cyano eaters

[meisel1]

I keep having a bit of a cyano bacteria problem{green and red}Its not out of control but it is unsightly.I feed my fish twice a day,a pinch of flake and half a cube frozine brine shrimp and my sps and mushrooms rotifers and phytoplankton every 3 days 1/2 cup. My lights are on 9hrs{260w pc}.water params are ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 15ppm calcium 440ppm ph 8.3 temp 79.5F. I would really like to know if there are any critters that eat cyano exclusively, any help would be welcome....cheers....

[DgenR8]

If the area it grows in is small, try pointing a little more water flow in that area, it should clear up quickly.

[Avi]

I also think that upping the flow in your reef may help. But I see that you have a 2-inch bed of aragonite in your reef, which is what I had that caused consistently high nitrates. I finally got it all out of my established reef and the nitrates were very favorably effected when I did that, though it was a bit of an effort to get it out without disturbing the live rock in the tank. Still, the nitrates may very well be supporting the cyano growth in your tank and reducing that may end the cyano problem.

[meisel1]

Avi...did you remove all of your substrate or only some? Also the cyano only shows up in the front of the tank but not inside the cave rock work.

[sgarrett1108]

if your lights are old replace the bulbs. I did that and cyano went away!!

[Avi]

It wasn't very easy to get rid of all the substrate, meisel. But I did get rid of about 95% of it. It's obviously easier in front of the tank. I had to really reach into the other areas with my hands, and in some places I used a turkey baster to blow it in a direction that would make it easier to get to for removal. The fact that the cyano is only growing at the front of the tank is probably because the light is more usable for it there. The problem is that the nutrients emanating from every part of the substrate contribute to its growth which is supported by lighting and nutrients (ie. nitrates.)