an on going figh with cyano

[darklcd]

hey all

I am in the middle of a fight with cyano bacteria and I can't seem to win. I made a mistake and got a couple cheap lights and it just showed up all over. I switched my lighting and I am still having the same problem. I have tried to get some chemi-lean to take care of it but after about 3 days it comes back. I have tried water changes and i get the same result.

How can I get rid of this crap

 

[DonW]

hey all

I am in the middle of a fight with cyano bacteria and I can't seem to win. I made a mistake and got a couple cheap lights and it just showed up all over. I switched my lighting and I am still having the same problem. I have tried to get some chemi-lean to take care of it but after about 3 days it comes back. I have tried water changes and i get the same result.

How can I get rid of this crap

More flow and less nutrients. The cyano i sitting right on top of the nutrients its feeding on.

Don

 

[chadmace]

If you dont have a fuge a fuge would help. When I had cyano I just left the fuge light on 24x7, eventually the cyano exploded in the fuge and quit growing in the display.

 

[Sparks]

don't do water changes til it's gone. you're probably reloading the tank with phosphates everytime you do.

shortterm:
just scoop off the cyano near any coral, and get your ph to constantly remain at or above 8.1, where phosphates bind, and then don't do a water change for 2 weeks.
i always let cyano run it's course, myself. If you have a big sheet of it on your sand or barebottom leave it be, the more cyano you have in your tank, the sooner it'll starve itself out, going from red-purple-gray(dead), at which point you can takeout yourself or have inverts slowly wittle away at. Don't fertilize your cyano with water changes, or excess food. maybe switch to feeding your fish a minimal amount of hikari ocean plankton or krill, something with large clumps that your fish eat in it's entirety quickly. cyclopese/flake powder/ stuff like that should be avoided.

just like with any diatom algae problems, don't do water changes til you're for sure headed downhill with it. If you feel the "need" to water change, just take a few cups of your water out, treat it with a good squirt of Prime water conditioner, and throw it back in there.

longterm:
WATER FLOW and ph. Cyano always grows/clumps where there is little-no water flow.

 

[roscoe]

don't do water changes til it's gone. you're probably reloading the tank with phosphates everytime you do.

shortterm:
just scoop off the cyano near any coral, and get your ph to constantly remain at or above 8.1, where phosphates bind, and then don't do a water change for 2 weeks.
i always let cyano run it's course, myself. If you have a big sheet of it on your sand or barebottom leave it be, the more cyano you have in your tank, the sooner it'll starve itself out, going from red-purple-gray(dead), at which point you can takeout yourself or have inverts slowly wittle away at. Don't fertilize your cyano with water changes, or excess food. maybe switch to feeding your fish a minimal amount of hikari ocean plankton or krill, something with large clumps that your fish eat in it's entirety quickly. cyclopese/flake powder/ stuff like that should be avoided.

just like with any diatom algae problems, don't do water changes til you're for sure headed downhill with it. If you feel the "need" to water change, just take a few cups of your water out, treat it with a good squirt of Prime water conditioner, and throw it back in there.

longterm:
WATER FLOW and ph. Cyano always grows/clumps where there is little-no water flow.

Really no water changes even though you use ro/di water? Should be minimal to no phosphate in there.

 

[DonW]

Really no water changes even though you use ro/di water? Should be minimal to no phosphate in there.

Agreed, there should be no measurable P in your water changes. If there is it should be addressed. If your water changes have no measurable P then just keep doing them.
Cyano likes low flow, so give it high flow. Cyano likes to grow right over the top of its feeding source. So keep the spots that grow cyano clean with more flow and syphoning.

Don

 

[Sparks]

"minimal" may be right, and if you're throwing in newly mixed water or just fresh, you have the potential to drop your ph below 8.1, unbinding any previously bound phosphate/silicates that you may have lurking in the tank, refertilizing the cyano.

when battling cyano, i say play it overly safe and try and only worry about that. i have lost too many zoos halfarse battling cyano.

i'm also on the opposite end of "water changes" than most people, so my advice differs, but i can say i've battled 6+ outbreaks in my own tank over the years as well as dozens of others via the fish store i used to work.

 

[DonW]

"minimal" may be right, and if you're throwing in newly mixed water or just fresh, you have the potential to drop your ph below 8.1, unbinding any previously bound phosphate/silicates that you may have lurking in the tank, refertilizing the cyano.

when battling cyano, i say play it overly safe and try and only worry about that. i have lost too many zoos halfarse battling cyano.

i'm also on the opposite end of "water changes" than most people, so my advice differs, but i can say i've battled 6+ outbreaks in my own tank over the years as well as dozens of others via the fish store i used to work.

If your water is below 8.1 then there is a problem with the water or salt. It takes co2 to get PH that low. Doing the water changes properly eliminates this problem. Rodi water should have 0 phosphates and good salt brands have much less than most reefs. The two combined would effectively reduce the overall detectable P.
Most cyano problems are not with the water column.

Don

 

[darklcd]

I am just wondering if the cheap lights that i added just blew it up cuse before I added the lights i had a little but i could manage it. now its groing up the glass andall over

 

[Damsel13]

I got a case of cyano...my light bulbs were worn out even though they didn't look any dimmer. I replaced the ($$ouch compact Florecents) lights. Did a water change and fed a littleless and within a week it was gone.
Good luck. Remember nothing good happens fast in a tank.

 

[Sparks]

to have a ph were it dips to 8.0 for any amount of time really takes very little, some over feeding, overly loaded, having any sort of substrate...

i really don't know where the different salt brands test at for phosphate, but i've always been using kent or oceanic myself.

i had done some reading for cyano probs, where you get free floating phosphate in your water whether it's at intial tank set up, live rock introduction/whereever and you move the water's ph up past 8.1, the phosphate then binds together, falls to the bottom and waits and waits for your ph to hit 8.0 where it unbinds and is then used by algae, usually causing mysterious blooms.

rebinding the phosphate, i.e. getting the ph to stay above 8.1 (where it should be anyway), has fixed this problem for me in the past, where i saw no more growth in the cyano within 24 hours, i just let the cyano die less it gets on my rocks.

 

[DonW]

Your ph should always be above 8.1 irregardless. If nutrients are high enough to drop ph then waterchanges will bring that down. PH does effect cyano but its a self induced low ph well below 8.1. Cyano is a anoxic lover and creates its own anoxic zone under the mat after the lights go out. This gives it the ability to create a food source that does not need to be taken from the water column. The area under the mat needs to be free of nutrients so that the cyano cant feed. What "unbinds" using the term loosely is the selfmade anoxic zone under the bacterial mat.
Determining where the food source for the bacteria is would be the first step in irradication. If its covering a area of a BB tank floor that is clean then oviously its feeding from the water column. If its on rocks and sand the it could be feeding from either the water coulmn or LR and sand. If its feeding from LR or sand it will eventually run out of food thus why letting it run its course may work. If its a natural collection zone letting it run its course will never work. This is why there is no one sure fire cure. Its up to the tank owner to find the food sourse and clean up the mess that is causing the problem.

Don

 

[darklcd]

the only really weird part that I am having trouble with is that I haven't had any fish in the tank for months. I am just running it to keep my live rock alive as well as the feather dusters and other things that are going on it too other then that there is nothign else in my tank but the 3" sand bed that I have. I could see if I had fish in there but there is nothign in there at all or could that be the problem??

 

[Damsel13]

The cyano outbreak I had was where water returns from my small sump/skimmer. After some investigation I found the skimmer was not hooked up correctly i.e. one of the tubes had come loose. That along with my old lights I believe were the reasons why I had the cyano. Thankfully since fixing these I have no more cyano.

 

[Scooterman]

Cyano is an easy one to get under control, as Don mentioned already you have to get to the source, harvesting it will eventually remove the source if it is underneath it. I always had it on the sand more than the rocks, If It was on rocks It didn't last long.

 

[DonW]

the only really weird part that I am having trouble with is that I haven't had any fish in the tank for months. I am just running it to keep my live rock alive as well as the feather dusters and other things that are going on it too other then that there is nothign else in my tank but the 3" sand bed that I have. I could see if I had fish in there but there is nothign in there at all or could that be the problem??

Not wierd at all. You still have life cycles going on without the fish. Bacteria dying and reproducing creating waste. The thing I would question is why your having a problem with cyano on such a system. I would definatly question the system as a whole with this senerio. Unless of course your not maintaining it do to the lack of fish?

Don

 

[darklcd]

iam just wondering if it could be my filter I have a fluval 304 and I am woindering if i should just take everything out ofit and go with just my live rock or add some power heads in teh tank and take the fluval out of it completly and just got witha basic hang on filter

 

[DonW]

iam just wondering if it could be my filter I have a fluval 304 and I am woindering if i should just take everything out ofit and go with just my live rock or add some power heads in teh tank and take the fluval out of it completly and just got witha basic hang on filter

Canister filters and sold media filters are usually nitrate factories.

Don

 

[darklcd]

so would it be a good idea to get rid of it all together and go with powerheads and just a normal hang on filter

 

[DonW]

so would it be a good idea to get rid of it all together and go with powerheads and just a normal hang on filter

Just a skimmer no filters unless your going to clean them every other day or so.

Don