Cyanobacteria

[princess8077]

How the heck do I get rid of this stuff???
I had a water change done on friday - no scrubbing it...just siphoning it and now it's back with a vengence.

 

[paintballer768]

I was just about to start a thread like this. I wiped it all off from what I could see on the sandbed, and by the nighttime, it was ALL BACK. This is going to be an epic fight, I can already tell.

 

[dinogeorge]

I got rid of it in 12 hours. I used a product called chemiclean. My tank had fish and lots of inverts. Nothing died except the “red cloak of death”. Others may tell you that it is unsafe, but I am speaking from real experience. This stuff worked without a single issue for me. And I mean it WORKS!
Good luck man.

 

[flinka]

Cyano is a sign that your water quality is not as good as it should be. Have you tested your phosphate and nitrate levels recently?
I had a cyano outbreak in one of my tanks and defeated it with frequent water changes (a few gallons every day), siphoning the cyano from the sandbed (every day), increasing/adjusting my flow to eliminate dead flow spots, and using Phosguard to bring my phosphate levels down to zero (or close to it). Took about 2-3 weeks. At the same time, you must address the root causes that could be causing water quality issues (e.g., too high a bioload, overfeeding, inadequate flow, etc.).
Hope this helps you get started on conquering the problem.

 

[patandlace]

Originally Posted by flinka
Cyano is a sign that your water quality is not as good as it should be. Have you tested your phosphate and nitrate levels recently?
I had a cyano outbreak in one of my tanks and defeated it with frequent water changes (a few gallons every day), siphoning the cyano from the sandbed (every day), increasing/adjusting my flow to eliminate dead flow spots, and using Phosguard to bring my phosphate levels down to zero (or close to it). Took about 2-3 weeks. At the same time, you must address the root causes that could be causing water quality issues (e.g., too high a bioload, overfeeding, inadequate flow, etc.).
Hope this helps you get started on conquering the problem.
Good advise. Also check your water source if you don't already. Do you use RO/DI water?

 

[princess8077]

Originally Posted by patandlace
Good advise. Also check your water source if you don't already. Do you use RO/DI water?
LFS comes to change my water out....they use RO and mix thier saltwater up. I have back up RO to top off. I havent been brave enough to change it myself yet - I dunno why Im such a chicken about it.

 

[yossaria]

Cyano is extremely sensitive to the absence light. I know it is difficult to believe, but if you keep the lights off in your aquarium for two days straight, the cyano will be destroyed. Others recommend reducing the photo-period of your tank by a couple of hours. This may not treat the root of the problem, such as poor water quality, but you can use the lights out trick to decimate your cyano problem. Then keep up with the water changes, skimming, cut back on feeding etc. to maintain a cyano free environment.
Cheers,
Yoss

 

[paintballer768]

Well I do my own lol. I use LFS ocean water thats purified by them. My tank has tons of flow, and it always forms right in the one man current in front of my tank. I do weekly water changes. Using natural water there should be no phosphates. I may end up using the chemiclean, but I need to make sure it wont hurt my corals.
My bioload isnt overdone for sure. 24 gallon tank, 4 mushrooms, 2 4-5 polyp colonies of zoas. No fish yet. I dont overfeed either, because I spot feed.

 

[capschamp]

although it is only a band aid to cover up another problem, phosban worked really well for me on a previous tank. I will be using it again soon on the new tank.

 

[ruaround]

as mentioned before cut your photo period... also make sure you have enough flow or turns per hour... also if your light bulbs are old change em out... cyano likes the red spectrum and while bulbs age the red spectrum becomes more dominant...

 

[paintballer768]

Ill cut the photo period for now on by 3 hours. See what happens. Does anyone know of a skimmer made for the 24 gallon Aquapod nano? Must skimmers dont fit the nano or require cutting to fit. Thanks.

 

[princess8077]

Thanks a bunch all

 

[paintballer768]

Yea thank you too for sort of leaching on Princess's thread

 

[princess8077]

Will leaving my lights off for 2 days hurt my mushroom, toadstool and devils hand? or my fish?

 

[patandlace]

They will be fine for a couple days without lights. I've left for the weekend before and left the lights off before I had a timer and everything was fine. Their's rainy/cloudy days in nature where reefs are too.

 

[donald]

I have fought with cyno/ blue/green slime alage. I cut back on the lights and that helped some. But what really got rid of the cyno on the sand is a little helper I named Hover. Hover is a banded sleeper goby. Also called a bullet or dragon goby, they sell them here but I got mine at my LFS. This guy WIPED OUT ALL of my slimmy alage on the sand in three days and he is only about three inches. They won't work if you have super rough substrate like CC but if you have regular argonite or sugar sand he will be fine. These things sift the sand through their gills feeding on the small things that live in there. This thing is the only live animal in my tank that even looked at this stuff. Hover actualy would take big bites out of the slimmy alage and gobbled it up. I would recomend that ya'll look into this amazing little cleaner.

 

[princess8077]

Originally Posted by Yossaria
Cyano is extremely sensitive to the absence light. I know it is difficult to believe, but if you keep the lights off in your aquarium for two days straight, the cyano will be destroyed. Others recommend reducing the photo-period of your tank by a couple of hours. This may not treat the root of the problem, such as poor water quality, but you can use the lights out trick to decimate your cyano problem. Then keep up with the water changes, skimming, cut back on feeding etc. to maintain a cyano free environment.
Cheers,
Yoss
Do I have to turn the blue lights off too or just the white lights?

 

[paintballer768]

I just got arid of my cyano. I limited the possibilities down to me having phosphates, and I didnt think I did because I only used LFS water. Turned out it was the phosphates. I bought something for 15$ that helps remove the SYMPTOMS (not the problem). That made the cyano disappear in a day. I also bought a 7$ pad that goes in the filtration area. It removes phosphates from the water in 4 days. No cyano since

Changing the lighting schedule wont fix the cyano, only make the eyesore go away.

 

[princess8077]

Originally Posted by paintballer768
I just got arid of my cyano. I limited the possibilities down to me having phosphates, and I didnt think I did because I only used LFS water. Turned out it was the phosphates. I bought something for 15$ that helps remove the SYMPTOMS (not the problem). That made the cyano disappear in a day. I also bought a 7$ pad that goes in the filtration area. It removes phosphates from the water in 4 days. No cyano since

Changing the lighting schedule wont fix the cyano, only make the eyesore go away.
I have zero phosphates. I did check for that.

 

[paintballer768]

Originally Posted by Princess8077
I have zero phosphates. I did check for that.

Okay, what are your nitrates? Im sure youve heard it plenty but it can fuel cyano. I just got a drip test kit, rather than my dip-strip testers, and its so much more accurate. Might I suggest you invest in one for the future, it ran me about 25$.