battling cynano and strange things happening

[debbie]

Hi, a while ago I posted about a horrible outbreak of Cyano. Well I still have the horrible stuff. When keeping the lights off and on very limited it seems to go away, but when the lights come on it is like a huge bloom is taking place.
I am trying a few things, the lights I have in my 10 gal are the 13 watt self balasted regular lights and tonight I changed them just so I can have some weak light going in there to the 15 watt incandescent lights.
When I did this my camel shrimp and fish, and crab have been alot more active. Why is this? Do those self balasted lights give off to much bright light?
I know they are not the right lights, I am looking at getting a strip light with the proper bulb for my tank.
I have noticed by leaving the lights off for as long as I have my live rock is having lots of dying spots. I don't have any corals yet thank goodness. I need to get this whole mess sorted out first before I get any corals.
Now my next questions is "Nutra Fin Spirulina Flakes" has anyone had problems with this brand of food and also the "spirulina" itself. I never had any signs of 'Cyano" until I started to feed theses flakes. Would they have something to do with it?
This is sure frusterating for a newcomer but hey, at least "knock on wood" I have not lost any fish and if Cyano is my only problem I guess I am lucky.
Would just appreciate info about the lights and the flakes I mentioned above.
Debbie

 

[jugger]

i had one problem with an algae/vegi brand of fish food that started mad unwanted growth on the sand bed...but it was the frozen stuff not flake.....sounds like your on the right track with the lighting as far as limiting it....not sure about the kind of lighting though....how old is the tank and what are the water conditions....i hear increased flow also helps...are you over feeding???

 

[debbie]

I have cut my feedings down but this morning with the dim lights there is signs of that horrible stuff again. I keep stirring it up with a stick every other day. Don't know if that is good or not.
Tank is 5 months old and the water specs are fine. Do you know if this stuff eventually dies off it self?
:notsure:

 

[skirrby]

have you tried to good upgrade in the circulation of the tank

 

[debbie]

Hi, just phoned my local LFS whom is quite good with fish. The owner was there and knows alot about marine fish. They said they had they same problem with a tank. Cyano break out. They replaced the lights and it was gone. She said that my lighting is very important and I do have the wrong lighting which I knew was not the right one in the first place. Just had to make due with what i had for that time being.
I am now going to be looking at the proper lights. She said not to go any lower than 10,000k. I will be posting a question to make sure that i get the right type of thing for my tank.
Thanks for the help :cheer:

 

[technik]

how many hours a day are the lights on?

 

[arjayl]

Hey Debbie....
I was looking back at some of your other threads on this and I didn't see if you answered these other questions...maybe just missed it?
1. What kind of water are you using (Tap or RO)?
2. What kind of flow is in your tank (how many powerheads)?
3. Is there anything in the tank to Oxygenate the water (skimmer...etc)?
4. What is your NitrAte count?
There are many factors to having Cyno...Lighting is one of them...Of course a fish store may say its lighting so they can sell you new ones (JMO). Dont get me wrong, lighting is an important factor, as is feeding/overfeeding. I think you need to look at the other possibilities as well.

 

[craig_08]

When I was first starting, I had the same problem, red slime algea (cyano). I tried everything. I think I almost starved my fish. Don't do that. I did five things within the span of a week and it was gone and never returned. I am not sure which was the cure but I'm sure they all contributed some. Here is my five step plan:
1. Change your lights. (I replied to one of your other threads with suggestions on that too.)
2. Turn off your lights completely for one week. Your fish and live rock will be fine for that long but the cyano becomes starved without it.
3. Add more circulation (i.e. another powerhead or hang on back filter). I am fairly certain that this is actually what helped the most.
4. Use some product to get phosphates and silicates currently in the water out. I used 3 polyfilters and they worked great.
5. Do a sizeable water change after stirring the cyano into the water column. Suck out as much of it as you possibly can while taking out the water. You can actually peel it off the sand bed and pick it up if you prefer. Get as much out as possible and do your water change with ro/di or distilled water.
If you do all those things then it will definately make a dent in if not end your cyano battle.
I hope this helps.