In response to post #14 by Asylumdown.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/sho...8&postcount=14
Some points to understand...
Test kits only read inorganic phosphate (PO4), and cyano can use both organic and inorganic phosphate. GFO only binds inorganic phosphate (PO4).
The red (or green or brown) stringy gunk we see in the system is not the cyanobacterium. That "gunk" is what the cyanobacterium exudes, and the bacterium is under that, and to a degree within it as well which is a method of spreading (aka hormongia aka motile reproductive filaments).
Cyanobacteria are biologically really cool - they don't follow the usual rules. Cyanobacteria are autotrophs, and the species that we see are also able to fix atmospheric nitrogen (which is really cool because cyanobacteria are aerobic and nitrogen fixation requires anaerobic conditions). Cyanobacteria are particularly good at surviving in both iron-limited and phosphate-limited environments.
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Originally Posted by asylumdown
I agree there is cyanobacteria in the water column to some degree [...] not that it's picking a substrate bound state over a pelagic state (otherwise our tanks would look like a red tide).
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Indeed the cyanobacteria we see in our tanks is benthic (clings to the surfaces). When I say the bacteria are in the water column, this is not something you can see. The hormongia are much different than pelagic cyanobacteria.
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Originally Posted by asylumdown
If it's an "imbalance", what would constitute a "balanced" state? There's always going to be phosphate in the system somewhere. In older tanks, there's going to be a great deal of it in the rocks from a few different sources.
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I think you're over-thinking my use of the word "balanced". The balance I'm referring to is simply that the water column contains roughly the same amount of phosphate as the substrate (sand/rock).
I think we are "arguing" different points. It appears to me that your side is that you think cyanobacteria are
triggered by iron, where I believe cyanobacteria are
triggered by phosphate imbalance within the system.
My own experiences (and yours also, it appears) have shown that adding a large amount of GFO to a tank can ultimately cause abundant growth of cyanobacteria. Seeing as cyanobacteria are not responsive to iron-limited nor phosphate-limited environments, then it must be something else.