Living with Cyano

[brad65ford]

I know I'm not the only one but this is getting frustrating. I've had a bad strain of cyano now for a few months and no matter what i have done I can not get rid of the stuff.

Anyone out there just living with it like myself?

[am3gross]

I have it... Been with me for about a month.. I am currently trying the lights out method to see if that works. What have u tried to get rid of it?

[brad65ford]

Your not alone I thought bryopsis was a profanity removed to get rid of.. Just do a search and you will see tons of threads and not one definitive answer. One thing I found to be true with reefing is nothing is easy and quick. When I read "all I did was dose red slime or chemiclean and it was all gone" I think to myself how the hell do they do it when it didn't work for me?

Lights out for 2 full days twice. ChemiClean, manual removal every day 3 to 4 times, GFO/GAC reactors, BB cleanestm kept tank/sump you can image, weekly 10-20 percent water changes, lowered the amount of light duration to 6 1/2 hours a day.

Mine all started with two different problems caused by me. I left the lights on for 24 hours and the other was a CCU that had flat worms, i then treated with FlatWormExit (which I believe killed my good bacteria). I believe both trigger the strain, its as if there is not enough good bacteria left in the tank. I've thought about dosing good bacteria but I don't know anything about that its just and idea at this point.

What is really odd is the corals are doing weel but have lost a lot of color.

I'm down for any suggestions.

[agruetz]

Originally Posted by brad65ford

What is really odd is the corals are doing weel but have lost a lot of color.

Ok I have Cyano with the same color loss in my coral's, the color loss seems to be unrelated, I started dosing some other trace elements as part of the red sea coral color program and my coral's have responded amazingly well. As for the Cyano, I have all but given up on that. I have lights out for 3 days, Cyano Solution, Red Slime Remove...I thought I almost had it this last time, but it came back 4 days later. My nitrates were zero before I dos'ed the Cyano Solution and Red Slime phosphates are 0 and even at "high" .08 sometimes before the weekly water change. I am with you any suggestions welcome. I have resorted to manual removal a few times a week.

[brad65ford]

Seems to be a bacterial issue the cyano is fighting or battling with the lack of good (better) bacteria. But what the hell do I know., this one sucks.

[Ostara]

I have it in one of my tanks right now because the dry rock that I used is leaching phosphates into the water. I could have used Chemiclean whenever it got too unsightly, since it does work well, but the salt creep caused by the air pumps you have to use when dosing it is more of a headache to me than the cyano itself. I've just left it alone, doing my normal water changes, and in the last week it has finally shown signs of retreat. It's not hurting anything other than my eyes so I figured I'd just live with it. Heck, my Rainford goby eats the stuff.

[MadOTC]

Lights out for 2 days, and a couple large water changes took care of it for me. Obviously results will vary.

[HeavyWater]

Cyano can be frustrating to knock out. Just to followup on some of the things that other people have suggested: 48 hour light out periods, red slime remover, and nitrate controll are all effective at pushing it back.

I find that phosphates REALLY fuel the Cyano's growth... testing the system's phosphate levels can be deceptive because the Cayno is absorbing it so quickly (you will often get a low phosphate reading). I would suggest testing your RODI water before you put it in your system and see what the phosphates are reading there. For me, a cyano outbreak often is a tell tell sign that my RODI filters need to be replaced.

Flow also kills Cyano, and I find that it tends to grow in the "low flow" areas of the tank. If you notice it one spot, buy a cheap power head and direct the flow right on where the Cyano is spreading.... this will help kill it.

[RA]

I was having problems with cyano also. I added a reactor with GFO and it helped a lot.

[strout]

I am fairly new to saltwater tanks, means I don't know a lot I had this problem in my tank and seemed to have won the battle, it took awhile though. I changed my bulbs on the MH lights, well I got LEDs instead of buying new bulbs for the MH lights. I increased the amount of flow in the display tank by adding a MP40 I added a small power head to the sump. I also replaced my GFO more often. When doing my bi monthly water changes, I got a tooth brush and scrubbed all the live rock, then used my suction hose to get as much out of the tank as I could. The weeks in between my water changes, I put a filter sock on my drain line, I take a small pump with a hose on it, put the pump in the tank and blow off all the live rock and get any of the gunk out of the tank. I also decreased the amount of food I was feeding the fish, am sure I was over feeding the tank. I don't know if any of these steps were not needed, but it seemed to take care of my problems, the down side, I am sure it did a number on my pods, and my zoa growth slowed down.

[Mr. Demeanor]

Last summer my tank crashed do to electricity leaking into my tank and killing my fish. I have a 125L fish only that had about 6 fish. I had never had any cyano.
The tank sat empty except for a few inverts (crabs, shrimp, etc) and we continued to feed the tank. Plans were to replace the tank at this time due to its age but it was a project in line behind a bathroom and patio remodel.
We had a bad outbreak of cyano probably due to a loss of good bacteria and neglect.
I tried the typical lights out, reduced feedings, etc. Nothing worked even slightly. I had two types of cyano. The dark red stringy stuff in the sand but much worse was the bright red that covered everything else. It looked very much like a bright red coraline which is what I thought is was at first until I found that I could wipe it off easily.
Currently my tank parameters are poor. My nitrates are very high despite multiple large water changes but since I now have a new tank sitting here, I am not too concerned. I decided at this time I might as well try Chemi-Clean since I really have nothing to lose.
The first dose had good results on the sand but the stuff on the rocks was only partially removed. I followed immediately with a second dose a little stronger and that seems to have knocked out the rest.
I did a thread with pics and my results if you want to take a look. Will it come back? Probably since my water quality sucks. I have a 3" sandbed and have since learned that is probably at least part of my problem. There will be some big changes to the new tank setup. I will probably dose again right before making the switch just for good measure.

Heres the thread with the pics. Almost ironic that some said the cyano was coraline as thats what I originally thought.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=2146889

[Reefmedic79]

I find that aside from phosphate and low flow areas the age of your bulbs will also effect it's growth. Running on the low Kelvin are which is what happens to old bulbs will cause a bloom.

[Reefing Newbie]

To get rid of it, first have a really good skimmer; then turn the lights out on your tank 3 days a month (1 day of actinic only, if you have MH lighting---or highend LED; total of 4 days.) It won't hurt your reef. But it will kill this stuff, which has only 3 life requirements: water, carbon, and sunlight. Sunlight is all you can rob it of safely. Since it is also the origin of chloroplasts in all living green plants, forget trying to avoid it getting into your tank---just deal with it as it shows up. And avoid having slanted sunlight hitting your tank: this stuff had its heyday in the era of the Permian Extinction, when weird-spectrum sunlight was getting through the clouds. It loves that situation. Keep sunlight from your tank in all seasons, or expect to have a little of this show up. Do NOT use Red Slime remedy as a beginner: that rides beginner's luck to the max, and you can can crash your tank with it if you make a mistake or if your skimmer isn't what it ought to be. A cyano outbreak is soooo minor, and does no real harm, bad as it looks: don't panic. Take the long route, and you'll beat it within a few months. [ed---Sk8r> I was asleep when I wrote that: I said 'oxygen' and meant 'carbon.'].

That is from Sk8r's blogs. Now on to the issue of nutrients. Lowering nutrients will not help get rid of cyano. In my little bit of searching on Google I found that cyano has a symbiotic relationship with a diazotroph. The diazotroph does nitrogen fixation which is breaking the nitrogen in the air and water from N2 into other forms like ammonia NH3. Your tank will turn this into nitrite then nitrate. This process is essential for life forms to form the essential building blocks of their cells like DNA, RNA, amino acids, and nucleotoids. I have not read about it using phosphates or nitrates the way algae does. Keep in mind that this is a photosynthisizing (sp?) bacteria not algae.

[Na-H2O]

I had the same problem. My tank was overwhelmed with cyano for 5 months. countless water changes, less feeding, and less light did not help at all.
I didnt want to go the route of adding additives so I was researching and researching.

After 5 months this is what I did and it helped alot.

I cleaned my sump and rearranged it completley. I added two Aqua Medic Carbolitreactor. One full of carbon and the other a mixture of GFO and these white pellets, ammonia reducer, and I inserted one bag of chemiclean in between the baffles for maximum exposure.

Here are two photos of before and after. The one that has cyano on it even though it doesnt seem much that was 2 hours I did a water change and sucked it all out..

And the other photo is of my tank now.

[Na-H2O]

one to the left is of the tank now and the one to the right is of the tank before.
did I forget how much it smelled?

[BigCountry74]

x2 its all about the light and water flow.

i run LEDs on my DT, no cyno.

i run cheap fluorescents in my fuge. it grows on the 2 small pieces of live rock in there.

[BongoSolo3]

When you guys go 3 days of lights out, do you still feed your fish? I might give this a whirl...

[Sk8r]

They'll be happy to come out and eat, then go back into their hiding-spots. It mimics the effects of storm over a reef: it's actually coral-friendly---but!!!!!!!!!!!!! if you have MH or LEDs give it a 4th day of low-light only to let the corals wake up naturally.

Also, remember your skimmer is part of this technique, so have it running well; and it may take several months of this monthly discouragement before it goes away---but patience will get it.

[sponger0]

Is it like living with a girlfriend? Lol...or wife.....

I dealt with it for months when I first started a tank. And bad. In 3 days my rock was covered in it. Never could get a reading on Phosphates even with a Hanna Checker. Flow was good if not a little too high.

I had battled it by syphoning it out of the tank when I did my weekly water changes and now its gone. No trace of it.

Ive read that lights out works 50/50. And if you do that you would still feed the fish. As someone described, even you think of the ocean, there are times when it storms and the sun wont shine on the ocean for days. So just compare it to that.

[brad65ford]

Mine seems like its an bacterial infection that seems to be fueled by softy coral excretion skin and also sticks on byropsis

[shiladitya1991]

Well the best way to remove cyano is to start Carbon dosing..Use GFO & GAC with weekly 10% W/C..

[brad65ford]

Well I ripped down and completely cleaned the refug thinking any possible detritus was helping fuel the cyano. Guess that wasn't the answer either, though the sps seemed to like the newer fresher refug.

What I just don't understand is how the display (bb) has cyano/slime and the refug does not. So with this thinking I started moving my zoa's (which get covered every day with the slime) to the refug. Amazingly zoa get no slime when they are in there.

So what I have learned is cyano bacteria is freaking hard as hell to get rid of regardless how much nutrients your remove including GFO and GAC (been there done that) and keeping a super clean tank.

I've spend tons of hours reading and searching the net with only one strange finding. I've read other having similar issues with cyano choicing its place in one side of the system (display/refug). Most everyones is in the refug which I wish mine was in.

The slim is hurting some of the sps's but mostly all the softies. I'm also wondering if the cyano is also helping remove nutrients since some of the sps's are really doing well.

Thanks again guys for listening.

[captcha]

Originally Posted by HeavyWater

Cyano can be frustrating to knock out. Just to followup on some of the things that other people have suggested: 48 hour light out periods, red slime remover, and nitrate controll are all effective at pushing it back.

I find that phosphates REALLY fuel the Cyano's growth... testing the system's phosphate levels can be deceptive because the Cayno is absorbing it so quickly (you will often get a low phosphate reading). I would suggest testing your RODI water before you put it in your system and see what the phosphates are reading there. For me, a cyano outbreak often is a tell tell sign that my RODI filters need to be replaced.

Flow also kills Cyano, and I find that it tends to grow in the "low flow" areas of the tank. If you notice it one spot, buy a cheap power head and direct the flow right on where the Cyano is spreading.... this will help kill it.

does corals can tolerate that after 48 blackout ?
and how abaut macro algae in the sump ?

[Reefin' Dude]

remove the detritus and it will remove the food source of the cyano. whether it is nitrogenous or phosphate compounds.

G~

[kissman]

You are not alone, i have doubled my gfo, gac, bigger better skimmer, 3 day black out, its better but not gone started vinegar dosing last night