Back at it! Peroxide vrs cyanobacteria

[choff]

OK, I've been running a sochting oxydator for several weeks now and my cyano appaears to be getting worse. The only effect I have noticed from the Sochting is my ORP rose up to 450+. I am going to pull the Sochting and start dosing peroxide directly as instructed on this post.

I'm still a bit confused by my Cyano problem. I run my tank cool at 76, my ph high at 8.3 and have a ridiculous amount of flow (4x570gph power heads, 2xMP40s, gyre 150 and my return pump is pulling 1,500gph all in a 150g tank). This is not a recipe for cyano from everything I have read where it thrives. My phosphates test in at .02 to .06 with hannah (+/- .04) and my nitrates never register. I am aware just because I am testing zero, does not mean I don't have a nitrate issue just that the algae and corals are consuming it all. With that, my tank is very clean. My sump and FT are whistle clean, I don't run filter socks. I simply have no nitrate factories that I am aware of. I feed primarily LRS reef frenzy and occasionally NLS pellets. Once a week I feed powdered coral food (Reef chili, reef roids or cyclopeeze). I don't dose aminos or anything for that matter. I do not run carbon or GFO either. My bulbs are brand new as I just bought an ATI LED Hyrbid and my light cycle is shorter than usual and I do have the light higher up at 12" than I plan on running while I acclimate to the new light. The par is still higher than what I had previously.

Anyway, I am starting dosing tonight. I'll take some pics and post my progress. Thanks!

 

[twilliard]

OK, I've been running a sochting oxydator for several weeks now and my cyano appaears to be getting worse. The only effect I have noticed from the Sochting is my ORP rose up to 450+. I am going to pull the Sochting and start dosing peroxide directly as instructed on this post.

I'm still a bit confused by my Cyano problem. I run my tank cool at 76, my ph high at 8.3 and have a ridiculous amount of flow (4x570gph power heads, 2xMP40s, gyre 150 and my return pump is pulling 1,500gph all in a 150g tank). This is not a recipe for cyano from everything I have read where it thrives. My phosphates test in at .02 to .06 with hannah (+/- .04) and my nitrates never register. I am aware just because I am testing zero, does not mean I don't have a nitrate issue just that the algae and corals are consuming it all. With that, my tank is very clean. My sump and FT are whistle clean, I don't run filter socks. I simply have no nitrate factories that I am aware of. I feed primarily LRS reef frenzy and occasionally NLS pellets. Once a week I feed powdered coral food (Reef chili, reef roids or cyclopeeze). I don't dose aminos or anything for that matter. I do not run carbon or GFO either. My bulbs are brand new as I just bought an ATI LED Hyrbid and my light cycle is shorter than usual and I do have the light higher up at 12" than I plan on running while I acclimate to the new light. The par is still higher than what I had previously.

Anyway, I am starting dosing tonight. I'll take some pics and post my progress. Thanks!

I would be the first to say it is unfortunate of the lack of knowledge about cyanobacteria.
I have raised it in every environment known. It is adaptable.
Even in a capped anaerobic high salinity condition it still grows. Why a person may ask...
It doesn't need "food" to survive.
I look forward to seeing what you are dealing with. I have identified a few organisms that appear to be cyanobacteria but in reality it's not.

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

I dose 70 ml in a 200 gallon system regularly. I have done as much as 400 ml. Shrimp didn't take that to well. Sps browned out but as since colored back up

Your sps browned out, but they didn't die correct? ? Cause I just started dosing and my acros started turning a bit brown and white. More brown than white. Should I be worried ?? And how long after you stopped or continued to dose peroxide, did they take to color back up??

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

And does anyone one know if you can run chemi-clean and peroxide together? ? Or would that be overkill?

 

[smh254]

My first dose went in at 6 PM. My tank is about 45 to 50 gallons of water. My pump is set up to does 4.5 mL of peroxide at 6 PM and 6 AM. I'll try to post a picture around 6 o'clock every day so you guys can see the progress. I pulled some test samples of sand out today so it doesn't look as bad as it was.

 

[twilliard]

Your sps browned out, but they didn't die correct? ? Cause I just started dosing and my acros started turning a bit brown and white. More brown than white. Should I be worried ?? And how long after you stopped or continued to dose peroxide, did they take to color back up??

I would check in on po4. Are you using GFO?

And does anyone one know if you can run chemi-clean and peroxide together? ? Or would that be overkill?

It all depends on what you are dealing with. Each has their own solutions.

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

Going for red slime

 

[twilliard]

Going for red slime

I'm not sure by what you mean by "red slime"?

 

[Fudsey]

I have just read this entire post (took literally a few hours lol) and all I can say is THANK YOU @twilliard for this ! ! ! And the contributors.

This was a completely educational read except for the few trolls I am battling high Nitrates with a Sulfur Denitrator and I think I have some cyano. Should I wait till Nitrates are at a more reasonable level before starting this? And should I also turn off the Sulfer Denitrator during the treatment?

 

[Jonathan blackwood]

I'm not sure by what you mean by "red slime"?

I am battling red slime algae. And wondering if I should just use chemi-clean or both.

 

[scfurse77]

Started my peroxide dosing tonight. I'll let you know how it goes. [emoji85]

 

[Dantheman]

Yes I noticed the color more of a rusty red you have.
May I ask what have you used in the past to treat it?
I sure would like to get my hands on a sample of that!

Looking for a sample from a tank where it seems to go away at night and come back when lights are on. I have a hunch

I sent you a couple samples from my tank yesterday. These should arrive to you soon. One sample is a mustard yellow green color and the other is brownish black. The brown-black sample fades at night and shows up strong during the day when lights are on.
I'm guessing that this brown-black sample is a type of Dyanoflagellate. The reason being is that I battled a different species of Dynofagellates three months ago and they would completely fade away at night only to reappear the next day. This species had the definitive Dyno characteristic of having the slimy snotty look with long tail-like strands.
From doing a little research, Dynoflagellates appear to be more common in tanks that are low in nutrients (Phosphates and Nitrates).
My problem seemed to occur when I used Rowaphos phosphate remover to battle a slight breakout of Green Hair Algae. Dynoflagellates apparently can survive with very low nutrients and therefore can outcompete other algaes.
I was able to get this species of Dynoflagellates under control by doing the following: 1.Raised nutrients with additional feedings and adding phyto plankton every other day for about a week. 2. Added Tisbe Pods with the theory that they will feed on Dyno cysts. 3. Added a doulble layered filter sock using a 200 micron with 100 micron filter sock on my return hose feeding back to my sump. (change daily). 4. Used a Turkey Baster to manually remove as many as I could daily. 5. Lastly, but pobally most importantly, I discontinued Water changes for about three months. I have read that Dyno's seem to feed off the Trace elements in our salt mixes.
I did have to dose periodically in order to keep up with my Alkalinity, Calcium, and Magnesium levels. After approximately 3 months of a very hard battle, they began to dwindle away fairly rapidly.
About a month after getting Dyno's under control, I resumed water changes and as of today I have not seen this species of Dyno's reappear.
I am hoping that your identification of this brown-black sample is something other than Dyno's. However, if it does turn out to be Dyno's I think I will first try to battle them by stopping my water changes for while.
As I said before, I really appreciate you helping myself as well others by identifying our samples and sharing your knowledge.
I look forward to reading your final write-up on cynobacteria and am hoping to hear your ideas on treating Dynoflagellates in the future.

 

[cowboy]

I have just read this entire post (took literally a few hours lol) and all I can say is THANK YOU @twilliard for this ! ! ! And the contributors.

This was a completely educational read except for the few trolls I am battling high Nitrates with a Sulfur Denitrator and I think I have some cyano. Should I wait till Nitrates are at a more reasonable level before starting this? And should I also turn off the Sulfer Denitrator during the treatment?

So the sulfur reactor will feed your cyano problem, if you will look back through my post when i started dosing I was running a Korallin 1502 biodenitrator. I did not have great success until I removed the Denitrator. Another thing I would like to mention the NO3 levels actually decreased substantially with the use of H2O2.

Also if you have a chance get with @twilliard through PM and get a confirmation on cyano. Oh and lets gets some pics .

 

[joshkirkland83]

I am battling red slime algae. And wondering if I should just use chemi-clean or both.

Red slime is a little broad. Id send a sample to twilliard and let him tell you what you have. Chemiclean is a last resort in my book. If its cyano, it won't kill it all anyway.

 

[Fudsey]

So the sulfur reactor will feed your cyano problem, if you will look back through my post when i started dosing I was running a Korallin 1502 biodenitrator. I did not have great success until I removed the Denitrator. Another thing I would like to mention the NO3 levels actually decreased substantially with the use of H2O2.

Also if you have a chance get with @twilliard through PM and get a confirmation on cyano. Oh and lets gets some pics .

Ask and so you receive
This was a week ago and now has started to turn red. FOWLR tank, right now on the internal overflow and starting to appear on 1 rock.

 

[choff]

I would be the first to say it is unfortunate of the lack of knowledge about cyanobacteria.
I have raised it in every environment known. It is adaptable.
Even in a capped anaerobic high salinity condition it still grows. Why a person may ask...
It doesn't need "food" to survive.
I look forward to seeing what you are dealing with. I have identified a few organisms that appear to be cyanobacteria but in reality it's not.

Interesting. The the other thing of note is mine mostly grows on my back wall and across the top level of my reef scape. I have none on my sand bed.

I get lots of bubbles like Dino. On the rock, I sometimes see the bubbles before the sheets actually form. It is not snot like at all like Dino's and very much comes off in sheets. It can be stringy. It is a very deep maroon shade.

Some pics...

 

[twilliard]

Sorry guys had a busy night and couldn't respond.
I thank everyone for helping each other out while I was busy.

Nice tank! Love the open view
Hard to tell what is forming in the tank. If you have a chance to take a picture of the spot starting on the rock that would be great.

 

[twilliard]

Interesting. The the other thing of note is mine mostly grows on my back wall and across the top level of my reef scape. I have none on my sand bed.

I get lots of bubbles like Dino. On the rock, I sometimes see the bubbles before the sheets actually form. It is not snot like at all like Dino's and very much comes off in sheets. It can be stringy. It is a very deep maroon shade.

Some pics...

My first thought is cyanobacteria based on color

 

[jason2459]

This is very interesting. I have to get some concave slides and watch what happens to cyano as H2O2 is applied.

 

[twilliard]

This is very interesting. I have to get some concave slides and watch what happens to cyano as H2O2 is applied.

That would be neat to see! They physical instant reaction of h2o2 may be a fast or slow process under the scope. I tried to do this but was unsuccessful as the slide started to dry before results could be captured.