cyano took over

bill109

bill109

Active Member
hello..
i have tried almost everything and i cant beat cyano bacteria. i have changed lighting source, i do water changes frequently, i have cut back on feeding and i have even taken apart the rock work at least the top have and shook it out in a bucket of salt water from the tank.. and then put it back in. (just the rock..)
now i cant beat it..
whats next?
tank info.. 90 gallon
aqua c remora pro skimmer
emperor 400 hob
eshopps 125 wet dry
2xhydor koralias # 4
lights.. TEK 8x65 W 4x 10K and 4x actinic 460 nm replaced 3 weeks ago..
about 60-70 lbs of lr.
close to 80 lbs of lr
fish..
2x clowns.
yellow tang
blue tang
tomini tang
sixline
3x chromis
1 bangaii cardinal.
i know it could have the potential of being over stocked but the filtraion is a little higher as well.. and everyone seems happy.. including corals..
the temp varies from 78-83
tank is about 1/5 years old. and alot of the lr and fish are close to a little over 2 years old..
so now what? start over?
im at a total losss i have been reading the stickey about cyano bacteria in the stickeys
please help
thanks in advance..
 
nigerbang

nigerbang

Active Member
Kill the lights and cover the tank with carboard shipping paper so no lights can get in for a few days.
 
prime311

prime311

Active Member
Originally Posted by NigerBang
http:///forum/post/2738300
Kill the lights and cover the tank with carboard shipping paper so no lights can get in for a few days.
Thats just a temporary solution. Long term you need to identify the problem and correct it.
1. Check lights(need replacing or reduce schedule)
2. Check flow, cyano gathers in areas of low flow
3. Test for Phos and Nitrates as these lead to Cyano growth
Are you using tap for water changes?
 
nigerbang

nigerbang

Active Member
Originally Posted by prime311
http:///forum/post/2738370
Thats just a temporary solution. Long term you need to identify the problem and correct it.
1. Check lights(need replacing or reduce schedule)
2. Check flow, cyano gathers in areas of low flow
3. Test for Phos and Nitrates as these lead to Cyano growth
Are you using tap for water changes?
I did it thatway... and BAM no more slime algae for me again..that was two years ago..
 
nigerbang

nigerbang

Active Member
Originally Posted by bill109
http:///forum/post/2738296
hello..
i . i have changed lighting source,
i do water changes frequently,
i have cut back on feeding and i have even taken apart the rock work at least the top have and shook it out in a bucket of salt water from the tank.. and then put it back in. (just the rock..)
now i cant beat it..
..
He has done all the things listed to help and guess what...It didnt help...
Running a reef lights out for a few days inst going to hurt anything....its worth a try...then again some people like to just keep reguritating the same things they hear with out ever thinking of trying something different.
 
kjr_trig

kjr_trig

Active Member
Originally Posted by prime311
http:///forum/post/2738370
Thats just a temporary solution. Long term you need to identify the problem and correct it.
1. Check lights(need replacing or reduce schedule)
2. Check flow, cyano gathers in areas of low flow
3. Test for Phos and Nitrates as these lead to Cyano growth
Are you using tap for water changes?
While your points are all valid, so often Cyano just shows up in new tanks for no apparant reason, get rid of it and often it won't come back. I nuked my tank with Blue Life Red Slime Remover 2 months ago and haven't seen it back since.
 
aztec reef

aztec reef

Active Member
57 chevy nailed it.. I love this quote, As i live by it...:When something goes wrong in the aquarium, the cause is bad water chemistry in just about 99 percent of all cases. The processes described here, since they improve the water quality, will result in an overall better looking aquarium, not just the disappearance of red slime algae.
So it comes down to water chemistry, like i said a 1000 times..
Niger,
Not once, do they mention lighting on this article..
 
gmann1139

gmann1139

Active Member
In-Tank Refugium w/Chaeto
Solved it for me. Cyano was gone so fast I was almost a little scared.
Quick directions are:
1.Take a fish-bagger
2. Drill holes for "out" flow, and a bigger one to stick a PH in
3. Fill it full of chaeto
4. Put it on the edge of your tank in a highly lit area.
 
snail

snail

New Member
Heterocyst-forming species are able to "fix" nitrogen gas, which cannot be absorbed by plants, into ammonia (NH3), nitrites(NO2) or nitrates (NO3), which can be absorbed by plants and converted to protein and nucleic acids. The rice paddies of Asia, which feed about 75% of the world's human population, could not do so were it not for healthy populations of nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria in the rice paddy waters.
Found in almost every conceivable habitat, from oceans to fresh water to bare rock to soil, cyanobacteria produce the compounds responsible for "earthy" odors we detect in soil and some bodies of water (such as those being cyanobacterially cleaned at water treatment plants). The greenish slime on the side of your damp flower pot, the wall of your house or the trunk of that big tree is more likely to be cyanobacteria than anything else. Cyanobacteria have even been found on the fur of polar bears, to which they impart a greenish tinge!
I put on good lights mine went away, nothing different just lights.
My sump in the dark corners has some and it can stay, it is healthy for the tank.
I think cyano gets a bad rap just like bristle worms do.
 
pumper

pumper

Member
Cheato worked in my fuge as well.... I was also told to make sure the calcium levels were in check. No more alge. It seems to remove excess nitrates and phosphates... Are you using ro/di water? Silicates from tap water also causes bloomage.
 
kjr_trig

kjr_trig

Active Member

Originally Posted by Aztec Reef
http:///forum/post/2738505
57 chevy nailed it.. I love this quote, As i live by it...:When something goes wrong in the aquarium, the cause is bad water chemistry in just about 99 percent of all cases. The processes described here, since they improve the water quality, will result in an overall better looking aquarium, not just the disappearance of red slime algae.
So it comes down to water chemistry, like i said a 1000 times..
Niger,
Not once, do they mention lighting on this article..

Also directly from the article
Sources include (but are not limited to):
Fish slime
Invertebrate slime
Other life forms in the tank
Algae and bacteria
dead ones or
live ones
Excrements
Excrements that contain partially digested food
Uneaten food
metabolic and catabolic processes
Material on rock
Live rock and the life forms on it
alive
dying
non live rock on which and in which some life forms exist that you may or may not see because the size may be real small (again these life forms may be alive or may be dying)
Additives you use that are high in organic material
Live foods
and so on, indeed, this is only a partial list, but as you can see the sources are indeed numerous already.
As Bob Fenner said in his book "there is an unfortunate trend in the industry to blame everything on source water"....Again there are a lot of things that can cause cyano, and I have had this conversation in depth with SrFisher57 (whom has been keeping SW fish since before most of us were born. The trend is to "figure out whats causing it", sometimes just get rid of it (my preference is chemically) and it won't come back.
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
Originally Posted by NigerBang
http:///forum/post/2738557
Pay more attention..or go back to chasing UFO's
sorry ment change light source as in bulbs.. they were replaced a few weeks ago as mentioned. i cant thanks you guys here for the fast replies. i just went crazy, i took amost every piece of rock out and swooshed it around in tank water and the rock came out clean and it put the rock back in.. i did that for about 80 lbs of lr, and added another 5 lbs of ls. the tank looks so amazing right now, the sand is white for once without cyano rolling around in it.. and the rock is clean.
i will monitor the tank for another day or so and get right back on here..
should i keep 4 bulbs on while im at school? and when i get home for a few hours put all 8 on?
 
mr_x

mr_x

Active Member
i don't think you have excellent filtration for that size tank. i think the remora pro is sub-par. i think there are too many fish(depending on the size of the tangs). i've used red slime remover(erythromycin) before with some ill effects. i don't recommend it.
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
Originally Posted by prime311
http:///forum/post/2738370
Thats just a temporary solution. Long term you need to identify the problem and correct it.
1. Check lights(need replacing or reduce schedule)
2. Check flow, cyano gathers in areas of low flow
3. Test for Phos and Nitrates as these lead to Cyano growth
Are you using tap for water changes?
i use ro water for changes.. the flow is like over the normal rate.. around 3200 gph right now in the tank,
lastly i thought phosphates wont show up in tests?
thanks again
 
aztec reef

aztec reef

Active Member
Niger,
Let me hold ur hand as i refrace my statement.. The article that 57 chevy posted has no reference on lighting..
I don't chase UFO, i chase extraterrestrial saucers..,Anything can be an UFO, even u flying on a broom stick.. Untill you're identified, thast when we differ e.t. saucers from nigers..
 
bill109

bill109

Active Member
Originally Posted by Mr_X
http:///forum/post/2738595
i don't think you have excellent filtration for that size tank. i think the remora pro is sub-par. i think there are too many fish(depending on the size of the tangs). i've used red slime remover(erythromycin) before with some ill effects. i don't recommend it.
all the tangs are small than an average persons palm.. the filtration is not that good? can u suggest anthing els i can add? or should add?
also i have the larger of the skimmers.. there is one smaller one. this one if pretty big. it hangs down 3/4 of my tank.
 
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