Cyano or Dino

[The River Reef]

I have an outbreak that has gotten pretty bad recently. It is on the sand bed and looks like gooy brown stuff. I added some new CUC to help move the sand bed around as it was getting a crust like state from this outbreak. I also have purple/ red stuff that looks like cyano by description. I will follow with current photos tonight and I will run tests tonight and post. Is it possible to have both cyano and dino at the same time? And what should I do to start to recover from this?

 

[beelezebubba]

yes it's possible and sounds like you've got both

get your water chemistry in order (cal, alk, mag, pH, no3, po4), check your fresh water supply, cut down on feeding if you do any, do a day or two of complete lights out, increase flow, and start doing frequent small water changes and siphon out as much as you can each time

there are other options dealing with changing your water chemistry for a time, but i'd start with the basics

 

[Turbosnail]

If it is dinos you do not want to do water changes if it is cyano then you do. A pic would help.

 

[beelezebubba]

i was wondering about that as i've heard both

i had them years ago and i did water changes, but it wasn't too bad of an infestation

i guess the theory is to starve the dinos of some limiting nutrient? iron maybe? seems crazy unless you could identify the limiting nutrient and show that you've got a real hope of actually depleting the water of it.

if it works it works though. rr, i would do whatever works lol

 

[newenglandreef]

Sounds like a mixture of both. Pictures would definitely be helpful. Dinos are tough... some say that hydrogen peroxide dosing will help rid of dinos. The only thing that worked for me was to raise magnesium--but that only caused a number of different issues after the dinos were gone. I've just hooked up a high watt u.v. sterilizer with adequate flow, and I honestly believe it's the best thing I've ever put on my system.

 

[The River Reef]

I will def post some right when I get home... I appreciate the feedback and really appreciate you looking later at the pics. This is my first major outbreak and I want to get right at correcting it.

 

[The River Reef]

Here are the pictures of what it looks like. I have 1 conch and you can see his track marks all threw this stuff.

 

[The River Reef]

Also I tested for nitrates=5ppm tops and phosphates=0. Is there anything else that I should be looking for clues? I have chemi pure in my canister acting more like a reactor. And I recently got a HOB skimmer going. But when this started I had only the canister for filtering. I also added a maxijet to increase flow when this first started.

 

[newenglandreef]

Tough to tell, my guess is on Cyano. Dinos are a lot snottier and don't have the purplish tinge. I'd try a good sized water change--sucking most of it off the sand bed when doing so. Could be diatoms too--but the redish--purplish tinge makes me think it's cyano. CUC won't solve the issue--they'll just eat it whatever is there and create their own nutrient problem. Best to solve the cause---which is probably insufficient nutrient export and poor flow. That super-fine sand is a cyano/dino/diatom magnet too. Also, if you're using a canister, you should be changing out carbon somewhat frequently and making sure that you don't have debris and other buildup inside the canister or filter floss.

 

[The River Reef]

So if my nitrates are low and phosphates are 0 what am I doing wrong? I change the water very 2 weeks and only use RO water bought from a LFS -pain in the @. I am getting 2 korillas in a few days I bought off a member. And failed at a sump and had to switch to HOB due to noise and smell. so only ran skimmer less briefly. Man this is ugly ans is starting to smother my low lying corals...

 

[newenglandreef]

Keeping a reef can be a lot of work--especially in the early stages. You just need a routine that works for you.

Regarding testing, many believe that, when you have problem bacteria, test readings are false negatives (since there are likely nutrients in the water column, but because they are being consumed by the problem bacteria they aren't showing up on test kits). So it's possible that you have a nutrient issue (especially if skimmerless with no sump).

Are you feeding fish at all?

 

[JohnK]

I see cyano. No sign of dinos IMO.

 

[The River Reef]

Yes, I was everyday feeding one frozen cube of either mysis or brine in rotation. I have switched to every 2 days now

 

[banshee1]

Do you rinse your food?thats what caused my outbreak when I starterd out.I switched to rods food and added a little flow.along with syphoning most of it out and water changes it cleared up pretty quick.if you dont rinse your food in rodi I'm thinking thats where your problem started

 

[frank180reef]

yup looks like cyno

 

[newenglandreef]

One cube of mysis a day is quite a bit in my view-- it was a good idea to scale that back. What size tank?

 

[The River Reef]

56g column style 30 x 18 x 24

 

[The River Reef]

And I do not rinse the food. I recently just started reading on feeding and haven't heard about rinsing? I just found out that the LFS telling me brine was the best and only food needed was crap. They told me a cube a day when I had one fish lol I realized that was too much pretty early. I am glad I found this club, I would have 25 damsels, feeding 1 lb of frozen brine running 3 canister filters listening to my LFS by now...

 

[afsportsguy000]

And I do not rinse the food. I recently just started reading on feeding and haven't heard about rinsing? I just found out that the LFS telling me brine was the best and only food needed was crap. They told me a cube a day when I had one fish lol I realized that was too much pretty early. I am glad I found this club, I would have 25 damsels, feeding 1 lb of frozen brine running 3 canister filters listening to my LFS by now...

I have like the identical set up you do...Canister Filter, HOB skimmer, Corner hex tank, I feed 2 clowns 1/3rd of a cube a day and that still is a lot IMO. I usually rinse it with RODI water, If you do not have that available all the time, just tank water from your tank.

I recently just redid my setup due to many issues with algae and not doing things correctly the first time around. are you having success with corals with the canister?

 

[newenglandreef]

A cube day at least partially explains the presence of nuisance bacteria.

How much live rock do you have? Live rock should be your primary means of filtration.