wait out the red?

[arkman]

I've been searching the boards for cyanobacteria and red slime, so I'm aware of my options to clean up my bloom, what I havent been able to find out is if I can just wait this out? It's a transfered tank, when I moved it I stirred lots of detritus, which brought a diatom bloom, which has brought a nice deep red cyanobacteria - (what shoudl I expect next?)
I have a vaired clanup crew - nerith, cerith, red leg, blue leg, bumble bee, margarita and astras. It looks like the bloom is getting bigger, not smaller though.
I'd prefer to just leave it be...will it work itself out?

 

[entice59]

i bought 3 blue legs and 1 bumble bee snail when i had a cynobloom, they did absolutly NOTHING. they decided that cyno and fish crap wasnt good enough and avoided it all costs, boy i feel so used... almost ... dirty...

anyways, back to your question, i have macro grow all over my tank and with in a month the cyno is GONE! no chemicals, no huge water changes... so if you have macro let it grow and take care of it.
Cutting lights might help, you could actually see the cyno grow in high lights, move powerhead around and let more circulation into areas that its blooming the most, try weekly water changes 5-10% a week, its a slow and long process dont expect instant results ... well if your aiming towards the natural way...

 

[beth]

In addition to all of the above advise, you can also use a turkey baster to gently blow the cyano off of sand and rock crevises. Disturbing it also helps to disrupt their rapidly spreading colonizing reproduction and the matted sheets it tends to grow in. You may need to do this several times a day.
There just are not too many animals that will clear cyano, and many of the ones that supposedly do, won't.
Dealing with cyano requires a combination of tasks that have been pretty much covered by entice. There is a product called Chemi-Clean that supposedly addressed cyano, but I have never tried it. It's supposedly "reef safe" but unless I knew the ingredient, I'd be suspious. Antibioics do kill off cyano, but you definately do not want to add antibiotics to a reef tank, or any tank except FO. So watch out for that if you end up buying a product that supposedly clears cyano. Cyano is actually bacteria, not algae.

 

[wildblue4]

the main thing i do is wait it out and clean out as much extra build up as i can, like beth said. i also watch feeding. i have went to every other day feeding and it has helped more than anything else. just takes time.

 

[thomas712]

Arkman- You do not mention what type of water you use. This is the first place that I would look other than feeding. The main thing to do is find out the source of the cyno, what is it feeding off of or what condition exists that is supporting it, you need to attack this thing at the source.
Water? Any natural sunlight hit the tank? Nitrates, phosphates? current condition of light bulbs, age of bulbs?
Thomas

 

[twhfan]

I just cleaned up a big bloom in my tank. We used a turkey baster to clean it off (it works well if you actually suck it up instead of blow it off) and then we used a product called Anti-red. We got it at the LFS, it came recommended over the Chemi-clean and cost about the same. Must be used with a skimmer. Worked great! No stress to my inverts or corals at all - the corals look great! I wouldn't just let it ride - do comething before it covers everything in your tank

 

[brianf01]

I used the Chemi clean stuff. Worked great. I turned the skimmer off 24 hours, then 48 hours later I did a 20% water change. Its 98% gone. The skimmer is going crazy now though, I empty it at least once a day or it will overflow. Its mostly purple fluid, pretty cool. I also got an 11lb live rock so Im not sure if that added to the skimmer output.

 

[arkman]

Thanks for all the advice.
I’m using RO/DI, so I don’t think that’s the problem. I haven’t tested for Phosphates and nitrates are 0. The tank does get some direct light, but mostly the curtains are closed --- is this a temperature issue, or lighting spectrum???
I have 3 36” VHO on this tank, 2 super actinic and one blue actinic. I bought his setup used, so I dont know the quality or age of the bulbs.
Is this just part of a cycle I should be aware of (detritus – diatom – cyano - ???). And other than being ugly, is the cyano harmful in any way?
EDIT: I'll cut back on the feeding (thx Entice) - my Yellow Tang looks like ist wearing borwn lipstick from eating the diatoms - he/shes fine, doesnt need any food ---is just so nice to feed them!!!
Thanks again!

 

[entice59]

eats up nutrients in your tank and its an eyesore, dont worry about your RO water, worry if your over feeding your tank or missing dead spots where debris might be that you arent siphoning, cyno is a sign of high... i forgot someone help me here and make sure you dont over feed, fish may look like it ready for its forth meal but its not...
no cycle of aglae

 

[entice59]

READ DIRECTIONS! most importantly

 

[arkman]

ok, thanks everyone. I'll cut back on the feedings for a while, and "baste" up the gook when I cant stand looking at it anymore...interstingly enough, I'm starting to get a good nice green algae growth going on on the glass where there was cyano...I'll post on this string later to let you know what happens...