Cyano - 2 , Sparty - 0

btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
I haven't followed along as to what you've tried thus far to get rid of the cyano, can you give me (and anyone else who doesn't know) a quick run down?
Given the fish situation, I'd probably throw everyone in the HT for awhile, scrub a couple of smaller rocks in some freshly made saltwater and place them in the HT and stock it with copepods and treat the main tank, with one method or another (again, I don't know what you've tried thus far). Might be the right time to get rid of the sand, since you'll be moving anyways and you don't particularly care for it.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Firecracker is a strong possibility at this time Keifer!
BTLD:
To rid the cyano I've decreased the amount of time my lights are on. I can't completely knock it off though as I have coral in my tank that will suffer due to lack of light. I've also removed (multiple times) much of the cyano by siphoning it out of my tank but it only seems that it has just made it angry and has caused it to spread all over. I do regular water changes (now). I say now because prior to the excessive outbreak I rarely did water changes. So, I was slightly asking for this to happen to me. I also wash any food off that goes into the tank by letting it defrost in RO/DI water and then draining the 'not good for the tank' ingredients. I have four powerheads placed around the tank and know it's hitting just about every spot in the tank because I constantly see the cyano fluttering on the bottom (not moving around but the sheet of cyano along the sandbed has a wavy motion to it which leads me to believe that area has a flow. I think that's all I've done at this point, but not sure what else I can do.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Seems like that might be one of your major contributors. The recent and sudden increase in light. I bet if you look back the problem started getting more prevelant right after you added the fixture. Certain types of flourescent bulbs produce alot of light in the yellow and green range of the light spectrum. Which is fiarly useless for corals but cyano thrives in it. Thats why I was currious about the actual brand and color temp of the bulbs you're using so you can search out a spectra graph on those bulbs. You should be able to run just actinics without it adding to the problem for a little while. Actinic only peaks in the blue range.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Oh boy. I didn't think about that at all. And you're right. As soon as I changed the fixture from my CFL's it started to get a bit more noticeable until just a week or two ago when it was full out disaster mode. The light spectrum is: 460 nm actinic blue lamps and 10,000K ultra daylight lamps. Does that help or is there other information that is needed?
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
yes...... limit or put a timer on your lights, I have mine set to come on at 8 in the morning and goes off in 3 to 4 hours and then goes to the blues. Corals do fine with this. I do have the same issue as you but not it's under control. I get alot out during H2O changes or I will put some of my water in a big bowl and rince it off (swishing) to get them off. It does bite tho, i can totally understand.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
The new lights is probably a huge factor, and those stock bulbs, well, I'm not a fan of them.
I would try removing some of the rocks and scrubbing them in saltwater in a bucket. When you have a huge outbreak of cyano in the tank, siphoning won't do much, that's really more for small patches.
Have you considered an urchin? My purple urchin did eat cyano for me, and they're fairly inexpensive.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Whites on for only three or four hours? I think I have mine for 6 and I was under the impression that's really the minimum you should have when you have coral in there. I could drop mine to three hours and see how that clears some of the stuff up but usually my fish want to have the lights on when I feed them... I guess I could flip the lights on for a short period during feeding times.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by BTLDreef http:///forum/thread/385934/cyano-2-sparty-0/20#post_3387820
The new lights is probably a huge factor, and those stock bulbs, well, I'm not a fan of them.
I would try removing some of the rocks and scrubbing them in saltwater in a bucket. When you have a huge outbreak of cyano in the tank, siphoning won't do much, that's really more for small patches.
Have you considered an urchin? My purple urchin did eat cyano for me, and they're fairly inexpensive.
Yes! I have a tuxedo urchin. Surprisingly it just mows the cyano and my GHA. When I purchased it my tank had grass length as soon as I bought the urchin I noticed that my most problematic rock was cleared to just centimeters of algae on the rock. The cyano just worries me because I didn't know if it could kill the urchin if it eats it or what. It seems that the cyano has been taking the life of each of my snails as the days go on.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparty059 http:///forum/thread/385934/cyano-2-sparty-0/20#post_3387824
Yes! I have a tuxedo urchin. Surprisingly it just mows the cyano and my GHA. When I purchased it my tank had grass length as soon as I bought the urchin I noticed that my most problematic rock was cleared to just centimeters of algae on the rock. The cyano just worries me because I didn't know if it could kill the urchin if it eats it or what. It seems that the cyano has been taking the life of each of my snails as the days go on.
Well, since you have another tank, you could always go the red slime remover route, and put the fish in the HT, but I'd try scrubbing first, and maybe picking up a few more urchins. Find out if your LFS will sell them to you and let you return them when you're done.
I will tell you that I have used Coralife Marine Tank Clarifier, now made by Kent in my tank with fish, anemones, corals and never had any issues. I've used it mainly for diatoms, but it has made a small dent in a few cyano patches I have here and there.
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
yes, typically lights for corals are like vitamins for us, well most corals. They only need a certain amount of time to get their fill. In the reef they do get alot of light but as the day goes on the reef becomes more blue than white. If they get to much light they stop synthesizing. If we take vitamins that we don't need, such as C, our body just gets rid of it.
I read this a couple of times and it does make sense if you have ever been to the keys or carribean
 
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