!! ATTACK of the cyano !! HELP!!!

[Larah]

OK so the tank has been around for just over 6 months now and suddenly I have a cyano problem..
As in I just figired it out ... I thought I had phosphates because it looked like I had diatoms on the sand bed and then I turned everything off for a bit today (like an hour) and when I came back there was a sheet of the slimey red crap on the sand bed.. EGADS!
What do I do now?
Never had this problem....

As for the particulars of the tank please read my by-
line... Oh, and most of the lights are 3 months old...
and as for the chemistry, I'll go run a batch of tests
and post the results...

But in the mean time, what can I do?
Water changes?
Black -out?
Eurothromyacin?

 

[jubjub]

what i've done to get rid of it in the past is first use your magfloat to scrape out what you can with a small cup to suck it out. then do 5-10% water changes every other day for a week or so. also feed the fish a little less.

cyano is caused by to many nutrients in the water.

 

[Larah]

Here's the water chemistry/params...

Temp 78
SG 1.024
ALK 9.8
PH 8.3
MAG 1300
CAL 315 (Way low I know, just started using 2 part)
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0

 

[Larah]

Yeah I just read that.... About the nutrients...
I think it's the phyto-plankton and Selcon that I have
been using a lot of lately...
Trying to make the water more nutrient rich for
the filter feeders.. Guess that was a bad idea....
It's a tough balance between too nutrient rich and
not enough.
Geesh....
Ok so I just did 10% water change and am
working on another 10%...
I have to wait for my water purification unit to produce enough water, LOL!
Any other ideas?

 

[Toddrtrex]

Yea, I would suggest cutting pack on the phyto. That stuff is just loaded. How much of it are you using?

That along with increase water changes will help. You can siphon it off the sandbed with each water change.

 

[Larah]

Hey Todd!!!!
Apparently I was using too much??? <Shrug >
I think I went a little phyto happy there for a while...
Not to be too off topic but, how are you?

 

[Toddrtrex]

Hey miss Larah.

Yea, I am sure you went a little happy with it.

I am hanging in there, though still not back to normal after the back surgery. (( as normal as I ever was. )). But, it is slowly getting better.

 

[Larah]

Well I'm glad to hear that you are as normal as ever !!!
Thanks for the advice with the Cyano...
I am busily doing water changes as we type..
Well I'm taking a break...

 

[Toddrtrex]

LOL Yea, there are only so many things that the docs can fix.

Sure thing. I just had a little of it in my 29, it went away after I sold the 2 LTAs that were in there -- was adding too much waste to the tank.

You should take a break, water changes can be hard. I've got to do a bunch of them in the next 3 days before my trip.

 

[Aquarist007]

direct a power head at it for a few days and turn off the lights on your tank for three days also

Are you using a turkey baster and lightly basting your substrate and reef rock once a week. Along with good flow this gets the excess phosphates and nitrates back up into the water column where they can be filtered out.

I agree with the use of phyto--- if feeding corals you should be using zooplankton(cyclopeeze) Very little corals eat phytoplankton

If running a refugium then feed the copopods in there the phyto--they eat it.

Here is a thread on fighting algae--many of the tips there are also useful for fighting cyano.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1329802

 

[Larah]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12769115#post12769115 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by capn_hylinur
direct a power head at it for a few days and turn off the lights on your tank for three days also

Are you using a turkey baster and lightly basting your substrate and reef rock once a week. Along with good flow this gets the excess phosphates and nitrates back up into the water column where they can be filtered out.

I agree with the use of phyto--- if feeding corals you should be using zooplankton(cyclopeeze) Very little corals eat phytoplankton

If running a refugium then feed the copopods in there the phyto--they eat it.

Here is a thread on fighting algae--many of the tips there are also useful for fighting cyano.


http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1329802

 

[Larah]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12773429#post12773429 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Larah

Whoops!
I meant to answer the Captn'! Sorry bout that....

Yeah I am no longer using the phyto.. Just stopped, Monday was my last dose...Threw the rest away (It was getting past it's useful date)...
and yeah I always baste the rock with the turkey baster, twice a week sometimes more...
as well as the sand....I do try to stir it up at least once or twice a week. I don't have enough sand to be a DSB in the Display so it's more of a detritus catcher than anything....

Anyhow, I am doing water changes (10% yesterday and 10% today) and just put in a frsh bag of Chemi Pure elite and
phosban into the over flow box, as well as a fresh batch of purigen in a mesh baggie in the sock...
And I'm going to skip a feeding or two..
Hopefully that'll fix the problem...
I'm also going to cut back on the lighting hours by a couple of hours for the next few days.. I usually light for about 10 hours a day. Think I'll cut it back to 8 and see what happens...
Anyone see anything wrong with any of these things?
PLEASE give me your opinion!

 

[Toddrtrex]

Think you would be better off running phosphate media in a reactor, as opposed to in a baggie. It is more efficient that way, though running it in a baggie is better then nothing.

 

[SWaquariast]

The best thing is to buy chemi clean and it works in two days. Red slime is actualy cynobacteria which is millions of microscopic animals black outs water changes wont actualy get rid of it, it might clear up but it will still be there and most likely come back.

 

[Larah]

Yeah I know what Cyano bacteria is...
I will get a reactor, but I don't have one yet so a baggie is what I can do at the moment...
I put it in the over flow wher it gets constant flow through it but not a pounding....
This si the first time I've had it in 6 months....
I'm sure I don't have to tell you how frustrating it is!
I may try Chemi Clean..... I'll have to research it..
Anyone have any opinions on Chemi Clean?

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12773507#post12773507 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Toddrtrex
Think you would be better off running phosphate media in a reactor, as opposed to in a baggie. It is more efficient that way, though running it in a baggie is better then nothing.

I agree In the phosban reactor the water is forced through the entire media rather then it taking the easy way around the outside like in a bag resulting on alot of the media not being exposed to the water column

 

[Larah]

Yeah I know I now... I know I NEED to get a reactor but at present my husband is having a rough time with my "hobby", so I'm needing to be an economical as possible...
So what do you think of using this Chemi-Clean?
Or Eurithromyacin?

 

[Toddrtrex]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12775398#post12775398 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Larah
Yeah I know what Cyano bacteria is...
I will get a reactor, but I don't have one yet so a baggie is what I can do at the moment...
I put it in the over flow wher it gets constant flow through it but not a pounding....
This si the first time I've had it in 6 months....
I'm sure I don't have to tell you how frustrating it is!
I may try Chemi Clean..... I'll have to research it..
Anyone have any opinions on Chemi Clean?

I personally wouldn't use Chemi Clean or any other red slime remover. It is just a band-aid and doesn't solve the root cause of the issue. Taking care of it without using any of those may take longer but you will have better results in the long run.

The one time I did use that stuff, it caused other issues with my tank. It effected my fish right away, and almost lost a few ---- fresh carbon, running my skimmer and lots of water changes prevented me losing any.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12775502#post12775502 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Toddrtrex
I personally wouldn't use Chemi Clean or any other red slime remover. It is just a band-aid and doesn't solve the root cause of the issue. Taking care of it without using any of those may take longer but you will have better results in the long run.

The one time I did use that stuff, it caused other issues with my tank. It effected my fish right away, and almost lost a few ---- fresh carbon, running my skimmer and lots of water changes prevented me losing any.

100 per cent in agreement again

Lara--collect as much as you can with the turkey baster--then baste the substrate lightly. I know you have good flow in the tank and this will remove it, if you are patient with it
Also turn your lights off the tank for the next three days

 

[Larah]

Ok, thank you SOOOO much!!
You guys are always so helpful. I truly apprecaite you!
I did suck a lot of it out with the vaccum tube when I did the
water changes. I also got rid of a bit of sand but C'est La Vie, sand is cheap!