Water Changes & Increased Cyano Growth

[Dan_P]

Has anyone experienced an increase in cyanobacteria growth rate after water changes? After a series of 8 daily ten percent changes (that works out to be equivalent to one 50% change), my cyanobacteria caught fire recently, so to speak. Interesting but ugly. No other changes.

This is something one would not expect after reading a current list of causes for the presence of cyanobacteria growth. Decreasing organic nutrients and nitrate/phosphate levels should slow growth. So, there must be an interesting twist here.

I would be interested in hearing about similar experiences and theories for why water changes spur growth. All physical and metaphysical musings welcome!

Thanks.

 

[Reef lover24]

Dan I would have to agree. I had an outbreak even though it was not to bad and I started doing water changes and etc., and I am in the same boat as you. It is worse now then it was before.. Tagging along

 

[greg 45]

Question are you testing your water before and after your ro/di unit
Zero TDS means squat to me / here is why
You can read zero TDs and still have nitrates /silicate/phosphates coming out of oyur unit.
At this time my incoming water has po4 of 2.5 yes 2.5
Well this depleates my cartridges rapidly to say the least.
When they go bad , more dirty water come out leaving my phosphates at 30
Now mix this with your new salt mix it up put it in your tank
Presto magico we have a issue
TEST BEFORE RO/Di TEST AFTER RO/DI
ALSO CHECK INCOMMING WATER

 

[piranhapat]

What you are doing with the water changes is removing the good bacteria along with bad bacteria. So your best bet is to do less water changes. You can remove the cyano and place filter sock to catch cyano and place back the water. Best thing remove cyano more current and add some bacteria and lessen your lights. Slowly starve cyano and run GFO and once a month do water change.

 

[Dan_P]

Question are you testing your water before and after your ro/di unit
Zero TDS means squat to me / here is why
You can read zero TDs and still have nitrates /silicate/phosphates coming out of oyur unit.
At this time my incoming water has po4 of 2.5 yes 2.5
Well this depleates my cartridges rapidly to say the least.
When they go bad , more dirty water come out leaving my phosphates at 30
Now mix this with your new salt mix it up put it in your tank
Presto magico we have a issue
TEST BEFORE RO/Di TEST AFTER RO/DI
ALSO CHECK INCOMMING WATER

I test the fresh brine before changing the water. No nitrates and phosphates with Salifert. I know that does not mean none but at least I know that incoming water is lower than tank water.

 

[jackson6745]

I experienced the same thing in the past. Perhaps fresh made salt water replenishes minerals that fuel cyano? There is some bacteria removed in the water column from water changes. I know it's a small amount, but perhaps that reduction in "beneficial" bacteria is enough to let cyano grow a little more?

I don't know either way

 

[duke62]

Dan you probably do not have enough good bacteria in your tank to compete with your Cyanobacteria. Introduce different strains into your tank to compete with it's food source and you will lose the cyano.lower your temp to 76 to 77 and wait 6 weeks for the good bacteria to multiply. While introducing the new bacteria cut the light source off for 2 to 3 days then lower your lighting to 6 hours a day still introducing new bacteria. Best way to fight it then using a chemical or a penicillin to your setup.

 

[Dan_P]

Dan you probably do not have enough good bacteria in your tank to compete with your Cyanobacteria. Introduce different strains into your tank to compete with it's food source and you will lose the cyano.lower your temp to 76 to 77 and wait 6 weeks for the good bacteria to multiply. While introducing the new bacteria cut the light source off for 2 to 3 days then lower your lighting to 6 hours a day still introducing new bacteria. Best way to fight it then using a chemical or a penicillin to your setup.

Which bacteria are you thinking about? The nitrification crew?

 

[Dan_P]

Aggressive Cyano Mats Surprisingly Docile

My cyano crowd is still hyper stimulated by my daily water change regimen but surprisingly, (to me) pieces of the red slime mat barely grow when I transplant them to a container filled with aquarium water, new aragonite sand and placed under the sump light. Even when the water is spiked with nitrate or phosphate, they do not seem to have anywhere near the same vitality as when they were in the aquarium, in a vigorous flow I might add

This was not a perfect experiment but the results do raise the question of whether there is something more than dissolved nutrients that trigger or even sustain cyano growth.

 

[duke62]

I use dr.tims, special blend and microbacter7

 

[reefer4eva]

What brand of salt mix are you using?

 

[piranhapat]

Did you recently change salt. I have read that mixing salt can help the growth of cyanobacteria.

 

[Dan_P]

Did you recently change salt. I have read that mixing salt can help the growth of cyanobacteria.

Do you recall why a change in salt mix might have this effect?

I just finished a 200 gallon box of Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. Today I switched to Instant Ocean (no good reason for switching). So, the cyano blitzkrieg was well under way before the switch.

 

[reefer4eva]

Do you recall why a change in salt mix might have this effect?

I just finished a 200 gallon box of Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. Today I switched to Instant Ocean (no good reason for switching). So, the cyano blitzkrieg was well under way before the switch.

If you go from let's say instant ocean to red sea coral pro the nutrient levels are different which could lead to algae outbreaks..going from reef cystals to instand ocean I don't think would be the cause

 

[cali_reef]

I experienced the same thing in the past. Perhaps fresh made salt water replenishes minerals that fuel cyano? There is some bacteria removed in the water column from water changes. I know it's a small amount, but perhaps that reduction in "beneficial" bacteria is enough to let cyano grow a little more?

I don't know either way

I agree with your logic, replace dirty water with fresh water laced with good bacteria!! That's what I do.

 

[piranhapat]

http://www.theaquariumsolution.com/cyano-bacteria-within-reef-tank-simon-garratt

 

[oh207]

I too experience increase cyano growth after water changes as well. After reading a ton of threads on RC about the same correlation I decided not to change water as frequently (weekly) and it went away.
BUT at the same time I did do 3 days of lights out and dose Dr. Tims. And perform lots of manual removal while also reducing my feeding.
So any one of these or a combination of any of these could have helped to get rid of it.

 

[Dan_P]

http://www.theaquariumsolution.com/cyano-bacteria-within-reef-tank-simon-garratt

Thanks for the link. Simon had a lot to day. I need to read it carefully to see what is being said.