Beating Cyano algae - Join me on my adventure!

[phillybean]

My "Adventure" started on another thread, not wanting to high jack it, here it is in it's glory!

Problem: Cyano Algae in Refugium.

Cause: Not 100% sure, but a mix of low flow, low oxygen, poor lighting, high nutrients are all options. Overall sub-par husbandry.

Misc Info: Fuge is about 25 gallons, "T'ed" return from Mag 5 with Valve open about half way. Maxijet 400 also in fuge. Separate heater to ensure temp stays the steady. 2" sand bed, small ball of Cheato which doesn't seem to grow much. Several pieces of small live rock and a 3" Mantis Shrimp. Mantis Shrimp is fed every 3 days a small piece of raw shrimp and sometimes
a hermit crab if they are causing issues in the display. No Cyano, HA or any other micro algae has turned up in the display. Only coraline, most purple but some dark green that turns to purple slowly. Cyano seems to recede when the lights are off.

The Plan:
Plan A - Turn off lights for three days
Move powerhead closer to the top of the tank to increase oxygen movement.

Plan B - Isolate Fuge from main tank. Perform daily 2 gallon water changes, siphoning out Cyano.

Plan C - Red Slime Remover - Last resort as I want to try to beat this one my own.

Photo Evidence:

This is a picture of the Fuge while the lights have been on for about 8 hours.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i158/phillybean/cyanoday2lightson.jpg

This is a picture of the Fuge after the lights have been off for 8 hours.
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i158/phillybean/cyanoday1lightsoff.jpg

[mseepman]

Count me on board...I've recently had a bout of it in my display and would prefer not to treat.

[Tarolisol]

I really dont want to join you in your venture to beat cyano but ill definitly watch you do it.

[phillybean]

Updates!

Lights off for 20 hours:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i158/phillybean/DSCF0650.jpg

Lights off for 30 hours:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i158/phillybean/DSCF0651.jpg

Lights off for 46 hours:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i158/phillybean/DSCF0652.jpg

Lights off for 54 hours:
http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i158/phillybean/DSCF0653.jpg

As you can see, I am making progress, albeit slowly. Later today I will siphon the rocks and sand and do a water change. Then lights will go back on to see what we've accomplished.

[banditpowdercoat]

Did the Cyano come back??? Ive tried lights out, lots of water changes. Still coming back. I'm real tempted to try Chemi-clean treatment

[tang daddy]

Have you tried sugar?

read a post on rc that said sugar reduces the cyano. We all know there are a few things cyano likes high nutrients, amino acids, lo flow and lets remember this is a bacteria a lights off for a few days may cure the cyano but even if there is a pinch in your tank thats all it needs to get back.

Traditionally in the past I have used red slime remover as I didn't have time to battle cyano however after killing a purple gorg I will never use an antibiotic again in my reef tanks. So theres got to be a natural cure anyhow report back to us on the lights out battle and I'll report here on the sugar dosing to rid this stuff.

So far I have a 50g skimmerless adequete flow feeding mysis and prawns once a week to my softies and lps which was probally a huge part to getting a tank with cyano. Since yesterday I put in 2 table spoons of sugar I will wait another 2 days and put in the same amount, because I dont have a skimmer I believe that the corals may uptake some sugar but not much anyhow I'll report back on my process here.

[scub steve]

get a 2 little fish phosban reactor there like 50 bucks +powerhead and phosphate removing media and run that it was the only thing i found that worked awsome on cyano

[banditpowdercoat]

get a 2 little fish phosban reactor there like 50 bucks +powerhead and phosphate removing media and run that it was the only thing i found that worked awsome on cyano


Yup, allready have. Nope, not working.... Phosphate allways reads 0 in my tank too.

I feed Mysis daily, but to my fish.

Flow, I belive is adequate,
Quiet one 3000
Mag 350
Koralia 2
All feed the circulation, so approx 1500GPH on a 45g tank

[Reef_kid]

Why don't you just treat with erythromycin for a few days and do a few water changes?

[marie]

Yup, allready have. Nope, not working.... Phosphate allways reads 0 in my tank too.

I feed Mysis daily, but to my fish.

Flow, I belive is adequate,
Quiet one 3000
Mag 350
Koralia 2
All feed the circulation, so approx 1500GPH on a 45g tank

I've never had any luck using a phosban reactor on my tanks either, Patience has always been the best remedy for cyano in my tanks, usually by feb it seems to start to recede. Of course before I was diligently doing 25% water changes weekly, blowing all the cyano off the rocks daily and using phosphate removers. I'm not doing that this year, I'm sticking to my regular regime to see if it will go away on its own within the same timeframe

[lorenz0]

Personally i have had it a couple of times, and the best thing is.... chemiclean read slim remover. added it to my tank and 48 hours later it was gone. I did the light thing once and it just came back twice as bad. i highly reccomend this product to anyone and you don't get ****ed off coral cause they didn't get any light and its safe for fish. No deaths, besides getting rid of the cyano.

btw this was in my 10gal, aka the horror story. and not worth running a phosban reactor

[Drock169]

Chemiclean is a band aid, if you dont fix whats causing the cyano it will be back in a couple of weeks.

As for the sugar, adding sugar to the tank is a form of carbon dosing which feeds bateria to reduce nitrates to zero, it has its advantages and disadvantages.

[banditpowdercoat]

I want to know more about dosing sugar. I've t5ried lights out, Phos reactors, Lots of water changes, changed lighting scheduals, less feeding. I've removed a bunch of sand, added more.... Tank looks "OK" in morning, but by 5pm, the sand and rocks are covered again..

[tang daddy]

well here is my report for sugar dosing most of the cyano is gone.....

It was about 90% on everything the rocks the substrate and everything else and now there is about 15% left we'll see in a few more days if it will be totally gone but one thing intresting to make note of was the bacteria aka red slime has turned brown and blown away which is a pleasent suprise.

I have a mix of crushed coral and LS and when I disturbed the CC on the top layer it ended up mixing cyano about 1 in in the bed so the deeper stuff still remain but the top layers is gone so again tonight I released the trapped stuff into the water coloumn.

It seems that maybe a few on here are willing to try something new like banditpowdercoat.... I would say try 2 tablespoons of sugar per 50g and wait a few days like I did, it hasn't harmed any of my sps, gorgs or lps but I believe that problems take time to dissappear and afterall sugar isn't that bad in terms of killing animals like the chemiclean was on my precious gorgs so far I have 5 different species of gorgs and I would definately not chance them dying ever again.

A quick question to Drock what are the ill effects or disadvantages to carbon dosing and low nitrates?

[dstasiuk]

I used Chemiclean too - with great success on my 135. No problems with anything except the Cyano.

I was very reluctant to "throw in the towel" and try a product like Chemiclean, but I was also very frustrated by the Cyano - I was sucking out huge quantities weekly with my waterchanges, but it just kept coming back as quickly as I could get rid of it. I replaced lights, modified my husbandry, and none of it made any difference. My vision of a beautiful tank was transformed into this nightmare of a tank covered in red. The cyano killed several corals and zoos. My frustration level was extreme. I finally tried the Chemiclean in desperation, followed the directions "to a T", and 3 days later - no Cyano.

It seemed to be what I needed to break the cycle of the Cyano. It was totally gone for about a month, then started to come back in a very minor way. I never treated it again, and just kept up with my routine of waterchanges. After about another four weeks of very minor visibility, it disappeared, and I have not seen any signs of it in the last 6 months.

In minor cases, I would agree that siphoning, water changes, black-outs etc. are the way to go. But if it gets severe enough, you need to "knock" it back. For me, Chemiclean did that very rapidly and effectively. The fact that it didn't ever come back as significantly indicates to me that there was not really any big problem with my feeding regime or husbandry. But I would suspect it would have taken much longer to get rid of it without the chemical intervention, and that there would have been more "friendly" casualties along the way.

[tang daddy]

As I stated before chemiclean, red slime remover by blue cross and any other anti biotic may state it's reef safe however will kill gorgonians!!

The sugar dosing worked all cyano gone in 3 days now we wait to see if it comes back....

[banditpowdercoat]

Well, I fly out tomorrow for 3 weeks, I wont be able to do anything till I get back. I'll try the Sugar when I get home. I'd get the wife to dose the sugar, but she cant do water changes, so I'd want to be home for a change after the dosing.

[tang daddy]

yes make sure before you do the sugar dosing you have a 30% wc ready btw nothing died while doing this just some things were not super happy like not fully open stuff like the ducans and elegans were 75% open but after the wc everything is back to normal.

I'll report back in 2 weeks.

[DebC]

Any updates on how the sugar treatment worked?