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View Full Version : Anything eat cyano?


skibum1681
12/30/2008, 05:14 PM
I have been fighting Cyano (red slime) for about a year. I used to have crushed coral for a substrate and over the past month or two i have removed it and replaced it with Fiji Pink sand. The cyano is on the rock work and a little on the glass and now its starting to show up on the new sand after about two weeks. I believe the main cause of cyano is high phosphates??? Are there any fish or snails that will eat the cyano or do a better job cleaning up the detrius to help lower the phosphate? I would like to get a lawnmower but if they are not the best for what i'm looking to accomplish i'm open for suggestions. My clean up crew is only 2 scarlet crabs right now.

Thanks.

BigH55
12/30/2008, 05:35 PM
You need alot more CUC and more flow. Also, use a powerhead to blow out the rocks especially where the cyano is. I had this problem really bad and I did that and sucked out as much as possible at water changes. Also, cut out the lights for three days and reduce feeding to every other day. I also added an ozonizer and all algae of all types disappeared in about three days. Check your bio load to that puffer is a messy eater and poops a lot. Your should have about 40 crabs of all types in there. Good Luck cyano is the biggest pain in the rear in this hobby.

Denbf58
12/30/2008, 05:36 PM
don't think there is any thing that eats cyano you can use phosban to lower phosphates have been use ro/di water what are your prams

BigH55
12/30/2008, 05:40 PM
There might be a snail out there that does but i cant remember the name of it and ive never seen one in the LFS's. If it was common everyone would orobably have them.

dogpound
12/30/2008, 05:51 PM
u can use red slime remover the sell it at most of the pest stores

BigH55
12/30/2008, 06:43 PM
That works but you still need to find the root of the problem or it will come back.

woodiecrafts
12/30/2008, 06:48 PM
A lawnmower Blenny will not do anything for your Cyano.

jenglish
12/30/2008, 07:05 PM
there are several CUC critters that are alleged to eat cyano but I don't know of anyone that has actually had any luck with them. Nutrient control and a buit more flow is likely the long term answer. Even adding more crabs will eat more poo but they still poo themselves. feed less, skim more, do more water changes.... you know that old chestnut!

Be careful with products to control cyano. It is a bacteria not an algae so some treatments may just be antibiotics which will harm your bebeficial bacteria

skibum1681
12/30/2008, 08:09 PM
I have used red slime remover in the past. it worked... temporarly. The feeding has been cut way back. I do not have a skimmer yet. i'm saving for an Octopus hang on back skimmer but i just lost my room mate so cash is very tight. The puffer is only 3" long he's one of the small ones. It seems like flow is very high already the fish cant hardly sit still and they get blown all over the place. lol. I think i have about 1400 gph of flow on a fish only 40g tank. Ive tried pointing the powerheads at the rock and all that did was move the cyano to other places. The skimmer is my top priority right now. I use RO/DI for all my top off and water changes.

My plan was to set my 75g up and tare my 40g down but im worried about putting a half ton fish tank in my second floor apartment, plus i'm planning on moving out in the next six months.

I am still open to suggestions. more crabs and snails are also on my list, That freakin valintini puffer eats them though. lol. He will be getting his own home after my 30g is cycled because he is also nipping my clown fish.

Thanks for the help so far.

jenglish
12/30/2008, 08:14 PM
a 3 day blackout can knock it back as well w/o chemicals. This is not just lights off but trying to block light from sides. At the end of this a very large WC (along the lines of 30-50%) will help remove the free nutrients that were previosly bound up in cyano

skibum1681
12/30/2008, 08:16 PM
Maybe i'll try that 3 days before my next water change which i'm about due for. Do you feed durring the black out?

Sk8r
12/30/2008, 08:20 PM
Cyano eats: light, co2, and water. It can adapt to thrive on other excesses in your tank, but the surest and safest thing you can deprive it of is light. 3 days of lights-out followed by 1 of actinic once a month, while skimming at your most efficient to get rid of the biomass.

Feed a little lightly, but fish will come out and eat, then go back to sleep. This condition is not unlike what happens in the wild during a bad few days of storm---like hurricanes.

skibum1681
12/30/2008, 08:25 PM
I only have a single bulb fixture with a 10,000k bulb in it. Can i skip the actinic or should i just get an actinic bulb for that one day? A light upgrade is after the skimmer. lol.

BigH55
12/31/2008, 04:48 PM
You can skip the actinic. Its not that big of a deal. The three days of darkness is the key. Also, when starting the photo period again taper it back up to the origianl length.

stricknine
12/31/2008, 05:37 PM
I am getting over it now, did the same drills, lower light to 10hrs a day, add powerheads, vac out what I could, etc., the last one I implimented was rinsing my food in rodi water. when you see all the "juice" that comes off frozen food in one feeding, you cam imagine what builds up over time- all in phosphates. That seemed to work for me, it is ALMOST non existant now. Dont forget the water changes too.

matt99eo
12/31/2008, 08:13 PM
I recently acquired a sea hare (sea slug) and it went to town on a medium patch of cyano I had growing. I watched him tear chunks off!

rrcg50
01/16/2009, 09:53 PM
pic of the sea hare

ZoaFan08
01/17/2009, 12:03 AM
How old are your lights? My tanks started getting nuisance algae but my bulbs were 9 months old, changed out the bulbs and algae went away.

tmz
01/17/2009, 01:14 AM
A Strombus gigas(queen conch ) will eat it.Some turbo snails like it.

Lights out will stress corals and simply leave the waning cyanobacteria and whatever nutrients it has collected or produced in the tank to feed the next batch.

While it needs only light, CO2 and water to live since it can absorb free nitrogen and produce organic nutrients from it ,it will thrive on organic phosphate and perhaps nitrate.
Keeping detritus buildup low by cleaning and flow and maximizing gas exchange with a bubbly skimmer and good surface agitation helps . A refugium with macroalgae such as chaetomorpha will also help reduce nutrients and consequently cyanobacteria. Using a phosphate binder such as granulated ferric oxide will also do the trick. Granulated activated carbon will also remove organic material. manually exporting the cyanobacteria is also a worthwhile effort, It can be easily sucked up with a turkey baster.

SkinnY T120
01/17/2009, 01:19 AM
i've personally witnessed a white sandsifting goby knock out that crap in a matter of a week. haven't seen it since and its been months.

tmz
01/17/2009, 01:41 AM
Yes, a sand sifting goby works on a finer sandbed. Won't do anything forth rocks though.

gerryd
01/17/2009, 11:34 AM
i had a similar problem and stopped using flake food and started using frozen food.... problem cleared up

reefworm
01/17/2009, 11:48 AM
agreed that the best course is to get to the source, but I've watched Florida ceriths actually run over and clear tiny patches of it [pretty sure it was cyano and not diatoms] Talk to John at http://reefcleaners.org for more input on that