re-occuring Cyano

[chefpaakk]

Hello all,
I had a cyano problem a month and a bit ago..it was a heaft one and took over the entire tank quickly (under5 days) It was almost neon green in color.

I was suggested at jl aquatics to use chemiclean.. After a few days of research and debate I decided to try it. I followed the instructions to the T and even did a 30% water change opposed to the 20 it suggest. It worked fantastic!! My tank looked incredible!

3 days later, I saw the first bit of red cyano appear. Within a week the red cyano, covered maybe 40% of my sand.

I had read that sometimes a second dose is necessary, so I dosed a second time, after 2 weeks.. Followed the instructions exactly, and had a 30% water change, and another 10% two days later.

It has been a week since this happened, and the cyano has come back and is now covering around 30% of my sand bed.

WTF is going on?!

My nitrates are at 5.0, and my phosphates are at .05...


Help!

[fishmanty]

My experience is mostly with Freshwater Cyano, but I would guess the issue lies with your sand itself. If you decide to dose again, first physically remove all the Cyano you can, and then when you go to batch the chemical, move your sand bed around to ensure you can get the chemical to penetrate the bed.

If you don't get rid of all of the Cyano, it will reappear unless you fix the source of the issue. For freshwater, the solution for me was adding oxygen (Since it killed off alot of plant life and I assumed the plants left weren't providing enough O2 for a healthy balance), adjusting my CO2 injection, and having a blackout period, while dosing excel. My water parameters were always spot on for freshwater, and I never figured out what the source really was, but my actions to remedy it must have stopped the source.

My 2 cents.

[albert_dao]

Don't fight it, just hit it with chemiclean, four or five big water changes and consider replacing your substrate.

[chefpaakk]

I have read, and been told, that if you use chemiclean too often, the cyano will actually become resistant to it. I want to avoid that if possible LOL.

Removing and replacing the substrate doesn't sound fun to me. Is this something that could actually work Albert?

[chefpaakk]

Anyone else care to chime in???

[whatcaneyedo]

I've never bothered with chemiclean. It sounds like a product that treats the symptom but not the problem which allows the symptom to persist. Like treating a cough and runny nose rather than the underlying cold. Less sand/no sand, coarse sand, more flow, a more powerful skimmer, no mechanical filtration (like filter pads which just hold rather than remove waste) fresh bulbs, reduced photoperiod, feeding less, having less fish, larger or more frequent water changes, the occasional stirring of the sand etc have served me well.

For example, a friends tank was looking really bad, it had thick patches of green slime all over the sand bed. We determined that the system had several problems: overheating, poor water flow within, insufficient water flow to the sump, a wet/dry trickle filter and old dim PC lighting. Active cooling was ducted in above, a few new impeller powerheads were added to the display, we upgraded the return pump to something larger, gutted the wet/dry filter, stepped up water changes for a few months and ditched the PC fixture for a new MH pendant (the system has since been converted to LED). These days the sand bed looks pristine and the system's overall health has improved immensely.

[Reeferluke]

Don't fight it, just hit it with chemiclean, four or five big water changes and consider replacing your substrate.

+1 I found this to be the easiest and fastest way.

[canadianbudz604]

How much direct/indirect sunlight does your tank get. Some people will say this doesn't effect it but it does. I've done both saltwater and freshwater and I found the more direct/indirect sunlight you have the more algae you would grow. What type of sand do you have and where did it comes from. Some type of sand will contain
Phosphates and silica so it could be the problem.