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Unread 11/09/2010, 12:46 PM   #1
JoshuaG
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Cyano in new tank

My tank is going on two months old now, have been battling a pretty bad cyano issue for the past 3 weeks. I have zero fish in the tank, am not feeding anything. 20% water change every week, 0 TDS water, running GFO and still cannot kick the cyano out of the tank.

I used mostly dry Marco rock for the tank with a few pieces of live rock, I did nothing but a rinse on the marco rock. What is feeding the cyano? It's driving me crazy. I tried the no light for 2-3 days but the cyano I have seems to grow overnight and disappear in the day.

Anything else I can do before I resort to chemi-clean?

Tank is 125G, two MP40's with Ehiem 1262 return, SWC 160 skimmer.


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Unread 11/09/2010, 12:53 PM   #2
Sk8r
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Grow in the dark and vanish by day? That's weird, as in completely backward. You turn the lights out and it grows more? Have you photos of this stuff?


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Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low.

Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.
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Unread 11/09/2010, 12:56 PM   #3
JoshuaG
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Sk8r View Post
Grow in the dark and vanish by day? That's weird, as in completely backward. You turn the lights out and it grows more? Have you photos of this stuff?
Yeah, it is odd!. I have read of others having the same thing happen, so at least I'm not alone

I'll try and get pics later, it is for sure cyano tho.


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Unread 11/09/2010, 03:53 PM   #4
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That sounds more like a bacterial growth than cyanobacteria feeding photosynthetically. Chemi-Clean might help. If you could take a picture through a microscope, we might be able to id the pest.

I'd try siphoning out as much of the slime as is easy to get, maybe a minute or two every day for a week or so. That'll remove some nutrients from the system.


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Unread 11/09/2010, 06:54 PM   #5
JoshuaG
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Quote:
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That sounds more like a bacterial growth than cyanobacteria feeding photosynthetically. Chemi-Clean might help. If you could take a picture through a microscope, we might be able to id the pest.

I'd try siphoning out as much of the slime as is easy to get, maybe a minute or two every day for a week or so. That'll remove some nutrients from the system.
Yeah, I am sucking it as often as I can. Here is the best I can do pic wise, this is in my sump but it's spread throughout the tank as well. It's thin, long strands of dark maroon, then it also will cover the rock in a sheet type of look.








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Unread 11/09/2010, 06:57 PM   #6
bertoni
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The live rock or Marco rock must have had a fair amount of nutrients in it. That looks like cyanobacteria, so I'm surprised it grows better in the dark.


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Unread 11/09/2010, 06:59 PM   #7
JoshuaG
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The live rock or Marco rock must have had a fair amount of nutrients in it. That looks like cyanobacteria, so I'm surprised it grows better in the dark.
Any suggestions? It's a pain having to be in my tank everyday sucking this junk out


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Unread 11/10/2010, 12:54 AM   #8
polyp02
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I used the red slime remover but did not follow the instructions for doing the water change after the time period. I just left the water alone until I didn't see the cyano. Eventually it disappeared after two weeks then I did the water change. Also make sure you have good circulation. I have a 75gal with a 1050 Koralia and, Koralia 2 with a Seio 680 plus the return and arrange them as to not have any dead areas. You can test for dead areas by putting in fish food(brine) and see where and how it flows around the system it should all go to the overflow with almost nothing sitting on the sand or rocks.


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Unread 11/10/2010, 03:38 PM   #9
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If you get very desperate, you could try killing the rock and doing an acid bath to remove any nutrients.

I'd just work on the slime once a week, at this point. I would drop the water change schedule to 10% every other week. New salt can add nutrients (ammonia) to the system.

How much GFO is in the system and how often is it replaced?


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Unread 11/10/2010, 09:20 PM   #10
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Cyano isn't actually an algae. It's a bacteria. So wouldn't it be nonphotosynthetic? Also, when I started my tank, I didn't feed at all either, and the only thing I had was some green star polyps. I had the same thing, except it was green. It went away after a few weeks. I think that if your tank is so new, it's only to be expected that you will have some algae problems for a while.


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Unread 11/11/2010, 07:35 AM   #11
JoshuaG
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bertoni View Post
If you get very desperate, you could try killing the rock and doing an acid bath to remove any nutrients.

I'd just work on the slime once a week, at this point. I would drop the water change schedule to 10% every other week. New salt can add nutrients (ammonia) to the system.

How much GFO is in the system and how often is it replaced?
I picked up a Hanna pho tester, I'm going to test my RO water then also the water after it's been sitting in my holding barrels. Maybe they are leaching pho into the water.

I'm running about 1.5 cups of GFO, changing once a month.


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Unread 11/11/2010, 03:09 PM   #12
bertoni
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Cyano isn't actually an algae. It's a bacteria. So wouldn't it be nonphotosynthetic?
Cyanobacteria can perform photosynthesis, although they aren't algae. There are a lot of references on them, if you're interested in some reading.


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Unread 11/11/2010, 04:43 PM   #13
JoshuaG
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Got to try the Hanna pho tester today, pretty neat. Tank and barrel water show zero, tap water shows .06.

Can nitrates be feeding the cyano?


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Unread 11/11/2010, 05:01 PM   #14
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I've had excellent results with Boyds chemiclean after trying many other ways to avoid adding "chemicals". If the underlying (nutrient) problem is corrected this can be an excellent way of getting rid of cyno fast.


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Unread 11/11/2010, 05:29 PM   #15
bertoni
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The cyanobacteria will require nitrogen and phosphorus from the water column, most likely, although some can fix nitrogen from the air. Carbon is required for growth, too, but photosynthetic organisms can take that from the air. I'm not sure how this particular pest is feeding, though.


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Unread 11/22/2010, 11:25 AM   #16
coral_addict
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bertoni View Post
Cyanobacteria can perform photosynthesis, although they aren't algae. There are a lot of references on them, if you're interested in some reading.
Thanks for the info. I'll look into that.


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Unread 11/22/2010, 02:53 PM   #17
Bennytheblenny
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I successfully rid my tank of a huge cyano outbreak after it was first setup with Special Blend ($10 a bottle @ thatpetplace.com). In 5 weeks it completely cleaned it out with no harm done to corals or clams. In the past I have used Chemiclean and Red Slime remover, but with negative impacts to the tank. I will warn you though the product smells like raw sewage, but it is well worth it. The first 2 weeks it seemed as though the cyano was actually growing but by week 5 it was gone, and hasnt been back since.


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Unread 11/22/2010, 02:54 PM   #18
Bennytheblenny
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Duplicate.


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