how to get rid of cyno

[xd]

i have a slight cyano/red slime algea problem, its not out of control but im having a hard time controlling it. is there anything that will eat it? i've tryed just scraping it off and that works for liek a week until it grows back and then there are always small pieces that i miss and then they just start growing somewhere esle. any help would be appreciated.

 

[wingzfan]

How long are your lights on every day?

 

[ducky]

I have heard that if you turn off all lights and cover the tank for a few days it will disappear. A friend of mine had good luck with this and it has not come back. I am not sure if you can turn the lights on in the sump to support macroalgae and get the same effect.

 

[wingzfan]

You don't have to completely turn off the lights just cut down...but ducky you are right if its really bad, you can turn em off for a couple days. I had really bad cyano and cut my light time in half and it eventually slowly went away.

 

[xd]

usually the lights are on for 8-10 hours a day, but i have corals too. so do you think if i cut my lights down to about 5 hours a day it would help get rid iof the cyno but not hurt my corals in any way.

 

[saltn00b]

how much turnover do you have in what size tank?
what are your phosphates and how much are you feeding to how many fish?

 

[isistius]

def. look into the food. are you feeding frozen stuff (cubes)? they are loaded with phosphates. i had a major redslime out break a while ago. most likely due to over feeding with frozen cubes. another thing i've done that works is turn the lights off. there is a thread on another forum that went in to great detail on this. as long as there is light in the room (ambient sunlight) the corals will survive just fine. turn them off for 3 days ever few months. really does a good job eliminating microalgea. DO NOT COVER THE TANK. remember, even when it's cloudy on a reef (as reefs get an average of 280 sunny days a year or so) there is still light.
hth