Question Time

[Adnuces]

I currently seem to be having an issue with cyano in my sump. Someone once told me that a lot of people have problems with cyano there as the flow is reduced.......I have no cyano in the display just in the fuge section of my sump. Is it possible to put a small power head in the sump just to ad movement? seems that there is not very much flow through there. I have a 600 gph overflow and a 900 gph return pump....the sump/fuge is about 20g under a 75g display. I have a Remora Urchin in the intake section of the sump with the fuge in the middle and the return on the other end. My parameters are dkh 4 meq/l, ca is 420, phos and nitrates are not an issue. My ph is 8.3 and temp is 78-80 night/dayI have a canteloupe size ball of cheato and a handful of red gracillara in my sump along with a small bit of feather caulerpa. I run the lights on the fuge about 12 hrs. I have 7 baby bangaiis that are living in my fuge after taking a ride down the overflow after they were born about 4 weeks ago. Any advice here would be greatly appreciated.....

[bklynmet]

increasing flow in the sump may mask the underlying cause... though increasing flow does do something... it keeps detritus and solids in suspension longer so they can be taken out by the skimmer...

I've recently upgraded the flow in my tank from about 12-15 times to 33 times turnover... the amount of skimmate being created daily is huge... I was emptying my cup maybe once a week before and now it's every two days... so in essence increasing flow helps export nutrients out of the water (which is very likely the cause and not the flow itself.)

If you have any measureable phosphates, then that can be the cause too - but again it's excess nutrient and needs to be taken out some way. Do not add chemi clean - I've done it several times in mine and it always came back a month or so later.

here's a checklist I compiled for battling this:

• Cut back on feeding? - nutrient import into tank
• Use RO/DI water? - nutrient import into tank
• Using quality products without phosphate (e.g. salt, carbon) - nutrient import
• Have LR? - nutrient processing through nitrogen cycle
• Good water circulation? - nutrient export (keeps detritus in suspension)
• Water parameters in check? - stability and balance in the chemistry (low pH under 7.8 may cause phosphates present in the water bind with calciferous rock/sand making it ever more difficult to export phoshates)
• Skimming efficiently? - nutrient export
• Use Phosban (or other phosphate removal)? - export
• Perform water changes? - export
• Have refugium? - export
• Lighting photperiod? questionable in my opinion as source... does inhibit Cyano growth as it is photosythetic but not the cause of it being there in the first place...

[grallster]

If it's only in the fuge--why worry about it?
You might want to consider pruning some chaeto. If the ball gets too big, the inside will start to starve for light (die/release nutrients).

[Adnuces]

Okay.....it is only in the fuge and I believe that it is mostly due to the feeding schedule I was on for the baby bangaiis that took refuge there. I was feeding them rotifers 3 times a day......back to once a day and the main tank to every other day. I do a 15% waterchange about once a month, my skimmer is pulling about a cup every other day and it seems to be only on the walls of the fuge....not in the return chamber or the input chamber.

[bklynmet]

It's good to know what may be causing it so you can take action.. You'd hate for it to get into the display.. I only had it in the sump too at one point.. Then I spent three months trying to get rid of it from the display. I now do not have any!

Mine was caused by overfeeding and not enough circulation - which built up the detritus/nutrients in the tank because they weren't making it down to the sump...

[Adnuces]

Well the increased flow from the small powerhead seems to have eliminated my problem. I have also cut back feeding the babies as they are starting to get pretty big. Thanks for the advice all.