fishy looking. That's quite high for having Nitrates at 0 and with Cyano growing in the tank I would expect PO4 to be much lower. Actually, I wouldn't worry about the PO4 but the Alkalinity is seriously low. Where is the Cyano growing? Post a pic? ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
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Posted By: Ryan Thompson
Date Posted: September 13 2010 at 7:20pm
7 dkh is natural sea water. Don't see how that can be "seriously" low. I run mine at 8dkh all the time. I don't like to see mine get much below 7.5 but if it is I am not worried. Just dose some 2 part and am good to go. I battled cyano for over a year in 2 different tanks. The culprit, Reef Crystals salt. Cyano showed up about a month into use and started going away about a month after I stopped using. To totally eliminate it out of one tank I started using Purigen. The cyano disappeared within 2 weeks and has never been back. |
Mark Peterson wrote:Posted By: badfinger
Date Posted: September 13 2010 at 7:37pm
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I use reef crystals, and don't have any issues with cyano...
When I first setup my tank I had a little bit of cyano, all I did was blow out all the crevices where food and what not was getting into with a turkey baster and mine dissappeared and hasn't been back for I would say 4 months |
Posted By: CapnMorgan
Date Posted: September 13 2010 at 9:31pm
I also use Reef Crystals salt and have no issues with cyano, or any nuisance algae for that matter. ------------- Steve http://utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=40637&PID=356246" rel="nofollow - My Old 180G Mixed Reef Currently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8 |
Posted By: Ryan Thompson
Date Posted: September 13 2010 at 9:58pm
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I didn't say Reef Crystals will cause cyano in every tank. That is just what caused it in mine. It could have high phosphates and my tanks couldn't handle it.
It is just something that most people never look at. |
Posted By: Spbeyond
Date Posted: September 13 2010 at 11:55pm
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...Funny... as quickly as my cyano problem began it has gone. I actually did do a water change with reef crystals about a week ago. Im not sure that had anything do do with it though. ------------- 90 Gallon Reef w/4 bulb 54W t5 I buy, sell and restore pinball machines. Got one in the basement? ;) |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: September 14 2010 at 9:22am
The reason that problems crop up at 7dKH is because the tank Alkalinity is sitting at the bottom of the safe range for Reef Aquariums; 8-14 dKH. Running Alk closer to 10 dKH gives a wider safety margin and comfort level as well as being less prone to Cyano.  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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Posted By: sanddune600
Date Posted: September 14 2010 at 9:59am
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I. Have never heard of alk. affecting cyano can you explain why you think this ------------- Andy Jorgensen My number is four three 5 7 six four 8 0 three four |
Posted By: Spbeyond
Date Posted: September 14 2010 at 11:16am
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My biggest problem so far with reefkeeping has been the dang dKH vs Calcium battle. Seems like if my DkH touches above 7 the calcium drops, then I fight to bring that up and the DkH drops. Am I just crazy? haha ------------- 90 Gallon Reef w/4 bulb 54W t5 I buy, sell and restore pinball machines. Got one in the basement? ;) |
Posted By: Lewy
Date Posted: September 14 2010 at 12:18pm
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What's your magnesium level? ------------- 40 gal w/ 20 sump |
Posted By: Spbeyond
Date Posted: September 14 2010 at 12:28pm
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No idea. I need to go over to SandDunes, he offered to test it for me. It has been better since I did a big water change actually. ------------- 90 Gallon Reef w/4 bulb 54W t5 I buy, sell and restore pinball machines. Got one in the basement? ;) |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: September 14 2010 at 2:03pm
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You are right. It's like a balance. When Alk rises, Ca falls and vice versa. Lewy made a good observation, without sufficient Mg, proper levels of Alk and Ca are more difficult to achieve. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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