Cyanocobacteria

[hcakebox]

What is the best method to get Reed of this bacteria?

[Sapelo]

It's usually a multi pronged approach.
Check nutrient levels and decrease feeding if necessary.
Checking lights and replace old or outdated bulbs.
Increase flow to trouble spots.

Followed by:
3 days of lights out can be helpful.
Running an appropriate amount of gfo can be helpful.
Vacuuming off as much of the cyano as possible during water changes helps.
There are some products on the market that can be added to the tank but care should be taken in all such cases.

Usually cyano is the result of a new and or cycling tank and goes away in time with proper tank maintenance.

There is a lot of information additionally if you use the search button at the top of the page.

Good luck.

[geekengineer]

any idea what cyano problem would look like in a tank? I have cloudy water for instance, but it doesn't seem to look green or anything more whitish.

[Sapelo]

Cyano does not usually bring on cloudy water, it's most often a red or reddish slim that grows on sand and or rock.

[Mr.Tan]

how new is the tank?. Normally cyano doesnt cause a tank to be cloudy, its just a noticeably red slime that starts covering your rocks and sand.

[outy]

What is the best method to get Reed of this bacteria?

Chemi clean


Followed by large water changes

[Newstead]

I had it in a 29 at about the 4 month mark. Tried lights out (but didn't cover tank, so ambient light), siphoning, etc. I had a pack of Algone I had bought several years before and never ysed, so I threw a pack into the filter area. To my surprise, by the 5th day the cyano was gone. Just a bit of brownish dust left behind on the sand. 6 months later the cyano has never returned. JME.

[hotelbravo]

i personally would never use a product like chemiclean. it is not prejudice against just the bad bacteria it also kills good bacteria. ive had a few cyano outbreaks and what solved it for me was increasing the flow in the tank and lowering the hours the lights stay on.

[SoloGarth]

i personally would never use a product like chemiclean. it is not prejudice against just the bad bacteria it also kills good bacteria. ive had a few cyano outbreaks and what solved it for me was increasing the flow in the tank and lowering the hours the lights stay on.


Agreed. Fix the problem. Chemiclean only addresses the symptom. It can be useful though in certain cases. I have used it to wipe out cyano that was caused by carbon dosing. But before using chemiclean the tank parameters must be in check.

[Reeferside]

I changed my DI resin and it got rid of it for me :D

[entropygain]

Better flow and carbon dosing.
Some people like vodka, but I prefer a touch of sugar daily let the other bacteria out-compete the cyano and get pulled away in the skimmer.

[Jone]

Check your RO/DI filters to make sure their good,,control nutrient issues,,,lower PO4 and NO3..

[outy]

i personally would never use a product like chemiclean. it is not prejudice against just the bad bacteria it also kills good bacteria. ive had a few cyano outbreaks and what solved it for me was increasing the flow in the tank and lowering the hours the lights stay on.

It does not kill any good bacteria that I have been able to tell for 25 years of use off and on as needed.

I have never lost anything to the use of this product.


I already have good flow and I lower light times also lowers growth. I don't do that. That is more a patch then fix

[outy]

Chemiclean only addresses the symptom. It can be useful though in certain cases. I have used it to wipe out cyano that was caused by carbon dosing. But before using chemiclean the tank parameters must be in check.


That's right. Its not the end all nor the only method responsible for fixing the issue.

It does more then address the symptom, it oxidizes organics before they can be used as food


When one follows up with large water changes one usually corrects the issue.



Like you if I use any carbon at all I will get it, no matter how good my water may be.

[outy]

Better flow and carbon dosing.
Some people like vodka, but I prefer a touch of sugar daily let the other bacteria out-compete the cyano and get pulled away in the skimmer.

Your method often induces an outbreak before helping.

[outy]

I had it in a 29 at about the 4 month mark. .


New tanks should be treated differently then aged tanks.


Often on a new tank large water changes help better then any medication.

[slief]

It does not kill any good bacteria that I have been able to tell for 25 years of use off and on as needed.

I have never lost anything to the use of this product.


I already have good flow and I lower light times also lowers growth. I don't do that. That is more a patch then fix

Unfortunately, Chemiclean's active ingredient is an antibiotic and like pretty much all other red slime removers, it uses erythromycin contrary to what the label on the packaging leads you to believe. The label states it doesn't contain Erythromycin "Succinate" however, what they don't tell you s that there are many other forms of erythromycin. Chemiclean was banned in parts of Europe due to test results showing erythromycin which is in fact an antibiotic and also impacts beneficial bacteria such as denitrifying bacteria.As I said, there are many forms of erythromycin such as Erythromycin Sulfate, Erythromycin Estolate, Erythromycin Stearate, Erythromycin Ethylsuccinate, Erythromycin Ethylsuccinate, and others. Chemiclean just doesn't contain erythromycin succinate. Instead, from what I understand, it contains Erythromycin Sulfate.

In my experience, there are better ways to combat cyano and I always suggest avoiding red slime removers of any kind. Increased flow in the effected areas coupled with improved husbandry (regular vacuuming of the sand and blasting the rocks with a power head) are the main ways along with improved water quality. A good properly setup UV sterilizer will go a long way in eliminating cyanobacteria from the water column which will help halt it's spread but if the flow and husbandry isn't addressed, anything else is nothing more than a bandaid and likely an effort in futility.

[outy]

Unfortunately, Chemiclean's active ingredient is an antibiotic and like pretty much all other red slime removers, it uses erythromycin contrary to what the label on the packaging leads you to believe. The label states it doesn't contain Erythromycin "Succinate" however, what they don't tell you s that there are many other forms of erythromycin. Chemiclean was banned in parts of Europe due to test results showing erythromycin which is in fact an antibiotic and also impacts beneficial bacteria such as denitrifying bacteria.As I said, there are many forms of erythromycin such as Erythromycin Sulfate, Erythromycin Estolate, Erythromycin Stearate, Erythromycin Ethylsuccinate, Erythromycin Ethylsuccinate, and others. Chemiclean just doesn't contain erythromycin succinate. Instead, from what I understand, it contains Erythromycin Sulfate.

In my experience, there are better ways to combat cyano and I always suggest avoiding red slime removers of any kind. Increased flow in the effected areas coupled with improved husbandry (regular vacuuming of the sand and blasting the rocks with a power head) are the main ways along with improved water quality. A good properly setup UV sterilizer will go a long way in eliminating cyanobacteria from the water column which will help halt it's spread but if the flow and husbandry isn't addressed, anything else is nothing more than a bandaid and likely an effort in futility.


I use it every 2-5 years when my maintenance slides, and even if it does kill some bacteria, the instant results have been beneficial. It has never stunted growth either

It is a patch, and one should not let his water get to the point of needing it, but if so I have found no harm what so ever.

Forces me to do the large water changes I should have done in the first place


For me I always have excellent water flow and I really cant add anymore without digging up the sandbed that has not calcified, so its not an option.


Everyone once in a while in a blue moon so to speak when water is perfect, ill get a tinge of it, and its nice to dose once, and have it gone in a day or two.

[CoralBeauty13]

Agreed. Fix the problem. Chemiclean only addresses the symptom. It can be useful though in certain cases. I have used it to wipe out cyano that was caused by carbon dosing. But before using chemiclean the tank parameters must be in check.

Would you please explain about the carbon dosing and Cyano ? I have seen a huge increase in the cano after dosing carbon for cleaner water.

[SoloGarth]

Would you please explain about the carbon dosing and Cyano ? I have seen a huge increase in the cano after dosing carbon for cleaner water.


This is a complex issue and I am not an expert. I believe it is caused by the carbon source somehow feeding the cyano directly. Either way when starting carbon dosing people have been known to have bad cyano outbreaks that won't go away. When this happened to me I worked hard to remove it manually. Due to the carbon dosing the tank was very low in nutrients but the cyano persisted. So I dosed chemiclean. It wiped out the cyano and it has never returned. It has been probably 4 years now since dosing chemiclean. When I used it it was on a tank full of SPS and it had no detrimental effects that were noticeable.

[CoralBeauty13]

Thank you sologarth

[SoloGarth]

No problem

[AT]

I had an outbreak 2 weeks ago dosed it last weekend and it worked the water was cloudy for a day .I have used chemi clean several times over the years and never had a problem other than you need to change way more water than they suggest which is 20% more like 100% until skimmer works right. This time a tiny maxima clam died but that was just the straw that broke the camels back. He never really was in great shape