cyano battle still :-(

debbie

debbie

Active Member
Hi, I am still battling this darn cyano thing. Now I would like to ask a few questions:
I currently am using city tap water. I do have access to some RO water from my husbands place of work. With my tank only being a 10 gal it is not a huge amount of water that I need for changes.
I am currently doing 10% changes every two weeks, could I do a 10% change every week without affecting my system?
Also I would like to know if using water from a "Brita" would be better than the tap water for this tank?
So with RO water, can I just go ahead and do a 10% water change and add the 1 gal of RO water to my tank?
Debbie :happyfish
 
N

newbienz

Guest
Any type of filtered water IMO would be better than tap water IMO, but since you have access to RO water use that instead. Changing 1 gal of water a week should not be a problem.
Also make sure more current is flowing in the areas where the cyano is developing. There are many factors that causes cyano, and IMO (tap water or NON RO/DI, current) are the main reasons cyano develops.
Good luck in your battle.
 
golfish

golfish

Active Member
Debbie,
Use Red Slime remover from Ultra Life reef product. I'll make a mess for a few days but its well worth it.
 
old yeller

old yeller

New Member
Debbie,
Turn your lights off for 3 straight days and then turn them back on for shorter hrs., like say less than 8hrs/day. That took care of my serious bout with cyano!
Don't worry about corals or such not getting enough light cause I have a full blown sps tank and none of them were affected by the lack of light.
OY, formerly known as OYT:happyfish
 
007

007

Active Member

Originally posted by Old Yeller
OY, formerly known as OYT:happyfish
Shouldn't it be :happyfish , the poster formerly known as Old Yeller tang?
:D
 
debbie

debbie

Active Member
Thanks for the article link 007 :yes:
I just recieved an email in regards to last resort chemicals to use. I wanted to run it past you all before I would even consider these as LAST resort.
Chemi Clean
Maracyn for fresh water tanks
They say that these work like a charm. But will they kill my coral or inverts? I don't want to kill anything in my tank. :confused:
My husband is bringing RO water home today, I will do a water change and I am going to be changing my timer so my lights are not on all day long.
Our city water is defintaley the culprit, it is high in everything that cyano likes so that will slowly be eliminated and I will be using the RO water instead.
Thank god I don't have a bigger tank, I would be ran into the poor house trying to get the right water for salt water tanks

Anyways will try anything and everything to get rid of this horrible stuff. :jumping:
Thanks for the help :D
 
007

007

Active Member
maracyn is an antibiotic . . . will kill all the cyanobacteria in your tank as well as all of you biological filtration. I would NEVER add it too my tanks.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Hi Debbie,
If you're saturated with opinions then feel free to ignore me :D
I think Britta is slightly better than tap but no better at removing Phosphate not Nitrate.
RO is a LOT better and much much safer. It's not a cure for cyano though because RO only remove 70 of Phosphate. DI would remove most of the remaining 30%. Bob is right about a refugium with algae would be a good long term solution but using RO is crucial too.
IMO the chemicals/antibiotics are far more harmful to the tank than the Cyano outbreak it. I would never do that to my system. If you siphon out the cyano during your water change with RO water that is an ideal short term solution. IMO Cyano is just one of the symptoms of a nutrient problem. You need to reduce the nutrients in your system. RO is a big step and that alone may solve it. If you can grow Xenia that will also help a lot.
Bang
 
neowind

neowind

Member
Here is how I cured my system. I cut my lighting from 12 hours a day down to 7-8 hours a day. I then started doing water changes with RO/DI water because i filled it with tap water. I cut my feeding back also and boom 1 week and it was gone.
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Xenia appear to consume a lot of Nitrogen compounds & Phosphate both of which can contribute to Cyanobacter blooms.
 
kpk

kpk

Active Member
Add a ten gallon fuge and a small protein skimmer. I guarantee it to work (I think we all guarantee), but definitley use R/O water.
I had the worse hair algae ever. Battled with it for months on end (about 4) then I built a fuge and got a decent protein skimmer, and it's finally all gone after about 2 months of having my fuge stocked with plants, live rock etc.
 
debbie

debbie

Active Member
Is Xenia hard to grow for the beginner? What special requirements do they have to have?
Thanks for all the help
Debbie :jumping:
 
bang guy

bang guy

Moderator
Light. I recommend Red Sea Xenia as one of the fastest growing.
You really need to stop using tap water though IMO.
 
debbie

debbie

Active Member
Okay, I am so frusterated now with this whole hobby :notsure:
I can definatley get R/O water from my husbands place of work. He brought home a 4L milk jug for me yesterday. I did also do the E.M. Tabs as I am at the point I will do anything to get rid of this horrible stuff. On the recommendation of our LFS whom said she just had a huge outbreak of this stuff in her 92 gal tank at home, she used these tabs and it killed all the cyano. I also do know that anitibiotics kill good bacteria too just like in us humans when we use it.
So I took one 200mg pill and she said to cut it into 4 and only add a 1/4 of the pill. I did this last night, this morning there seems to be some die off but not what I was hoping for, she then said to add another 1/4 of the pill this morning and then wait till tomorrow and do a water change.
I will be doing the water change tomorrow morning and I want to know if I take out a gal of tank water and replace it with the R/O water and salt will this affect the tank?
This is sure unslighly stuff, and I want to get rid of it :jumping:
Will keep you posted to my outcome and hope in the mean time I sure don't loose anything in the way of coral, fish or inverts.
Debbie
 
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