can not get rid of cyano

btwk12

btwk12

Member
i have tried just about everything. i cut my lighting scedule back from 12 hours to 8. cut back feeding about %75. i blow it off my rocks every day,and catch the floating stuff with net, plus i put a filter sock on my overflow pipe to sump, to catch what i don't. i have a turf scrubber in sump, that i was slipping a little bit on cleaning screen for a while ,but for the past month i have been every 7 days on schedule. i just don't know what else to try. i have an sps dominant tank,100 gal 30 gal sump. and so far it is not affecting any of my corals, i think thats because i have been keeping up on blowing it off before it gets to the corals too much. any suggestions would be real helpful. also i do 10% weekly water changes. my readings are
phosphates 0
nitrates maybe 5
salinity 1.025
temp 79
calcium 450ish
alk about 10 dkh
i have been dosing kalkwasswer for about a year now and do top offs with an ato out of a 5 gallon bucket with 1 tablespoon kalk per 5 gallon bucket. i read somewhere that long term kalk dosing can cause phosphates to leach into your tank and into your live rock. but i don't know what the definition of (long term) is.1 year?
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member
Is it always developing in the same spot? If it is then it's the area, and it needs more flow to that spot to keep nutrients from settling there.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Time to reach for the chemicals I have used Chemiclean - Red Slime remover but you MUST shut off skimmer
Remove chemical filtration (carbon)
Increase your water movment if you can
Mix dosage in separate bucket with some water -- then add to the tank.
Do a 20% water change after 48hours
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
I hate to say this, BUT I have to agree with Joe....I am not for chemicals, BUT I am battling cyano in my seahorse tank....I recently used red slime remover....
The only difference is you do not have to remove carbon, BUT it does drive the skimemr CRAZY....LOL
 
mr. limpid

mr. limpid

Active Member
+ 3 I was battling cyno for over a year final used Chemiclean and its gone, its been 6 months and only very little is coming back. But I did have my skimmer go out on me turned it off during treatment never came back on, probably why cyno is back.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Keep running your algae scrubber. Start cleaning it once every three to five days. Make sure you replace your bulbs on your algae scrubber once every three months or else the light spectrum has changed. Also...
Are you using tap water for top offs? There's a source of phosphate/nitrate somewhere. You may be overfeeding some. I agree with FLJoe on this one though. It's time to add a little more flow, turn off the skimmer and use some RedSlime Remover. DO NOT stop using your algae scrubber. Once the cyano is gone, your algae scrubber will go nuts to keep up with the amount of nutrients that have been let go in the tank.
Another note about your algae scrubber... make sure you have adequate water flow or even increase the amount of flow that you have going and replace your lights if they are more than 3 months old. Place your lights within 4" of the screen for best results!
Cyanobacteria is a problem because they are able to utilize and make their own nitrogen stores. Even though you are eliminating/ reducing the amount of nitrate and phosphate in the water, the bacteria will keep going because they are self sufficient!
Keep it up... you'll get through it!
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
ok i just replaced the lights on my scrubber probably 10 days ago. i have 2 tunze 6101's on a 7095 controller running 100% pulses so it's pushing around 3,300 gph per powerhead so i don't see flow being the issue. but i am going to try one of these cyano treatments you guys suggested. because it's growing back quicker and thicker than ever so i need to act quick.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Once the cyanobacteria dies, the phosphate and nitrate from the bacteria will be released back into the water column. That's the cause for the large water change. Also, keep running that scrubber and cleaning it every three to five days, depending on if you are getting a thick sludge or not. Good luck and I hope it all works for yah!
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
started treatment today and i used turkey baster to blow off all the cyano that i could get. usually by now it would have already grown back some, but it's lookin real good. i already have my 20% mixed up and ready for saturday. i think i am going to stay with it the next 3 months until the chemiclean is gone. just to make sure i get it all taken care of.
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
well i came home on my lunch break yesterday and it had been 24v hours since initial treatment so i turned my skimmer back on, and went back to work. came back 4 hours later and my skimmer was so full it backed up into my tank. everything looked real bad no polyps were out on any thing and a couple corals spewing stuff out of them. so i emptied the cup. and did the 20 gal water change i had mixed up for after 48 hours. and i just about have enough for another 20 gallon water change mixed up i will wait til tonight to let it get good and mixed. i had to make an over flow contraption for my skimmer last night just so i could go to bed. it was just basicly a 3/8'' hose from my skimmer cup down to an old 2 liter bottle. but i woke up this morning and the lights were already on and everything looks a lot better. still not acting like they usually do but a big time improvement from yesterday. keep in mind that this is an sps dominant tank i was scared to death i couldn't hardly sleep last night!
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Yeah! That red slime remover is basically an antibiotic. Do another water change if it doesn't look right yet. Keep that skimmer going as much as you can and keep cleaning your algae scrubber every 3 to 5 days until it all starts looking a lot better. The main thing that you have to accomplish right now is to reduce your nitrates and phosphates as much as possible so that the cyano won't come back.
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
yes on the filter sock. i just got home from work and it looks like my orange sherbert,ice fire,plum crazy,and green beret acro's are pretty much gone almost all white skeleton is showing everything else is browning out real bad. i am doing another 20 gal water change right now because thats all i have a big enough container for so i am hopeing for the best on the rest of my coral i have about 40 pieces of sps so i hope i don't lose them all
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
i havent checked any readings yet because i can tell somethings wrong even the coraline on the back of my tank is brown so i must have taken a lot of skimmer gunk in my tank. after this water change i will do a few tests if they are not good i am going to lfs to get some more r.o because i can only make 75 gpd
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
i am not so sure that the skimmer backing up into my tank is the whole culprit. im sure it played a big role in it but ,i think that i had so mush cyano dieing off at one time that it released way to much nitrates and phosphates into my tank at once that my skimmer and ATS couldn't come close to keeping up with it. i think i should have kept my skimmer on the whole time and did a water change after 24 hours instead of 48. i still don't think this is a bad product or that the chemiclean caused this i should have just benn here to monitor what was going on a little closer and none of this would have happened. but you live and learn unfortunately in this hobby it costs a lot!!!
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I agree. Lesson learned. I guess it really does depend on how much cyano you have and if it's worth it. Glad to know that you're not getting out of the hobby because of it.
 
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