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msduncan
08/19/2006, 09:32 AM
I'm battling this stuff. Kid at the LFS tried to sell me some of the antibiotic pills you treat bacteria infections with and told me to half dose the tank with it.

So I didn't go for it and decided to ask here first. I know it's been addressed before but the search never works for me. How can I get rid of this stuff? It's sliming my beautiful rocks and substrate.

Hendersonracing
08/19/2006, 09:36 AM
water changes do the best and add calcium...how old is the tank?

Andrew
08/19/2006, 09:39 AM
How large of a water change are you doing now? I would aim for around 10% a week. Also, how much flow do you have in the tank? When my old 36 reef started to get cynobateria like crazy, I just increases my flow and that worked.

rgaskins
08/19/2006, 10:13 AM
Might want to look into some more waterflow also...

ACBlinky
08/19/2006, 11:32 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7970329#post7970329 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by msduncan
I'm battling this stuff. Kid at the LFS tried to sell me some of the antibiotic pills you treat bacteria infections with and told me to half dose the tank with it.
Erythromycin (Maracyn, EM Tablets) will kill cyano, I've used it before with no ill effects on fish or coral. Try reducing phosphate (more important than reducing NO3 as cyano can fix atmospheric nitrogen), increasing flow etc. and use EM as a last resort if you need to.

Mikro
08/19/2006, 11:53 AM
I had it too. I siphoned out as much as I could and scrubbed the rocks. I used no chemicals.
I think it is all part of the cycling process.

Serioussnaps
08/19/2006, 01:59 PM
test your Nitrates and phosphates....this is the CAUSE....

maracyn will kill it(erythromycin) but wont cure the CAUSE just treat the symptoms

i KNOW you have high nitrate and phosphate levels....run a phosban reactor with phosban....chemipure.....large weekly water changes

also....increase your flow...cyano likes low flow....once again FLOW isnt the cause but low flow exacerbates it........also aged bulbs exacerbate it but likewise isnt a cause...

nitrates and phosphates are a cause...do you use RO/ DI you should......dont OVERFEED it is likely that you do...rinse off your food


ignore the post of the guy saying add calcium....CA is completely unrelated and that suggestion will do nothing


go test nitrates and phosphates.......they are high....once you get a test start a new thread on how to lower them and you will get in depth answers...

or you can dose maracyn like the LFS said everytime it comes around if you dont have corals and dont care about the micro life in your tank

The Reefer91
08/19/2006, 02:18 PM
Serioussnaps, don't take this personally, but your post almost seems to come off asa know it all. i'm sure you didn't intend it, but the whole I KNOW thing made it seem that way. because even if some of the listed things are causes, there are others.

some people use RO/DI, have a 0 Nitrate/phosphate reading, and have alot of flow, and yet still get cyano algae.

JMO

msduncan
08/19/2006, 02:22 PM
Thanks guys. I'm going to increase my water changes and add some flow and see what happens.

ACBlinky
08/19/2006, 02:36 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7971528#post7971528 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Serioussnaps
or you can dose maracyn like the LFS said everytime it comes around if you dont have corals and dont care about the micro life in your tank I had a cyano outbreak in my 65g ONCE, treated it with Maracyn after lowering PO4 & NO3 to zero, increasing flow and siphoning it out daily had no effect. Cyano is a bacteria, not an algae, and I think of it like an infection. Maracyn doesn't affect inverts, fish or corals and certainly didn't harm the 'micro life' in my tank or the beneficial bacteria. I treated at half strength for three days and haven't seen any sign of cyano since. I totally agree that if you can eradicate it through good husbandry and flow that's the way to go, but there's nothing wrong with using EM or chemi-clean if you have to. Continuing with good husbandry once the cyano is gone should keep it away for good.

JmLee
08/19/2006, 03:14 PM
You know, having battled with cyano on all my tanks, ive realised there are alot of misconceptions about treating cyanobacteria. First high flow has no effect on cyanobacteria, even though it " may " help... but from my experience ive had cyano growing on the outlets of my powerheads. I think the best rule to go by is to keep nutrients, silicates and phosphates low as possible, of course this rule works for battling any kind of nuisance alge. Let me give you a example. On my 29 gallon when i finally got rid of my cyano out break ( yes i used maracyn ) shortly after i had a out break of Brown algae, I believe this is due to the fact that the cyano was no longer there taking nutrients and phosphates and etc, so that gave the the brown aglae a chance to grow. Also syphoning cyano seems to help alot. I remember on my 60Gal, when i syphoned out the cyano on a regular basis along with water changes the cyano eventually went away. This was kind of random but i hope it helps haha. P.S ignore the mispelling and improper punctuation, i typed this post at work and im in a bit of a rush =P.

toonascott
08/19/2006, 04:23 PM
I find cyano is part of having a reef tank. Saying things like "0 phospates and 0 nitrates, blah blah blah" is a no brainer. You have to have excellent water quality no matter what you want from your aquarium.

Flow, ha!
Over Feading, ha!
Lighting, ha!
RO, ha!
Phosban, ha!
If you don't have any single solitary sign of cyano, congratulations, your my hero.

Ciarán
08/19/2006, 04:26 PM
CA is completely unrelated and that suggestion will do nothing

Not necessarily. It is indeed related to this even if only indirectly. Maintaining calcifying ions (notably Calcium, Alkalinity {as CO3 and HCO3} Magnesium and to an extent Strontium) in the correct ratios will encourage coralline algae to proliferate and help diminish the amount of substrata on which cyano can thrive. With less opportunity to proliferate, there will be less dissolved organic nutrients when they break down leading to an overall reduction in their presence. Not to mention that coralline is pleasing to the eye too.

JmLee
08/19/2006, 04:35 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7972066#post7972066 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by toonascott
I find cyano is part of having a reef tank. Saying things like "0 phospates and 0 nitrates, blah blah blah" is a no brainer. You have to have excellent water quality no matter what you want from your aquarium.

Flow, ha!
Over Feading, ha!
Lighting, ha!
RO, ha!
Phosban, ha!
If you don't have any single solitary sign of cyano, congratulations, your my hero.

after i got rid of it in my 60 gal reef it never came back. Not even a signle solitary sign of cyano. Guess im your hero... :lol:

toonascott
08/19/2006, 04:49 PM
well , Mr JmLee, you conquered the Cyano, you are my hero. Hahaha. Here is a pic of my little cyano farm, HELP!!!!

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y240/diabloscott/P1010008-1.jpg

phospates = 0
nitrates = 0
calcium = 440 ppm
alkalinity = (kh=110 ppm)
ph = 8.3
ammonia = 0
nitrites = 0
salinity = 1.024
temp = 79
Lighting = 12 hours 160w of T5
using kent reef carbon replaced monthly
10% water change each month, water is ro/salt from LFS

supplements = kent calcium, seachem buffer, Kent kalkwasser, Kent strontium/molybdenum, Kent coralvite

JmLee
08/19/2006, 06:24 PM
if its only growing on the substrate toonascott, i would try to get some sand sifting fish, maybe a Dragon goby?. I had a pair of oranged spotted gobies that did a great job, how ever i did have pretty fine arag substrate.

ACBlinky
08/19/2006, 06:53 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7972066#post7972066 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by toonascott
If you don't have any single solitary sign of cyano, congratulations, your my hero. No sign in either of my reefs. Once I treated the 65g with Maracyn it disappeared quickly and has never come back. It's never shown up in my 21g at all. IMHO cyano doesn't have to be part of keeping a reef tank. If all those things you listed didn't work, consider trying chemi-clean or EM.

neyugn0w01
08/19/2006, 09:14 PM
siphon it out is the best thing you can do. avoid adding any chemicals at all cost. do water changes if needed.

TWallace
08/19/2006, 09:32 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7971528#post7971528 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Serioussnaps
test your Nitrates and phosphates....this is the CAUSE....


I've had cyano in tanks in the past with 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates. My QT is currently experiencing a small cyano bloom with 0 nitrates/phosphates, as well. I used Chemi-clean in my main system when cyano was growing in the refugium (but never the main tank) and that got rid of it. I just added some to my QT yesterday and already the cyano is dying off.

Duchess
08/19/2006, 10:05 PM
msduncan, if you choose to use Chemi-Clean, be sure to drop a couple of airstones in the tank to maintain the oxygen levels.

I too am battling cyano. I physically removed it, did multiple WCs, and added two different phosphate-removing products plus a new bag of charcoal. I also am in the process of removing the bio balls from my sump -- they're almost all gone. Right now, the cyano problem has been reduced significantly. I don't know if any one step was more effective than the others.

Once I've constructed the sump I designed (a la Melev) and have it running (with a refugium), I'm hoping the cyano will take a permanent leave of absence and take the bubble algae with it.

Good luck!

toonascott
08/20/2006, 09:15 AM
on my way to the lfs to get some maracyn. Going to use 50% of what they recommend. I will keep y'all posted.

RichConley
08/20/2006, 10:10 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7971608#post7971608 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by The Reefer91
Serioussnaps, don't take this personally, but your post almost seems to come off asa know it all. i'm sure you didn't intend it, but the whole I KNOW thing made it seem that way. because even if some of the listed things are causes, there are others.

some people use RO/DI, have a 0 Nitrate/phosphate reading, and have alot of flow, and yet still get cyano algae.

JMO

All of it was true though.

'If the kid has cyano, he has high localized nitrates and phosphates. Theres no arguing that.

RichConley
08/20/2006, 10:12 AM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7973459#post7973459 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TWallace
I've had cyano in tanks in the past with 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates. My QT is currently experiencing a small cyano bloom with 0 nitrates/phosphates, as well. I used Chemi-clean in my main system when cyano was growing in the refugium (but never the main tank) and that got rid of it. I just added some to my QT yesterday and already the cyano is dying off.

Its not system nitrates, its localized nitrates.

IE where things are settling. The reason you dont have testable nitrates is because the CYANO is using them


drug cures are bad. When you kill that cyano off, its going to release everything its been eating. Do you want that>?

toonascott
08/20/2006, 10:32 AM
on second thought, I am not going to use drugs. I just had a flash back to 10 years ago. I tried medications to remedy ich and frigged up my tank really bad.

I think I am beginning to understand the "localized nitrates and phosphates" that some of you have mentioned. I syphoned off water from the cyano at bottom of tank, guess what... nitrates and phosphates where detectable.

So this also helps make sense of the "increase flow" debate. More flow means you disrupt the "localized nitrates and phosphates"

I am going to think about people's advice before opening my big yap. Hahahahaha