Cyanobacteria: how to fix it. - Page 2

aquanooby · 05/18/2013, 07:40 PM

here is a full tank shot kinda hard to tell difference between the purple coraline and algae[IMG]

[/IMG]

REEFtards · 05/23/2013, 01:36 PM

For 20 bucks can't beat chemical clean

Typlus5 · 05/24/2013, 06:24 PM

Not sure of my success but the cyano disappearance started as I began dosing kalk. Alk and pH may have done it.

josegarcia89 · 05/25/2013, 12:13 AM

Hi guys I had a bad cyano outbreak not long ago. This is what I took away from my experience.
First you need to change the light bulbs.( do it every 8 months so that they don't produce any red spectrum, cyano loves that. Second skimmer not doing its job( making sure that its clean, the collection cup should have a nasty, fishy smelling like ice tea water.
The skimmer should be rated for 2 times the size of the tank.
Get some snails, do partial water changes of 20 %( once a week).
Get something that moves the sand( sand lifters starfish, diamond back gobby, etc)
NO Overfiding, reduce lights to 8 to 9 hours.
If you do what you should cyano will be gone, not completely it always stays in the tank but will not be visible.
No more cyano. Now Ick.

75 gallons Caribbean reef with several fishes and invertebrates.

TimeConsumer · 05/25/2013, 12:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by josegarcia89

do partial water changes of 20 %( once a week).

20% a week?!?! What is this, a freshwater planted discus tank?

20-30% a month is plenty sufficient for tanks that have skimmers or any other method of nutrient export. Don't get me wrong, you can never change too much water, but that is just downright expensive on most people's tanks. On my 75g alone that would be over $300/year in salt. If I had a 180g it would be $750/year. No thanks.

aquanooby · 05/25/2013, 07:49 PM

Hi guys thanks for the advice.
Skimmer finally broke in it is producing a very yummy cup full of goodness lol it is an octopus bh100 hob. My tank is a 36 gallon bow front.
I run a Fluval canister with nothing in it until now, I just added Phosban and Purigen to it.
I bought a full line of test kits and am now dosing the tank Im doing a higher than normal magnesium dose.
I am changing the water for the time being 30%
lastly I got a sand sifting goby his name is dozer he's a great worker.
I am happy to say in even just the last week the gha has diminished 30% and the cyano about 50%.
I am so addicted to this hobby it is sickening.
I had a great couple weeks at work and ended the pay period with quite a sizable sale , I'm an Hvac technician So I believe I see my self getting a new tank with overflow and sump refugium next week

skeeter_usaf · 05/29/2013, 09:16 AM

Your hooked now.

MLalex · 05/31/2013, 10:21 AM

and... UV remove ciano???

duganderson · 06/03/2013, 08:19 PM

Last night I treated my 28 g. nano mixed reef with ChemiClean. I DON'T have a skimmer but do have a small upflow algae scrubber. I had quite a bit of cyno that has been continuing to get worse for months despite 0.02 phosphate (Hanna) and 0.2 nitrate (salifert) or lower. I tried to suck as much out before the treatment but there was for sure still some in there.

Is there anything else I can do post treatment that would help in addition to the 20% water change at the end of day two (Carbon Rox, Phosban, additional water changes, siphoning up any remaining or dead cyno, etc.) OR is my upflow algae scrubber likely to be enough????

Hminor00 · 06/04/2013, 06:52 PM

as suggested by some others that gave me info make sure you have good flow, the one rock that it seemed to grow on now gets a good flow of water and its keeping it from growing on top of me adding that special blend of stinky stuff that stunk up my house for 2 days. both working together and i see very little cyno at all and hopefully it will be almost all gone in another couple days.

My question is when we clean the skimmer cup should we wash the dirty stuff off or leave the build up on the cup when we pour out the liquid.

Saltwater_Biker · 06/04/2013, 08:54 PM

wash it off

zaitmi · 06/14/2013, 01:16 AM

Last night I took out the 90% sand from my 20 gallon in a tumbler then i washed my sand 10 times with fresh water, but still water is slight yellow, so i will wash it again tonight. I also replaced my live rocks fresh water which was bleached a day before and i will replace it again and again till the bleach smell goes off.

G2theRam · 06/19/2013, 01:44 AM

Thanks

ahmer1781 · 07/03/2013, 12:26 PM

I tried the 3 days no lights, worked like a charm! tank looks like cyano was never there in the first place! thanks!

sergscar · 07/04/2013, 09:30 PM

Hi, good night.
Have tried the 3 days without any lighting, but the cyano didn't dissapeared 100%, just reduced to half.
Will try in a couple of weeks again, since I don't want to put in risk any of my corals.
Thanks.

wbrinker · 07/08/2013, 10:47 AM

Are there any other side effects from no lights for 3 days?

cbass488 · 07/12/2013, 11:53 AM

Is this cyano? The reddish coloring makes me leap to that conclusion, however I'm still very very new. It's got long 'strings' that move around in the flow.

wbrinker · 07/14/2013, 10:53 AM

Yes it is!

Hbohi · 07/18/2013, 02:17 PM

is there any slugs or snails or anything thing that will eat the cynobacteria?

immokalee98 · 07/19/2013, 08:54 AM

when I used GFO and biopellets, my nitrates and phospates were nonexistent. However, I recently removed the biopellets (they smelled horrible!) and just went with the GFO and I'm seeing a small cyano problem. Direct sun can't get to my tank in the basement and I run LED's. I do feed quite a bit though. I have some more biobellets on order and hopefully I can get my tank cleared again.

I also run a uv sterilizer. for some reason I thought this was supposed to help with that.

zaitmi · 07/22/2013, 05:01 AM

How about small doses of erythromycin for 5 days? i have read succes stories with them.

SCLEO1 · 07/24/2013, 08:45 AM

Im pretty sure Ive started a cycle of the cyano as well but I have a 14 day old tank. Think I should just let it cycle on through? I have nothing live in the tank, just the Araga-Alive sand and Base Rock. I posted in another section with tank info and pics here.

moe458 · 07/26/2013, 08:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hbohi

is there any slugs or snails or anything thing that will eat the cynobacteria?

Naa they don't eat that...could be due to light spectrum...

ninja66999 · 08/07/2013, 01:59 PM

have you tried an upflow algae skimmer? thats what i use and my tank is right in front of a window and no algae in the tank!

Griznock · 08/11/2013, 07:03 PM

my tank is aprox 60 days old now and im seeing cyno on the sand bed. i vacumed several times ..my mg was high so i did a water change and the cyno keeps coming back on my sand bed.

i also have what i assume is a diatom bloom going on.i have minimal flow on the substrate due to dusters and delicate stuff that would get blown away with added current.i never had a cycle period per-say due to the rock being cured already.

i have a kole tang,psudeochromus (spelling) 2 perc clown for fish.a small assortment of snails and bluelegs a serpent star thats aprox 18 inches across..hes huge

i also have some assorted soft corals,hammer,kenya trees,mushrooms,candycane pulsing zena,star polyps and a bubble tip

75 gallon drilled overflow
t5 lights,2 months old
skimmer rated 110 gallon tank
10 gallon sump
10 gallon fuge full of micro alge and pods

1400mg
470ca
9.8kh
phosphate=undetectable
nitrate=undetectable
nitrite=undetectable

now im not sure whats causing the cyno,no sunlight hitting the tank.
my question is if i do the lights out process for 3 days is there a chance of hurting any of my livestock?

the cyno is not real bad but i dont want it to get out of hand.

05/18/2013, 07:40 PM	#26
aquanooby Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: South Carolina Posts: 144	here is a full tank shot kinda hard to tell difference between the purple coraline and algae[IMG][/IMG]

05/24/2013, 06:24 PM	#28
Typlus5 Registered Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: Gonzales Louisiana Posts: 966	Not sure of my success but the cyano disappearance started as I began dosing kalk. Alk and pH may have done it. __________________ TY I'm sure there's a way...and I have the will Current Tank Info: 110 Reef Savvy rimless, 40B sump, Current EFlux Return, XR15 Pros w/Reef Link, BK Mini 180 skimmer, MP40wES...driven by Apex

05/29/2013, 09:16 AM	#32
skeeter_usaf Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Brandon, Fl Posts: 98	Your hooked now. __________________ 220 Mixed Reef, 60 gallon sump, Euro Reef Skimmer, Phosban Reactor, 250w Halides, LED's, wavemaker, ATO, RO/DI and much more. ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º> ·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><((((º>

06/04/2013, 08:54 PM	#36
Saltwater_Biker Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Bay Area Posts: 186	wash it off __________________ fox face, royal gramma, pair of Clowns, Cheato, candy cane, hammer, blasto, sun coral, plate coral, moon coral, BTA Current Tank Info: 75 gallon, 29 DIY sump, aquaticelife t5 6x54w, eshopps overflow 800, mag 9.5 return, brs gfo reactor, 2 evo 1050 and 1 evo 1500, koralia wavemaker, desklamp cfl 13w 6500k for refugium, aqua c ev 180 with mag 9.5, marinedepot refractometer

06/14/2013, 01:16 AM	#37
zaitmi Registered Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Kolkata, India Posts: 446	Last night I took out the 90% sand from my 20 gallon in a tumbler then i washed my sand 10 times with fresh water, but still water is slight yellow, so i will wash it again tonight. I also replaced my live rocks fresh water which was bleached a day before and i will replace it again and again till the bleach smell goes off. __________________ Current Tank Info : 10 Gallon Sumpless Tank, 3 "Live Sand Light kessil a80 Live Stock Info : 1 tomato clown

05/23/2013, 01:36 PM	#27
REEFtards Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 40	For 20 bucks can't beat chemical clean

05/25/2013, 12:13 AM	#29
josegarcia89 Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 1	Hi guys I had a bad cyano outbreak not long ago. This is what I took away from my experience. First you need to change the light bulbs.( do it every 8 months so that they don't produce any red spectrum, cyano loves that. Second skimmer not doing its job( making sure that its clean, the collection cup should have a nasty, fishy smelling like ice tea water. The skimmer should be rated for 2 times the size of the tank. Get some snails, do partial water changes of 20 %( once a week). Get something that moves the sand( sand lifters starfish, diamond back gobby, etc) NO Overfiding, reduce lights to 8 to 9 hours. If you do what you should cyano will be gone, not completely it always stays in the tank but will not be visible. No more cyano. Now Ick. 75 gallons Caribbean reef with several fishes and invertebrates.

05/25/2013, 07:49 PM	#31
aquanooby Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: South Carolina Posts: 144	Hi guys thanks for the advice. Skimmer finally broke in it is producing a very yummy cup full of goodness lol it is an octopus bh100 hob. My tank is a 36 gallon bow front. I run a Fluval canister with nothing in it until now, I just added Phosban and Purigen to it. I bought a full line of test kits and am now dosing the tank Im doing a higher than normal magnesium dose. I am changing the water for the time being 30% lastly I got a sand sifting goby his name is dozer he's a great worker. I am happy to say in even just the last week the gha has diminished 30% and the cyano about 50%. I am so addicted to this hobby it is sickening. I had a great couple weeks at work and ended the pay period with quite a sizable sale , I'm an Hvac technician So I believe I see my self getting a new tank with overflow and sump refugium next week

05/31/2013, 10:21 AM	#33
MLalex Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 27	and... UV remove ciano???

06/03/2013, 08:19 PM	#34
duganderson Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 569	Last night I treated my 28 g. nano mixed reef with ChemiClean. I DON'T have a skimmer but do have a small upflow algae scrubber. I had quite a bit of cyno that has been continuing to get worse for months despite 0.02 phosphate (Hanna) and 0.2 nitrate (salifert) or lower. I tried to suck as much out before the treatment but there was for sure still some in there. Is there anything else I can do post treatment that would help in addition to the 20% water change at the end of day two (Carbon Rox, Phosban, additional water changes, siphoning up any remaining or dead cyno, etc.) OR is my upflow algae scrubber likely to be enough????

06/04/2013, 06:52 PM	#35
Hminor00 Registered Member Join Date: May 2013 Location: Stafford Virginia Posts: 56	as suggested by some others that gave me info make sure you have good flow, the one rock that it seemed to grow on now gets a good flow of water and its keeping it from growing on top of me adding that special blend of stinky stuff that stunk up my house for 2 days. both working together and i see very little cyno at all and hopefully it will be almost all gone in another couple days. My question is when we clean the skimmer cup should we wash the dirty stuff off or leave the build up on the cup when we pour out the liquid.

06/19/2013, 01:44 AM	#38
G2theRam Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Beaverton OR Posts: 56	Thanks

07/03/2013, 12:26 PM	#39
ahmer1781 Registered Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Quincy, MA but work in Tewksbury, MA Posts: 71	I tried the 3 days no lights, worked like a charm! tank looks like cyano was never there in the first place! thanks! __________________ starting up a 90 gallon with a 30 gallon sump

07/04/2013, 09:30 PM	#40
sergscar Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Santos - SP - Brazil Posts: 9	Hi, good night. Have tried the 3 days without any lighting, but the cyano didn't dissapeared 100%, just reduced to half. Will try in a couple of weeks again, since I don't want to put in risk any of my corals. Thanks. __________________ [IMG]http://images.aquaticlog.com/aquarium/aquarium2420.png[/IMG] Current Tank Info: 2 x 0,50 x 0,50 Mts

07/08/2013, 10:47 AM	#41
wbrinker Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Illinois Posts: 49	Are there any other side effects from no lights for 3 days?

07/14/2013, 10:53 AM	#43
wbrinker Registered Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Illinois Posts: 49	Yes it is!

07/18/2013, 02:17 PM	#44
Hbohi Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2013 Location: Arizona Posts: 171	is there any slugs or snails or anything thing that will eat the cynobacteria?

07/19/2013, 08:54 AM	#45
immokalee98 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 54	when I used GFO and biopellets, my nitrates and phospates were nonexistent. However, I recently removed the biopellets (they smelled horrible!) and just went with the GFO and I'm seeing a small cyano problem. Direct sun can't get to my tank in the basement and I run LED's. I do feed quite a bit though. I have some more biobellets on order and hopefully I can get my tank cleared again. I also run a uv sterilizer. for some reason I thought this was supposed to help with that.

07/22/2013, 05:01 AM	#46
zaitmi Registered Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Kolkata, India Posts: 446	How about small doses of erythromycin for 5 days? i have read succes stories with them. __________________ Current Tank Info : 10 Gallon Sumpless Tank, 3 "Live Sand Light kessil a80 Live Stock Info : 1 tomato clown

07/24/2013, 08:45 AM	#47
SCLEO1 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Blythewood, SC Posts: 9	Im pretty sure Ive started a cycle of the cyano as well but I have a 14 day old tank. Think I should just let it cycle on through? I have nothing live in the tank, just the Araga-Alive sand and Base Rock. I posted in another section with tank info and pics here.

08/07/2013, 01:59 PM	#49
ninja66999 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: topeka ks Posts: 55	have you tried an upflow algae skimmer? thats what i use and my tank is right in front of a window and no algae in the tank!

08/11/2013, 07:03 PM	#50
Griznock Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Tulsa,Oklahoma Posts: 121	question my tank is aprox 60 days old now and im seeing cyno on the sand bed. i vacumed several times ..my mg was high so i did a water change and the cyno keeps coming back on my sand bed. i also have what i assume is a diatom bloom going on.i have minimal flow on the substrate due to dusters and delicate stuff that would get blown away with added current.i never had a cycle period per-say due to the rock being cured already. i have a kole tang,psudeochromus (spelling) 2 perc clown for fish.a small assortment of snails and bluelegs a serpent star thats aprox 18 inches across..hes huge i also have some assorted soft corals,hammer,kenya trees,mushrooms,candycane pulsing zena,star polyps and a bubble tip 75 gallon drilled overflow t5 lights,2 months old skimmer rated 110 gallon tank 10 gallon sump 10 gallon fuge full of micro alge and pods 1400mg 470ca 9.8kh phosphate=undetectable nitrate=undetectable nitrite=undetectable now im not sure whats causing the cyno,no sunlight hitting the tank. my question is if i do the lights out process for 3 days is there a chance of hurting any of my livestock? the cyno is not real bad but i dont want it to get out of hand.