Biopellets and Cyano

MuralReef

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#1
I will start out by saying that I have not tested the water parameters and have no idea what they currently are. I suspect that they are low based upon coral growth and polyp extension. Nothing is suffering or looking at all impacted by the cyano. My suspicion is that the biopellets are fueling the cyano and that if I take the reactor offline the cyano will begin to disappear. Is this a common problem? Last time I had problems with cyano I suspected the biopellets, but I have not removed the reactor. The effluent from the reactor is flowing into the intake for the skimmer as it should be. The skimmer has always been challenging to adjust though. What do you guys think? If I pull the biopellets do I need to worry about other problems?
 

jda123

Dolphin
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#2
Any type of organic carbon will allow more bacteria to grow, the good and the bad - kinda along the paradigm of "high tide raises all ships."

I would remove the organic carbon slowly. There are organisms dependent on it now, so let them die off slowly while you can skim them out and have the N cycle digest them.

This would be a good lesson for your class with the outline of:
Chapter 1: Added a carbon source to grow more things - why carbon is necessary as an energy source along with building blocks like N and P
Chapter 2: Carbon source did indeed grow more things, both good and bad - the waterborne bacteria got caught by the skimmer and removed, but the cyano did not since it was nowhere near the skimmer. Film bacteria on the rocks and surfaces of the aquarium also will not get removed.
Chapter 3: Ecosystem is now dependent on the carbon source.
Chapter 4: How you can upset or crash and ecosystem by removing a key element all at once - in this case the organic carbon. The things that you once grew will not have to die.
Chapter 5: Slowly changing any ecosystem is best to allow the parts of the ecosystem that will survive to take do their jobs and multiply to meet the need.
Extra Credit: Oxygen is also needed along with sugar/carbon and building blocks - bacteria and other small things can multiply at will and use up all of the oxygen and the more complex things (fish and inverts) can suffocate
 

MuralReef

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#3
Any type of organic carbon will allow more bacteria to grow, the good and the bad - kinda along the paradigm of "high tide raises all ships."

I would remove the organic carbon slowly. There are organisms dependent on it now, so let them die off slowly while you can skim them out and have the N cycle digest them.

This would be a good lesson for your class with the outline of:
Chapter 1: Added a carbon source to grow more things - why carbon is necessary as an energy source along with building blocks like N and P
Chapter 2: Carbon source did indeed grow more things, both good and bad - the waterborne bacteria got caught by the skimmer and removed, but the cyano did not since it was nowhere near the skimmer. Film bacteria on the rocks and surfaces of the aquarium also will not get removed.
Chapter 3: Ecosystem is now dependent on the carbon source.
Chapter 4: How you can upset or crash and ecosystem by removing a key element all at once - in this case the organic carbon. The things that you once grew will not have to die.
Chapter 5: Slowly changing any ecosystem is best to allow the parts of the ecosystem that will survive to take do their jobs and multiply to meet the need.
Extra Credit: Oxygen is also needed along with sugar/carbon and building blocks - bacteria and other small things can multiply at will and use up all of the oxygen and the more complex things (fish and inverts) can suffocate
That's what I thought. I was leaning toward removing it. How do you suggest weaning the ecosystem off of it? Should I simply remove pellets a bit at a time until the reactor is almost empty and then just pull it?
 

MuralReef

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#5
Thinking back to before I broke down the tank. I don't recall having any problems until I added it into the mix.
 

DyM

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
I know Doug will probably slam all this but what I found back in the day, was to get rid of cyano, two things really really helped. First was high MAG levels. My Mag was always about 1400. Second, I dripped kalkwasser. I don't know if it was the elevated PH, or a property of the kalkwasser but every time cyano was an issue, doing these two items solved the problem. Many times I went away with kalkwasser, but ended up coming back to it on how good my corals looked, and how little algae in the display I had. Just my 2 cents. I also should add I didn't dose carbon much, so didn't have that variable.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
There are a lot of anecdotes that nitrates over about 5 will seriously cut it down too... but I have no idea about this. Seems to thrive in a low N and higher P environment.

What I do know that nearly every tank has a bit of cyano somewhere at some time.
 

MuralReef

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#8
I will check levels later today and see where things are at. I will probably have low mag levels as I do have some of the TLFs mag media in my calcium reactor, but they have historically been low.
 
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