Help - Cyano or algae or ?

[reefkeeper]

Help - I have been successfully growing this bright green stuff for months now.  It generally grows on the sand in one spot, but is now spreading.  I have tried to stir it up so it gets filtered out, but that seems like it is helping it spread around.  Can you take a look at these photos and let me know what it is ... and more importantly, how I treat it.  Thanks -Jeff

[Joel]

That is cyano.

There is not 1 correct answer as to how to fix it. There may be a combination of things needing to be done.

I'd manually vacuum (suck) as much out as you can - use an aquarium vacuum / siphon hose to remove it and as much sediment  as possible from the sand bed. Try not to stir it up, as you have seen, this will cause it to spread & fast!!!!

What type of filtration system are  you using and what are your maintenance practices?  (be very specific on both)

Take a very close look at your water quality (if you have not already). Post your test results.

What type of lights and how old are the bulbs? How many hours a day are they on.

Do you have strong water flow (current) in your tank? How is the water flow in the areas where this is at it's worst?

Answers to these question will be a good starting place.

Joel

[Reefd Up]

How old are your light bulbs?  If they are fairly old, they're starting to shift to the red spectrum...which will make cyanobacteria green.  When you have new bulbs, you'll get the typical red cyanobacteria due to the blue/green spectrum of the bulbs.  

But yes, it is cyano.  If your bulbs are fairly new...I'm not sure what to say.

[chromiumlux]

I agree with the bulb spectrum. Try small water changes every 2-3 days. try to remove as much as possible. Filtration is a big factor. Are you running a phosphate reactor?

[reefkeeper]

Hi everyone - Thanks for the input so far.  I syphoned out as much green gunk and associated sand as I could.  It's suprising how much suction you can get with a 1/2" hose.  I syphoned out 5 gallons of water along with the green cyano devil.

I have 2x400W MH bulbs.  Not sure of their age.  I bought the system used in February and the owner said the bulbs were "new."  I don't know how to tell, other than to change them.  The bulbs are on from 12-9 PM daily.

Re: filtration, I have lots a 120g tank with a 55g sump.  I have about 5 5-gallon buckets of LR.  In my sump, my water drains through a sock filter into the first section.  That section contains LR, the second has about 3" of sand, and the third contains my protein skimmer, return pump, and heater.

I have 2 Koralias (one on each end of the tank) and another pump (located in the back blowing toward the front).  I think the water flow is very good throughout the tank, but probably the least in the end areas.  All the cyano was growing on the left side of the tank.  It clearly started in the back and moved toward the front. 

Can it kill corals?  A few months ago, I had a monti cap that turned that same color green.  I had it near the top of the tank as I thought the caps liked bright lights.  Anyhow, the green pretty much took over the cap, so I ended up throwing it away.

I haven't tested the water in about six weeks, but on Sep 13, my parms were:
Salinity 1.026, ph 1.23, Alk 3.9 meq/l, Ca 390, NO3 40. 

Thanks for the continued advice -Jeff

[Reefinmike]

You should be happy, you have a 3.5 billion year old organism there 

Are you using RO/DI water?

what is the color temp of the bulbs?

try cutting back the time the lights are on to 6-7 hours To have a longer viewing period, you can have one bulb on 2 hours before the other, maybe like bulb one from 1pm-7pm, and bulb 2 from 3pm to 9pm.

Yes, cyano can kill corals, It can creep up over corals, smothering them of nutrition, light, etc.

Your nitrates were/are really high, several water changes would really help.

[Joel]

Not knowing the age of the lamps, it may be a consideration to replace them.

Areas where water flow is weak can contribute to cyano out brakes, localized pockets of organic concentration can be the trigger. The weak water flow allows debris to settle in these areas generating pockets. Compare this to taking a plant fertilizer pill and putting it in the sand - there would be that one spot with a higher concentration of fertilizer. Double check the flow, you have a pretty big aquarium, koralia pumps, although are decent pumps, are not know for having enormous flow rates.

Nitrates are to high, it is ideal to keep them low, 5 ppm or less. And if they were that high that long ago, they may be higher now (likely) I'm assuming your ph is 8.23 (not 1.23 - ?)

No mention of maintenance practices - Are you doing water changes regularly? If so how much and how often. How often are you cleaning / replacing the filter socks? Weekly (or more on the filter socks) is ideal on both water change and filter sock replacement. Debris trapped in them just sits and rots in them when left for extended periods of time having a negative affect on the water. (nitrates / phosphates) With a nitrate value up to 40 (or more) the maintenance practices that have been done recently have not kept up with the load on the system.  Are you using ro/di water for water changes and for evaperative top off? If so, what is the quality of the water coming out of the ro / di unit? (TDS or Conductivity) If you are unsure, have it tested or buy a TDS tested - cheap - 20-30 bucks for a hand held. If your not using RO / di or water with some other means of deminerilazation, that also can be a part of the problem. (tap water for example)

What are your phosphate values? It is important to monitor and maintain them at as close to 0ppm as possible.

3" sand bed isn't doing much for nitrate reduction, it isn't deep enough. A 6" + deep sand bed is better at denitrification - could be playing a roll in the high nitrates.

Cyano can smother and kill just about everything - including corals, blow or rinse it off them if this happens

Montipora does not like really intense light - under 400 watt M/H, typically they would not need to be up at the vary top. In some situations, it may kill the coral.

[Aquatic Specialists]

what are your feeding habits?

[JoeAyers]

I have 2x400W MH bulbs.  Not sure of their age.  I bought the system used in February and the owner said the bulbs were "new."  I don't know how to tell, other than to change them.  The bulbs are on from 12-9 PM daily.

What kind of ballasts are you running?  If they are HQI those lamps have probably shifted or are well on their way. Even if you are running Electronic ballasts it would not be out of the question for 10 month old lamps to be shifting.

Make sure you keep that filter sock clean. They can be nitrate traps which will contribute to Cyano. And when all else fails, lights out for three days followed by good water changes have always worked for me. Make sure you are using good ro/di water water.

[Reefd Up]

The fact that the cyano is green usually definitively means a red-shifted bulb.  That's just how cyano is.  It's red under newer bulbs...green under older bulbs.  Same bacteria...just grows differently and appears differently under different spectrums.

I would definitely switch out your bulbs.  That should resolve the issue.  I've never heard of green cyano being caused (or capable of being caused) by any other reasons.  If it was red cyano...it could be a billion different problems. 

BUT...

Even if you switch your bulbs...you might still get red cyano.  The green cyano should go away...but the red might replace it (if it's being caused by lack of flow or excess nutrients.)

[Joel]

agreed - if the nitrates are still present, other problems will follow with the replacement of the lights.