Cyano issue

G

gem

Totally over it
A couple weeks ago I had a 16 hour power outage and lost pulsing Xenia. Fortunately, that and a fish jumping out, was the only thing I lost completely. A couple other corals were looking a bit shabby, but seem to be either recovering or at least "holding on".
After the outage and cleaning up the Xenia goo, I had high phosphates. I have been running phosguard 24/7 since and changing that out every few days and have chaeto in my fuge. Phos is down now. The Cyano isn't getting worse...but it's not going away either. Manual removal is great....but then it's back within 12 hours.
Is the Cyano a result of the phosphates or maybe just that several month old tank syndrome?
 
It could be a little of both. It could also be due to seasonal allergies, inorganic phospates that we can not test for and elevated temperatures. No one really knows where cyano truly comes from, but I can tell you IMO, it does not correlate to flow; another reefing urban legend.
 
Yeah Marko.....I had been told you normally get it in dead spots....but I have it in spots that have great flow as well as dead spots. I've tried manual removal....it comes right back but no worse than before. I've tried leaving it and just blowing it off the zoas it seems to want to cover....it never seems to get worse...just persistant.
I have to say I have seen worse cases.....but it's an annoying battle!!!!
 
Ginger, I was battling it a couple weeks ago. I had tons of it covering my glass and the sand. I did a couple water changes and it was gone. I've recently saw some of it grow again, so Im doing some more WC.
 
After reading a thread on cyano problems I gave this a try. I turned off my lights for 2 days and took it a step further by covering my tank and not allowing any ambient light in. Some recommend no lights for 3 days, but I thought I'd give 2 days a try as 3 days scared me. The cyano peeled off the rocks. I'm guessing this might be a fix for algae issues also. I started running Rowaphos at that time and since then cyano and algae haven't been a problem.
 
Wouldn't the lack of light be a bad thing in regards to the coral though? I imagine a couple days won't make a difference. I'm doing a water change today......sucked some up last night with a turkey baster and it didn't seem to have returned this mroning. Maybe I'm already getting a handle on it. If not, Joe....I'll try your suggestion. I never have had it on the glass. Just a little on one rock (it sucks up or blows off easily) and on the sand....and a tiny bit on the one zoa colony.
BTW Joe......have you bought your battery powered air pumps yet???
 
I have done the lights out trick, but over time it will return. I even know a local reefer that used to run his lights only 6 days a week.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12650905#post12650905 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JahReefster
Did the lights out trick work for hair algae too? I can't get rid of the stuff no matter what I do.
Click to expand...

Nope. manual eradication and sea hares :(
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12650374#post12650374 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Marko9
It could be a little of both. It could also be due to seasonal allergies, inorganic phospates that we can not test for and elevated temperatures. No one really knows where cyano truly comes from, but I can tell you IMO, it does not correlate to flow; another reefing urban legend.
Click to expand...

Marko, The only places I have ever got Cyano have been in dead flow zones... While I agree that isn't that cause, it sure seems to help the cyano thrive, IMO.
 
Very true Pete. I have also got it on my rocks right infront of my streams as well though. IME, It is definitely "in the water".
 
Jah - try 'lights out' and let us know how it turns out. Even if this eliminates the algae growing in your tank, run some phosphate remover (Phosban,Rowaphos etc.) to help keep algae out. And what Mark said. Do you have alot of detritus? Siphon it out if you do. Try it all, it's better than letting it take over your tank.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12650374#post12650374 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Marko9
It could be a little of both. It could also be due to seasonal allergies, inorganic phospates that we can not test for and elevated temperatures. No one really knows where cyano truly comes from, but I can tell you IMO, it does not correlate to flow; another reefing urban legend.
Click to expand...

Why do you say that?? Usually low flow area's are full of detritus that cyano builds up on and feeds on IMO. I have had sparkling clean tanks and still had patches of cyano, after adding flow to the effected area and keeping good water quality there is no sign of cyano. I have had this issue on a countless number of tanks and the only ones that don't go away are the dead spot areas.

I agree with you that there is some level of something that we can't test for and that increased temps and lighting cycles can contribute, but I don't agree that increased flow doesn't help. Especially after having a ton of customers with cyano issues and almost all of them have been fixed with more WG's and more flow.

Another big cause IMO is lack of good biological bacteria in the system from too little live rock or poorly cured LR. My fish system at the store needs vaccumed one a week or the sand can get covered with cyano, that system has fairly low phosphates and nitrates but has very little flow and no live rock. In this system I can see where uneaten food settles and that is where the cyano starts and spreads from there.

My advise is to keep good water quality,tons of flow and with a mature healthy system it usually goes away.
 
UWP,
In my case, I have a 46 gal tank that's been up since mid February, I do weekly 5 gal water changes and once in a while I do 10 gal. I have two maxjet 1200's on either side of the tank that provide pretty good flow ( possibly I need more). About 50 lbs LR in the display tank with about 50 lb sand. I have a fuge with another 20 lbs of sand and another 10 lbs of live rock. The total water volume is about 60 gal give or take. Never had water quality issues.....until a 16 hour power outage that caused my Xenia to die off raising phosphates to 1 ppm. this was a couple weeks ago. There are only 2 fish in the tank....so not much detritus. The Cyano started about 4 -5 days after the power outage.
What's your opinion in this case? Flow? Just keep manually removing it and doing water changes and running phosban? (was phosguard....now running phosban)
 
I would say you need more wide spread flow. I have a customer with a 46g bow who was having cyano issues until he added another koralia ( he has a #4 and a #2 as well as a MJ 900. MJ's put out a lot of flow but only in a small area. Koralia's can put out way more dispersed flow and use less power. You can have 5000GPH but if it is not dispersed properly throughout the tank then it's not enough IMO.

Your maintenence schedule is really good. I would try adding more dispersed flow, suck it out and run phosphate media................ROWA phos is the best IMO. IME the lights out method and redslime removers only work for a short period of time.

HTH
Peace
Rob
 
You know...I was just looking at the Koralia 4 today too. Thanks Rob...yes that helps alot. I have fought with aiming the MJ's to get max dispersment and seemed to think I had it pretty good by bouncing it off the tank walls. But what you said makes sense after watching a Koralia in a tank at Aqualife today.
 
Mines in all areas also, low flow, high flow, every where flow. Mine started when I let my RODI out put get to dirty (2 TDS). I changed my filters and siphoned most out. Now I don't even have to wipe my glass every day. Check your top off water purity. If your RODI has old filters or you have'nt flushed your membrane lately that is probably it. It fixed my cyano problem.
 
I have had it on powerheads, its ever present and if present will collect and propogate in the lowerflow areas first.

Cyano isn't an easy fix, and it take a while to eliminate....in which you never do as some is always present.

Focus on limiting nutrients, all of the major ones have been mentioned, but as a listing:

1. Whatever you are feeding now......cut it in half.

2. Whatever your water change volume is......double it

3. Whatever your water change frequency is......cut it in half.

4. Use a skimmer

5. Use RO/DI water

6. Rinse all frozen food/and avoid pellatized food known for high phosphates.

7. May want to employ a macroalgae.

8. Reducing light schedule in actual photoperiod or when the daylights are on (if you have actinics and daylights) may stunt it.

9. Lights of for three days does work well, but is that final kick in the butt to get rid of it once you do the above.

10. I use a Turkey baster at least daily to blow off the rocks and keep colonies from forming.

11. I believe I read something about higher temps spurring it on, try lowering your temperature.

......thats about all I have to say about that

nope, almost forgot use GFO 24/7
 
Dots...thanks for that. Now that you've mentioned it...I have seen it on my powerheads as well. Not as much as on the sand, but ...oddly....on the inside of the deflector.
I have already cut back on feeding. I only have two fish, but I was probably feeding them a bit too much.
So, as for water changes, you're saying bigger but less often? I've been doing 5 gal once a week....and had upped that to 10 gal a week, but have gone back to 5 gal.
have a skimmer and use ro/di
I feed all frozen and have recently started rinsing since the breakout
As for macroalgae....I have chaeto, but can't seem to get it to grow. It doesn't die, but it hasn't grown either. I've tried various light sources. Maybe someone can suggest something.
Now light schedule could be a major problem. I need to get timers for my lights. I leave for work at 6 am during the week and turn the lights on when I leave. So often my lighting is on 12 hours. I have 50/50's so both daylight and actinic are on at the same time.
My temp stays below 80 and my heater is set at 77.
Going over your list and my situation....I see a few things I can definately change.
Just one more question....what's GFO???
 
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