Algae control question from not so newbie newbie

oldmanofthesea

oldmanofthesea

New member
I have a perplexing issue with what appears to be cyano (although i am not totally certain) in my tank. Let me provide my specs then continue:

42 gal open top cube (9 mos old)
Varios s2 pump
RO classic 110 internal skimmer
Aquamedic ecodrift 8.0 wavemaker
AI Prime HD
2in sand bed
25 lb live rock
melanarus wrasse
blood shrimp
percula
4 nasarrius
various lps/zoa/rhodactis frags.

My levels are great:
0 phosphates
0 nitrates
ph 8.1
no direct sunlight

My issue is this: I continually get reappearing algae on my sandbed and cannot find the cause of the issue. I feed corals and fish minimally. 3 times a week usually. Corals get spot fed coral frenzy pellets and pinch of reef roids. Fish get small chunk (1/2 dime size) of Rods frozen. I have tried a lights off approach for 3 days which knocked it down maybe 50% but came back same day. I have tried siphoning of sandbed. Did this again last night during "dusk" in my tank, but came back today before tank lights came on.

I am not completely new to reefkeeping however i am new to smaller tanks and protein skimming. I ran a 140 gal with 20 gal fuge/macro for 9 years (10 years ago) but never had that much issue with algae. Thats why this is so maddening.

My flow seems great. almost too much IMO at times
My numbers seem great and stay stable
I do not IMO overfeed
I use my own RO/DI and maintain filters regularly.

I am thrilled to be back in the hobby again after a long hiatus.
Any comment or info would be much appreciated:thumbsup:
 
cyano is fairly unrelated to phosphate ---its necessities are carbon, light, and water; it usually appears as a red stain or threads under white lighting---your light may be different. Removing it is generally different than removing other algae.
 
Here is pic. Siphoned this area last night. this is what returns on most of the sandbed
 

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You are fighting the same thing I am... first the red...I thought I had it beat.. then I got a greenish brown snot cyano.. now the red is popping back up.. so I am following for some advice as well

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I feel pretty comfortable it is cyano. But it just does not make sense. My bio load is minimal. I do not over feed. I have read to disrupt sandbed frequently to allow gas release which i and my nasarius do. i change 5 gal/wk of my water. going to try a wetter skim and see how that goes. simply puzzling
 
I'm in the same boat as you...
Very small bio load
90 DT
49 fuge butt load of cheato (soon to have some dragons tounge and breath this week
250+lbs rock
2 small osc. Clowns
Small scopas tang
Scooter blenny
6 zoa frags
Frogspawn
Some hidden cup corals
2 shroom leathers
Disc. Mushroom frag
Xenia and GSP
A 3 inch Rbta
And a pretty big LTA
Dozens of hermits and astrea snails and a few stomolla snails
And a pincushion

Almost forgot. 6 or 7 emerald crabs as well

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If I ever use carbon, I get the cyano. Weird chemistry in the water. I have been using chemiclean for decades without issue. Not everyone likes it here but its never harmed my tank and gets rid of the cyano.

Generally, now its a sign my water quality has slipped. Chemiclean stops it but it is a bandaid to the real problem for me.
 
Only thing short of chemical treatments(chemiclean) that worked for me was to increase the flow on my sandbed. Placed a powerhead low on the glass so it blows over the sandbed, and cynao is a thing of the past in my tank.

I have read numerous times it's often caused by an imbalance of NO3 and PO4, resulting from carbon dosing, but that is anecdotal at best.
 
oldmanofthesea said:
Here is pic. Siphoned this area last night. this is what returns on most of the sandbed
Click to expand...

Cyano. If you let it go for a day or two it will begin to get very stringy. It can appear red, brown, almost black, etc.

I've had it twice. Both times I knocked it out quickly with Chemiclean. I'll second that it's a chemical, obviously, but never experienced a negative side effect to coral, fish, or water.

To successfully combat without a product can be very difficult and lengthy. Black outs, increased flow, several large WC's, and constant manual removal have been said to work.

IMO rather than option two (and taking several weeks or months) I'd go with option one.
 
I don't think anyone has a solid/definitive understanding of cyano and why specifically it appears in our tanks... It seems that numerous issues could cause it and it seems to either come and eventually go or just come and not want to leave..

Good luck..
I have used both red slime remover and lately chemiclean with great results...

Cyano for me seems to be seasonal coming in the late summer/early fall...
This years round came and was conquered by chemiclean (my wife made me do it :) )... I'll likely see it again next October or so..
 
Last edited:
mcgyvr said:
I don't think anyone has a solid/definitive understanding of cyano and why specifically it appears in our tanks... It seems that numerous issues could cause it and it seems to either come and eventually go or just come and not want to leave..

Good luck..
I have used both red slime remover and lately chemiclean with great results...

Cyano for me seems to be seasonal coming in the late summer/early spring...
This years round came and was conquered by chemiclean (my wife made me do it :) )... I'll likely see it again next October or so..
Click to expand...

Back to back spring for me. Wonder if I'll see it this coming spring....:worried2:
 
I'll tell you what ALWAYS works for me. In the 4 tanks I've had in my time as a reef keeper, I use Red Slime Remover. Not Chemiclean, but Red Slime Remover. I add an air stone for a couple days, usually hit it with the max dose and the cyano goes away. BTW, from what I have experienced even indirect sunlight tends to fuel cyano.
 
What is your source water?
Tap water is famous for cyno!
Soon after bringing my TDS to 0, cyano gone and never returned.
 
my ro is 0 tds. so shouldnt be that. I think i am leaning towards the chemiclean and then hold fast to levels to try and prevent it. so frustrating
 
I just ordered chemiclean as well... my fuge is getting it bad .and in my display I syphon it out every other day. And change that amount of water as well. Yet the next day.. the same spots have it.. I set my system up last winter.. never seen a spot of cyano till now... Maybe it is a seasonal thing like mentioned above. Damn snot

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oldmanofthesea said:
my ro is 0 tds. so shouldnt be that. I think i am leaning towards the chemiclean and then hold fast to levels to try and prevent it. so frustrating
Click to expand...
Works great. Turn your skimmer off like the directions say though or itll foam up like nobodies businesss.


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