cyanobacteria

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aedeos

Future Sen
Joined
Jun 23, 2007
Messages
78
Location
Bellingham, WA
That's what I've been told this light pink ground covering that puts out hairs is. I've also been told low light, suction it off the ground during water changes, and do 10 gallon changes as often as possible. Can anyone tell me any other ideas? I haven't had time to do all the water changes, but I try keeping lights on for short periods.
 
How old is the tank? Keep up with the water changes. Is it growing everywhere, or in certain areas? How is your flow in those areas?
 
From my experience with Cyano, the best way to control it is to remove as much as you can manually and increase flow in the effected areas. Use of RO/DI water will also help and weekly water changes.

Ditto. Low light will only help if it's a kind of cyano that thrives on a lot of light. But the truth is that there are several different kinds/species of cyano that get into our tanks.
 
Cyano seems to start growing when nutrient levels are present in high concentrations, which is why reduced feedings and water changes help to get rid of it. Doing regular water changes will help to keep dissolved organic concentrations low and should help control cyano growth. Increasing your flow should also help to correct the problem as cyano tends to grow in areas of the tank that have little or no water movement.
 
hi all I have a question I have this pinkish colored stringy anenomi looking stuff growing on my rocks does anyone know what this is and is it good or bad ?
 
Tank is about 2 months old and it's got pretty decent flow. 85 gallon tall (45x18x24) with two 660 powerheads. I haven't checked nitrate levels lately, but I'll look into that before I change water today and see if that's the problem. I'll cut back on feeding levels as well and see how that does.
 
aedeos- Nitrates aren't usually as much of a problem as dissolved organics that may be in the tank. DOC's are hard to measure and often present themselves as nuisance algaes. A heavy bioload and inadequate removal either through lack of skimming or water changes is usually the culprit. Often simply increasing the frequency or volume of your water changes will solve the problem. You may also want to look for dead-spots the next time you feed. As the food is floating around in the aquarium look for any places where it seems to stop moving or hang in the water, even tanks with vigorous water movement can be susceptible to dead-spots due to the lay out of their raock or where their powerheads are placed.
 
yeah, I've been keeping my eyes open for dead spots. I found one that had really strong growth of cyano. Another problem I've had lately is a heat wave here in WA, so I have to keep my window open to get air movement, which exposes the tank to sunlight. I dunno if it's a factor, but we'll see if the cyano crops back up after the last water change. I'm feeding less, now.
 
Yeah, that photo looks exactly like what I had. I've also had a start of a green algae breakout, so I'm hoping that maybe I've moved through the diatom stage, then the cyano stage, and now I have a stronger algae taking over, with hopes of it eventually moving onto coralline.
 
Idont know if this is relevent but i got a skimmer that does twice the volume of my tank and my cyno has nearly gone and i did not change or add flow to the tank :)
 
Cyano is one of the std alga's encountered in new tanks ... as with other algae in new aquariums it grows because the numerous micro organisms that would otherwise consume phosphate/nitrates just don't exist in sufficient numbers.

Cyano thrive on excess nutrients .. the prime nutrient is phosphate. The "cure" for cyano is to try and limit the importation of phosphates as well as try to maximize their export.

Cyano like other nuisance alga's rarely does any harm (unless its smothering your corals) and some would suggest you "grin & bear it" and let it act as an inexpensive phosphate sponge ... just let it grow and periodically siphon it out.

Phosphates are one of those basic elements and tend to be in everything .. in our tanks water and food tend to be the prime sources. As far as limiting "import" you need to make sure your using RO/DI. All food has phosphates and you need to try and select those foods that have less phosphates than others. Some flake foods are loaded with phosphates .. most frozen food has less phosphates. If your using flake consider switching to frozen .. if your using frozen make sure you thaw the frozen and then rinse the frozen food to eliminate phosphates & excess nutrients in the water (which don't feed fish but do feed algae). Also .. most aquarist overfeed their tanks so whether your using high or low phosphate food your contributing to the problem .. consider reducing the amt of food.

The best methods for exporting phosphate include .. water changes using RO/DI water, use of a phosphate binder (phosban etc), wet skimming, siphoning out the phosphate laden cyano, macro algae, dripping Kalkwasser (helps precipitate Phosphates), and probably a few more which my Alzheimer brain can't bring to light right now.

At any rate .. hope this helps - good luck.
 
Kevin, that's great. I think I'll mainly stick with syphon/grin&bear for now unless it gets really bad. It's new so I'm expecting nothing perfect.
 
Cyano is one of the std alga's encountered in new tanks ... as with other algae in new aquariums it grows because the numerous micro organisms that would otherwise consume phosphate/nitrates just don't exist in sufficient numbers.

Cyano thrive on excess nutrients .. the prime nutrient is phosphate. The "cure" for cyano is to try and limit the importation of phosphates as well as try to maximize their export.

Cyano like other nuisance alga's rarely does any harm (unless its smothering your corals) and some would suggest you "grin & bear it" and let it act as an inexpensive phosphate sponge ... just let it grow and periodically siphon it out.

Phosphates are one of those basic elements and tend to be in everything .. in our tanks water and food tend to be the prime sources. As far as limiting "import" you need to make sure your using RO/DI. All food has phosphates and you need to try and select those foods that have less phosphates than others. Some flake foods are loaded with phosphates .. most frozen food has less phosphates. If your using flake consider switching to frozen .. if your using frozen make sure you thaw the frozen and then rinse the frozen food to eliminate phosphates & excess nutrients in the water (which don't feed fish but do feed algae). Also .. most aquarist overfeed their tanks so whether your using high or low phosphate food your contributing to the problem .. consider reducing the amt of food.

The best methods for exporting phosphate include .. water changes using RO/DI water, use of a phosphate binder (phosban etc), wet skimming, siphoning out the phosphate laden cyano, macro algae, dripping Kalkwasser (helps precipitate Phosphates), and probably a few more which my Alzheimer brain can't bring to light right now.

At any rate .. hope this helps - good luck.

THIS IS A GREAT BIT OF ADVISE. I feed purely a blender mix of food and get cyano from time to time. When I get it in my display I know I am negligent of one of the above. I then, feed a little less, skim wetter, clean the skimmer more often, and do more WC's. The cyano always goes away in time. This isn't a slackers (or poor persons) hobby.
 

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