Cyano problem?

[MarkoD]

So I came home from vacation with high phosphates and a cyano problem.

I've been using cyano starver for past 5 day and have lowered phosphates from .14 to .05 and the cyano seemed to be going away

But today I looked at my tank and it seems like its getting worse.

Any idea what I should do?

[reefwars]

i assume youve removing it manually??


remove all you can with a turkey baster,increase flow to baddest areas,water changes and acvtivated carbon ....bout all you can do besides chemicals.

did anything die and now get found or anything spawn?? overfeeding while away???

[MarkoD]

Yeah it was over feeding while I was on vacation.

But flow shouldn't be an issue. I have this stuff growing on a rock 3 inches from my MP40 on full blast.

[reefwars]

Yeah it was over feeding while I was on vacation.

But flow shouldn't be an issue. I have this stuff growing on a rock 3 inches from my MP40 on full blast.


yeah it mats well on rocks flow helps for stuff on the sandbed but also increases the amount of "clean water" the cyano gets , not necessarily blows it away.

cyano is a problem that will come and go over the years it happens to pretty much all tanks even in low nutrient systems.

chemicals do work but i think youll find it does come back if the underlying issues are not getting attention.

the over feeding must have cause a spike in nutrients and as the ol saying goes " the solution to pollution is dilution" so lots of water changes increased flow(or in your case maintain flow lol) and good husbandry will eventually knock it down will just take a coule weeks or so.


goodluck buddy and cheers:):)

[MarkoD]

thanks.

also, its growing all over my back wall of my tank..... and its producing some kind of gas as there are bubbles all over the rocks where its present. and its the same purple color as coraline algae

also just checked nitrates and its at 0

[dc4]

I used PrecisionSolutions Cyano Solution 2 weeks ago and it worked wonders, within 24 hours, all cyano was gone from the tank like it never existed. Not sure where it all went but there was no red slime present on the sand at all.

Keep in mind that you have to do a large water change after its all gone, they recommend 25% but that still had my skimmer overflowing like mad. I did another 10% the next day, used a bag of carbon in the sump and in a reactor for 3 days, afterwards I turned my skimmer back on and emptied about 5 cups of clear skim and then it finally got back to normal.

I tried reducing feedings, light hours, and extra phosphate remover for a few weeks and none of it did anything, it just got worse. The cyano remover worked like magic imo plus the lfs gave me $5 off for trying the new product, lol.

[Cal_stir]

thanks.

also, its growing all over my back wall of my tank..... and its producing some kind of gas as there are bubbles all over the rocks where its present. and its the same purple color as coraline algae

also just checked nitrates and its at 0

nitrates are 0 because they are being processed by the cyano, you could have dinoflagellates which eats nitrates as well and is more characteristic of the bubbles all over the place.
dino is more photosynthetic, it is less noticable at first light and gets worse as the lights are on and almost disappears at night, dino is more toxic than cyano and usually requires a lights out period of 3 to 5 days, reduced flow, no water changes and heavy skimming to erraticate.
ID is difficult as it is often mistaken as cyano.

[reefwars]

ID is difficult as it is often mistaken as cyano.



thats true it is hard to id, i was going to post a link earlier as i had thought of that as well ill see if i can find it its a good article on dino. elevated ph is supposed to help but is not a cure.

dino tends to be stringy and the stringy slime will have bubbles on it.

dino is also mostly brown to green.

pray to god you dont have dino as its a long process to get rid of it and a blackout isnt a guaranteed thing.

cyano acts the same way tends to "disappear" and show up during the day when the lights are out.

[reefwars]

http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=dinoflagellates%3F&source=web&cd=10&ved=0CGAQFjAJ&url=http%3A%2F%2Freefkeeping.com%2Fissues%2F2006-11%2Frhf%2Findex.php&ei=V7CoTuqIC-n-sQKmovGuDw&usg=AFQjCNHUkAOZ5AemcyGckRpspBB9xHg7Ww&cad=rja


here ya go buddy :):)

[reefwars]

i think it was christy who had a bad problem with dinos i cant say for sure but i remember hearing something of it so maybe she could help id it and treat it. anyways she linked some good links as well here they are:

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=21964&highlight=dinoflagellates

[Cal_stir]

i battled dino about a year ago, i thought it was cyano as it was a reddish purple colour, it was stringy in areas of low flow, the strings were full of bubbles, the bubbles were all over the place, every morning i thought it was gone and every night i was shaking my head, it was choking out my corals, i did lights out for 4 days, reduced flow, raised alk to 11dkh, no water changes, wet skimmed, changed socks daily, after lights out period i turkey basted the rocks and corals, vacuumed the substrate, resumed regular flow and water changes and it never came back, i now run a sulphur denitrator to keep my nitrates less than 1ppm, my nitrates were 25ppm prior to outbreak but read 0 during outbreak.
i battled the dino for about 2 weeks before i realized it was dino and at one point i was ready to give up because i didn't think i was going to beat it.

[MarkoD]

Thanks for the input guys.

This stuff isn't stringy at all. It looks like purple fuzz.

It does seem to go away at night tho.

And my nitrates have been at 0 all along for the past 6 months.

[Aquattro]

You should be able to blow cyano off with a turkey baster. It should peel off in little sheets. It will accumulate tiny air bubbles as well.
I've been getting quite a bit lately myself, and discovered A., my Tunzes were almost plugged and B., my bulbs were due for replacement. So far no cyano growth since remedying these two items. I'm only running partial lighting this week to acclimate, but so far I've got no more cyano....

[Beverly]

Hi Marko,

From what I could see of your tank the other night, you definitely have cyano. The overfeeding has put a lot of nutrients into your tank. Cyano has developed as a way of utilizing the extra nutrients. A turkey baster will blow the stuff off your corals, rock and sandbed, but you must be able to export it once it gets into your water column - either with serious skimming or by frequently cleaned mechanical filtration, or both. And, do several 25% water changes over the next few days to severely reduce the nutrients. HTH :)

[reefwars]

i think youll find marko, like i said it does happen to us all cyano is almost always caused by excess nutrients even if they dont show on your test its just that theres not enough in the water column to show on our crappy test kits(especially phosphates) and as the years go by theres bound to be some times where we arent as diligent in the husbandry part of the hobby even the most meticulous reefers cant keep everything perfect forever theres just too many variables to take in to consideration.

cyano wont dissappear over night and if you use things like red slime remover its only a bandaid fix, im sure i sould like a broken record lol but some elbow grease, water changes and replacing of media will help bigtime and with in a couple weeks you will notice everything go back to normal and then you have the fun pleasure of wondering when you can do it all again lol.

turkey baster is your best weapon, SUCK up cyano mats and blow off ditrius and hard to get cyano on rocks, followed by some old fashioned water changes.

you can reduce your photo period but if its a nutrient issue lighting will only help a bit.


youll find that doing just one of these things wont remedy it but doing them all will surely end up with positive results it just takes some patience.


like the other good reef saying goes " nothing happens fast in a reeftank but disaster"

cheers buddy im sure youll have it licked in no time:):)

[thanhjenn]

Has anyone tried coral snow. It works well for me. Take about a week with daily dosing.

[MarkoD]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll be working on it most of the weekend