Stubborn Cyano

Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum

Help Support Reef Aquarium & Tank Building Forum:

Cyano is actually Gods gift to nutrient export, obviously you have a nutrient issue I would allow the cyano to bind it and then just harvest the stuff.

Mojo
 
I ocasionally have a cyano outbreak...I have found its when i go to long between changing my ro-di filters...Just a thought!
 
Well in my case....My tds meter reads .090 to .098 right out of the tap..I strive to only put water with .010 or less in my tank..
TDS might be some of whats feeding the cyano....Thats been my experiance..
 
With Pictures

Here is the picture of the algae. . I have a powerhead right at it with no help.

P1050792.jpg
[/IMG]
 
That is cyano. It sounds like the use of tap water is most likely your problem. If I were you, I would go to RO/DI water and also treat me tank twice with chemi clean. If the cyano was just limited to your sump, then the previous person who said to harvist it isnt a bad idea until you get your nutrients under control. From your picture though, it is throughout your tank and is starting to smoother your rocks. Cyano is great at smoothering and killing anything. This is why you need to use chemi clean. the first round should kill off most of it. I would do a second round after water changes to whip out any left overs or to at least keep it at bay for the next 6 months, at least that has been my experience. i cant ever compeltly kill it in my tank, but the two rounds of chemi clean seems get rid of it to the naked eye for at least 6 months until it starts to slowely show itself in my sump again.
 
Last edited:
BTW, flow never seems to impact my cyano. I have also cut out the lights for 5 straight days and covered the tank with black plastic. This worked for about week and the cyano quickly came back once the lights came back on.
 
Yamaha, when I first got into the hobby, I used tap water and had the same issues. Found out my water had over 60ppm of nitrates and who knows what else in it so this is probably the culprit in your case as not very many places have tap water 100% good for use in aquariums. You would have to have it tested to be totally sure though. If your tap water is the problem then you will either need to buy an ro/di unit or buy ro/di water and start flushing out your system removing the food source from the cyno so it will stop growing and continue to use ro/di water from then on. Increased flow in your case going by the picture won't help much. Usually it's when it is small areas only affected, increased flow sometimes helps. Some people will recommend using additives/medications etc to get rid of certain issues, but be careful as that route usually only masks the problem. Best option is always to get to the root of the problem and deal with it there so you wouldn't have to worry about a re-occurance.

Just a few thoughts. :)
 
Last edited:
manually siphon out the cyano bacteria when you do your water change with rodi water. i would do at least 50% water change. then 25% every other day to get all that nutrient levels down. you can also use a dish brush like this
DUSH-BRUSH-CUBV110.jpg
and drill a hole in the middle of the bristles the size of your siphon hose and scrub the rock that its on.
 
Oh, btw, on the flow thing, the reason why it is suggested sometimes is not the fact that flow itself "cures" cyno issues. Cyno is usually a result of excess nutrients in a tank and in some cases, these excess nutrients are a result of detritus/waste (or even un-eaten food) settling on some of the rocks (because of lack of flow) where they sit and rott shooting up nitrates etc. Increased flow in these instances will lift the waste/detritus off of the rocks and into the water column where they can either be used up by corals, skimmed off or filtered out of the system so that is how it would help in some cases. In a case like yours however where water seems to be the culprit, increased flow will not help much as you are dealing with excess nutrients from another angle.

Just thought I would clarify :)
 
Alright thanks guys. . . i will work on the water problem. Is there a bad side to this Cyano. Like negative effects while I get the RO unit.?
 
YamahaF934 said:
Alright thanks guys. . . i will work on the water problem. Is there a bad side to this Cyano. Like negative effects while I get the RO unit.?
Click to expand...

Only negatives I can think of right now is what was already suggested and that is it smothering the rock it is covering. The algae itself is kind of working for you in the sense that it is binding up the excess nitrates and phophates in your water column which it is using for it's growth. Same concept behind why people have refugiums and keep algaes like chaeto and caulerpa. They use the algae for nutrient export. You want to remove as it grows though in an effort to export these bound up nutrients out of your system. Hang in there though...You will get it sorted out. :)
 
Alright, So I left for school and my sister is taking care of the tank. The Cyano is taking over and even on the crabs :( I am currently still using tap water. . . Anyways, A large water change would be to tough for her, so is it best for her to just start using LFS water with the normal weekly 5 gallon water change?
 
excuse the honesty, but until you stop using tap water, your cyano problem will not go away..

to rid cyano, start using RO water from a LFS and start doing 35% chance once a week for the next several weeks until it goes away.
 
Thanks for the reply. Yes I realize this now and trying to fix this. For a 72. Would 5 gallons a week be enough. My sister does not know how to do large water changes.
 
I always worked with 10-15% per week. It all depends though on your tank's inhabitants, how much you feed etc as it is quite possible, more a week may be necessary and then in some cases less. All tanks are different, but I woul atleast shoot for about 10%. :)
 
personally, I would do at least 15-20 gallons a week until you see some improvement...the goal is to remove a good part of the nutrient load at once...if you do 5 gallons, that is barely 10% and your nutrient load will still be high..it will take you longer to tackle the problem...but the key is to use RO water with the water change, otherwise you are just fueling the fire and cyano will still thrive.
 
I had a problem with cyano last month, i tried to remove as much as i could but it would keep returning, i ended up using chemiclean red slime remover. Owner of LFS told me he had used it before with no ill effect on corals so i took his word for it and tried it. took 2 treatments but all cyano is gone and no ill effects to my mixed corals! The only thing i had to do was turn the skimmer off for a couple of days, take out the carbon, and do a water change a couple of days later. have anyone else used this product?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Brenden
I’m back...with Red Sea 250
Replies
2
Views
568
N1Husker
N1Husker
burning2nd
thinking of a new tank for my son
Replies
1
Views
122
Meche
M
M
Getting back in the game!
Replies
14
Views
661
Meche
M
H
WiFi Fish Feeder
Replies
1
Views
503
JohnGreenCloG
JohnGreenCloG
F
Newly acquired 1,077 g aquarium
Replies
4
Views
988
Meche
M

Latest posts

Back
Top