under skimming cause cyanobacteria?

carlos413

carlos413

Member
will a protien skimmer that is too small for the tank its on contribute to cyanobacteria outbrake? I have a red sea prizem skimmer, its rated for 40 gallon tank. I am running a 55 gallon. I have coverd all my bases, lights on for eight hours. I am feeding once everyother day. I make sure they eat it all up.
I do 12 gallon water change once a week. I d hate to spend $150 on a skimmer only to find i still have this stuff.
 
adee

adee

Member
I dont know for sure but I will say I stopped using my skimmer (because it was sooo LOUD and our 125 is in our bedroom) and we had almost instant cyano outbreak bad!! I have since turned it back on, moved my powerheads closer to the sand and things seem to have cleared up. i would love to hear more feedback on this thread though
 
carlos413

carlos413

Member
Originally Posted by ADEE
http:///forum/post/3168972
I dont know for sure but I will say I stopped using my skimmer (because it was sooo LOUD and our 125 is in our bedroom) and we had almost instant cyano outbreak bad!! I have since turned it back on, moved my powerheads closer to the sand and things seem to have cleared up. i would love to hear more feedback on this thread though
yeah me too
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

Cyano is caused by low water movement, overfeeding and phosphates. Some people don't even ever run a skimmer and have no problems.
So check your water flow, you don't sound like you overfeed....Use a phosphate remover, then keep something like purigen in the filter to keep phosphates down. Rinse any frozen foods after you thaw it out, I have been told frozen foods are loaded with phosphates. I use RO water to rinse a thawed out cube in a fish net.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Red Slime (Cyano Bacteria)
Cyano grows on top of nutrient rich areas of low flow. There are a number of things that need to be correct or possibly corrected to combat this without the use of chemical additives. The biggest thing is to get rid of the extra nutrients.
1.Evaluate your feeding. If you are feeding more than can be eaten in about 1-2 minutes it is too much and the remainder of it is falling to the rock and sand and becoming nutrient.
2.Evaluate your flow. If you have areas in the tank where there is little to no flow this can be corrected by adding power heads or repositioning the ones you already have. You don’t need to create sand storms just have water moving over the area to keep detritus suspended in the water column for removal by your filter – skimmer.
3.Evaluate your water changes. The solution to pollution is dilution! You want to continually remove unneeded nutrients as well as replace those things that are used by the system. 10% weekly is a good change schedule. Some do 20% every other week and some vary the schedule from there, but a good start is 10% per week.
4.Evaluate your lighting schedule. About 10 hours of daylight is all that is needed.
5.If you have a Cyano outbreak do the above 4 items and:
a.At water change time siphon off the Cyano first. It will come up easily almost like a blanket.
b.After siphoning stir the affected areas a little to suspend any detritus for the water change and filtering - skimming removal.
c.Use a turkey baster on the rockwork now and at every water change in the future to again suspend the detritus for removal by the water change and your filtering – skimming.
Keeping nutrient levels low to non-existent will help to avoid Cyano outbreaks and any algae outbreaks as well as keep your tank and you happy happy.
Hope that helps.
 
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