Cyno Help Please.

[cavyroo]

I have a friend that is having a hard time battling the cyno. I have given all ideas that I can think of.

He has a 125 gal reef salt. He has compacts and he just has some new halides on there..about a weeks time on there.

He had the cyno before the halides..but he can not win against it. He has dosed it with Chemi Clean several treatments.....

Anymore ideas?

What about turning the lights off..and how long? He has xenia, green star polyps...and recently a clam.

Please help me with ideas. Thanks

 

[Krish]

I guess a little more info will be needed on your friends setup like nitrate level, if using ro/di water, how old the tank is etc. in order for people to know what to recommend. Do you know them off hand?

 

[wrightme43]

you know the drill. LOL LOL LOL
Whats the Nitrate, phosphate, stocking density, does he use rodi, how much rock, whats tds if using rodi, does he use phosphate absorber, on and on. LOL
Is it used rock, is it super cheap rock that was shipped by boat frieght?
How much and what kind of flow?
Skimmer?
What kind of salt?
I know its easy to throw out try this and try that but untill everybody knows what the situation is its not really going to help.

 

[CarlaW]

Not only how much rock, but lately, what kind of rock??

 

[cavyroo]

Ok. Called him.
Heres what I got.
He uses
Oceanic Salt
Has figi and marshall lsland rock..in which he bought from my store..about 6mths ago.
The tank is almost a year old.
Has 2 sumps as the filter below..with a sea clone skimmer.
Has about 70lbs of rock in there.
He uses HBH cut to fit phosphate remover pad.
Halides are 175watt..plus he has 2 65watt actinics and 2 65watt day lights

Uses well water...But says he has not had this cyno problem till just real recent in the last month....
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
PH 8.2
sal 1.024
Nitrate at 10ppm
Just did a water change he said.

He has an automatic feeder that dispenses about a teaspoon of flake food once a day..and then he feeds frozen food about every other day too.

Adds calcium, iodine, strontium, everyday.
Adds essential elements once a week
adds phyto about every 4 days.

 

[CarlaW]

For starters, I would suggest a bigger (better) skimmer. The sea clone probably isn't getting as much as should be taken out.

Does he test for anything that he is adding?

The Oceanic salt may also be a problem. I think some people have had trouble, including me, with oceanic and algae.


JMHO

 

[cavyroo]

OH really? What in the oceanic helps the aglae growth?
I will ask him about him testing for what hes adding

 

[Rock-N-Ruin]

Alright!!!! A good one???
Oceanic has been really inconsistant (so I've read/and heard) with their saltmix, something to do with high boron levels and, when tested. Also other elements would flucuate from batch to batch.. for ref. search/ha ha ha on RC for a poll about which salt you prefer!

2. Seaclone/bye bye

3. Add some powerheads, cyano seems to only grow in low flow areas.

4. I would (if it was me) use a substrate reactor w/de-nitrate, or equiv. in it.
just cause I like trates @ 0.00

If ya need I can email ya a few pages of research on cyanobacteria..

 

[diablo]

2. Seaclone/bye bye

3. Add some powerheads, cyano seems to only grow in low flow areas.

Agreed!!!!!
cyano does its best with low flow..
1.bump the flow up 15-20 x's the tank size with no dead spots.
2.change any old bulbs.
3.get a new skimmer over kill is ok IMO

 

[Rock-N-Ruin]

I found the few pages on cyano, it's actually 14 pages! If anyone else wants it, let me know. I think it's a little too big to post here..

 

[cavyroo]

Just curious.
How come the Chemi Clean has not killed it? Does it get immuned to it?
Would tons of crabs help as well? Like the Red tips?

 

[steve-s]

Chemi clean is simpley an oxidizer, it helps "scrub" the nutrient from the water column in hopes fo starving these kinds of problem growths. That is also the short coming as well. It does not deal with the underlying cause which is mostly phosphorus and nitrates, the higher contributor being the former. Only by greatly reducing these numbers through diligent maintenace/husbandry will they diminish. Water changes, effective skimming, mindful feedings and food types used, healthy bioload, along with possibley a good iron oxide P remover.

As far as what may consume it, from what I have read few and far between. Definately not crabs, fish or your typical aquarium snails. About the best hope there would be a true species of strombus (conch) snail. Even that though will not keep up if the re introduction/non removal of heavy nutrient continues.

Cheers
Steve

 

[fishcrazee]

What phosphate remover would you recommend? I am also having a bit of a cyano problem

 

[daytonaconnecti]

iam not much help here but,my luck with phosphate remover has been short lived, the one i used did nothing,,, something is producing the phosphate ,i had to find what was causing the problem, in order to fix it, still in the process... good luck.

 

[nasher8860]

You can use phosguard if you'd like..you can get some small micron bags to put it in(rinse well). You can throw it in your sump or hang-on filter if needed. It works well. I would also recommend trying to siphon as much of it out as possible when doing changes. Try not to stir it up too much cause it will just land somewhere else and start growing. If it's on some LR...try tying an old toothbrush to the end of your siphon hose. Works well also.

 

[steve-s]

I would be wary of aluminum based products (like Phosguard) if you have corals in your tank, otherwise it works very well. If you have any zooxanthallae animals, use iron based granuals like Rowaphos or Phosban. The iron products take a little more time to work but they will eventually help some and can be left in the system to help prevent re-introduction. Keep in mind that any of these products will only help with inorganic and not the organic forms of P.

Cheers
Steve

 

[MarineTeng]

umm, i use oceanic and well i guess i can't say i don't have algae problems, though having other types of algae might help, i changed my flow so it was spread out and that helped, though chemi clean did it for me, i hope your friend's works out