What is this and how do i get rid of it?!?!

[RoTTen2TheCore]

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This stuff has been slowly taking over my tank for about a little more than a month now... i think its cyano but nothing seems to work. ive tried EM tablets. ive tried syphoning it out. weekly water changes. religiously cleaning my skimmer and reduce feeding and light. It just keeps comming back worse and worse each time. My nitrates are close to zero from all the water changes but i am using tap... i know i know RODI :P but its really not in my budget at the moment and i havent had a problem b4 but i think my water is pretty clean, i just need to check phosphates other than that the water is perfect. If it IS cyano should i try that antibiotic stuff that removes cyano..i forget what its called but ive heard ppl have used it and have never had a problem since

[BurntOutReefer]

Tap water is not perfect....thats your major problem......

[TekCat]

Antibiotics wont solve your problem. After you nuke cyano ... it'll come back, and keep coming back until you fix the root cause. So, prepare to see this stuff for a while until you start using RO/DI water, and fix leves of NO3 and PO4.

...syphoning it out helps but for a couple of days only, then it'll come back.

Once again:
- RO/DI
- vigorous skimming
- less feeding
- more flow
- phosban
- grannular activated carbon
- and of course siphoning

[RoTTen2TheCore]

hmmm would it be ok just to nuke it once or twice untill i can get my hands on an rodi? cause its getting to the point where it would take me hours to syphon it all. Btw is cyano harmful to a tank or is it just ugly?

[Shagsbeard]

It also can be just a phase your tank goes through. I had it almost that bad for about a month, but it's pretty much gone now, and I didn't do anything but scrape it off and suction it out.

[RoTTen2TheCore]

i would continue to do nothing but that but like i said it would take me hours :P well i could do it in a few mins with a larger hose but it would suck up quite a bit of my sand :P. So is that a no on the antibiotics? lol WHAT IM LAZY COMMON!!!

[Hattie B]

So is that a no on the antibiotics?

Antibotics will not do anything for it, its not a disease.

[RoTTen2TheCore]

its a bacteria :P

[bertoni]

Antibiotics likely will give a temporary reprieve, but they have been known to crash tanks. If you go that route, I'd suggest siphoning out all the slime you can, to reduce the decay in the water column. Also, keep some water on hand for changes.

Growing and harvesting a macroalga might help, too.

[RoTTen2TheCore]

hmm ok thank you :)