Cyano Issues Ideas
- Thread starter Tank2379
- Start date
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
I was battling cyano for almost 6 months, finally broke down and did chemiclean. My problem was so terrible, and likely due to a few things so I'll probably end up doing it another time down the road should I need to. Follow directions, use an air stone, and relax.. It was a breeze.
DragonWarriorPo
New member
Chemiclean per instructions
I did chemiclean, followed directions to a T but it messed with quite a bit in my 75.
It almost wiped out my superman montiporas, my two huge red monti caps, a few acros, pocciloporas and favia. The rest of my sps lps and softies were good.
It's been about a month and everything is on the positive side now. It was in limbo for a while.
I used it in my old 55 system a few times no problem. Not sure what happened this last time. I was actually going to start a thread about this but I've been slammed with work/life.
I would suggest taking it slow, Try to baste your rocks and increase flow and get debris in the water column to get skimmed out before you resort to chemicals. Cyano is bacterial, if you have to resort to chemiclean just remember to chill out on the skimmer and the carbon/gfo while dosing. Do a hefty water change and run gfo carbon skimmer after. Might have to dial in skimmer after a bit, it will foam for a bit.
It almost wiped out my superman montiporas, my two huge red monti caps, a few acros, pocciloporas and favia. The rest of my sps lps and softies were good.
It's been about a month and everything is on the positive side now. It was in limbo for a while.
I used it in my old 55 system a few times no problem. Not sure what happened this last time. I was actually going to start a thread about this but I've been slammed with work/life.
I would suggest taking it slow, Try to baste your rocks and increase flow and get debris in the water column to get skimmed out before you resort to chemicals. Cyano is bacterial, if you have to resort to chemiclean just remember to chill out on the skimmer and the carbon/gfo while dosing. Do a hefty water change and run gfo carbon skimmer after. Might have to dial in skimmer after a bit, it will foam for a bit.
triggreef
New member
Very interesting. These are the kind of replies I stay up until 2am to find. Thank you sir I will be doing some research on this. :bounce3:
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Negative. It's simply an oxidizer, but not an antibiotic.
Tank2379
Active member
I wonder if Special Blend would work also... :wave:
I've been fighting this crap for 3 months now, just stump on what else to do my 60G Cube Dominate with SPS It's mostly on the rocks a tad bit on the sand bed but nothing to cover it up. My MH lights are about 5 months old and I keep them on 7 hours a day. I am running GFO and Carbon change it out 3 times so far still getting the same results. I might switch back to Bio-Pellets. I am dosing 2 part using nutrient element source as they call it (Balling Light Method). I think this may also be casuing some of my Cyano issues.
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
I've been fighting this crap for 3 months now, just stump on what else to do my 60G Cube Dominate with SPS It's mostly on the rocks a tad bit on the sand bed but nothing to cover it up. My MH lights are about 5 months old and I keep them on 7 hours a day. I am running GFO and Carbon change it out 3 times so far still getting the same results. I might switch back to Bio-Pellets. I am dosing 2 part using nutrient element source as they call it (Balling Light Method). I think this may also be casuing some of my Cyano issues.[/QUOTE]
How deep is your sand bed? I ran GFO\Carbon since day one, at some point switched to the high capacity GFO, started doing 30% water changes weekly, and after months got it down a LOT (cyano that is). I just couldn't ever get rid of it. I finally broke down, did chemi clean, and literally overnight it is gone. I have a small patch on one part of the sand that is contained and is being managed. I actually always said before I even did the chemi clean I will end up doing more than one dose because of the severity of the problem.
I started doing some reading on sand beds and I think my sand bed is the culprit of my issues. It ranges from 3-4" (wrasses and clowns kick it around constantly). Read this... Deep Sand Bed depending on your depth, but mine is basically a DSB... on the lower end of it at least. So what I noticed was this..
What my sand used to look like from a cross section
To what it was at the WORST of my struggles with cyano
In my case, my theory is I simply overwhelmed my sand bed, rendering it rather useless for quite a while which caused my issues. With GFO, huge water changes, careful feeding, etc it cleared up some, but after chemi clean two weeks ago my sand and tank look like this.. Notice how the cross section isn't just one block of red\green cyano colonies. My sides of the bed are actually completely white from back to front!
I don't mean to hijack your thread but want to give you my experience. Literally six months of HC GFO, Carbon, lots of salt, RO equipment and a lot of frustration. Chemi clean did more in one day that all of that did in months. Now I just work to keep it tidy and am not climbing a straight uphill climb anymore..
Good luck, let me know if I can help, I just went through this.. it sucks.
How deep is your sand bed? I ran GFO\Carbon since day one, at some point switched to the high capacity GFO, started doing 30% water changes weekly, and after months got it down a LOT (cyano that is). I just couldn't ever get rid of it. I finally broke down, did chemi clean, and literally overnight it is gone. I have a small patch on one part of the sand that is contained and is being managed. I actually always said before I even did the chemi clean I will end up doing more than one dose because of the severity of the problem.
I started doing some reading on sand beds and I think my sand bed is the culprit of my issues. It ranges from 3-4" (wrasses and clowns kick it around constantly). Read this... Deep Sand Bed depending on your depth, but mine is basically a DSB... on the lower end of it at least. So what I noticed was this..
What my sand used to look like from a cross section
To what it was at the WORST of my struggles with cyano
In my case, my theory is I simply overwhelmed my sand bed, rendering it rather useless for quite a while which caused my issues. With GFO, huge water changes, careful feeding, etc it cleared up some, but after chemi clean two weeks ago my sand and tank look like this.. Notice how the cross section isn't just one block of red\green cyano colonies. My sides of the bed are actually completely white from back to front!
I don't mean to hijack your thread but want to give you my experience. Literally six months of HC GFO, Carbon, lots of salt, RO equipment and a lot of frustration. Chemi clean did more in one day that all of that did in months. Now I just work to keep it tidy and am not climbing a straight uphill climb anymore..
Good luck, let me know if I can help, I just went through this.. it sucks.
Tank2379
Active member
How deep is your sand bed? I ran GFO\Carbon since day one, at some point switched to the high capacity GFO, started doing 30% water changes weekly, and after months got it down a LOT (cyano that is). I just couldn't ever get rid of it. I finally broke down, did chemi clean, and literally overnight it is gone. I have a small patch on one part of the sand that is contained and is being managed. I actually always said before I even did the chemi clean I will end up doing more than one dose because of the severity of the problem.
I started doing some reading on sand beds and I think my sand bed is the culprit of my issues. It ranges from 3-4" (wrasses and clowns kick it around constantly). Read this... Deep Sand Bed depending on your depth, but mine is basically a DSB... on the lower end of it at least. So what I noticed was this..
What my sand used to look like from a cross section
To what it was at the WORST of my struggles with cyano
In my case, my theory is I simply overwhelmed my sand bed, rendering it rather useless for quite a while which caused my issues. With GFO, huge water changes, careful feeding, etc it cleared up some, but after chemi clean two weeks ago my sand and tank look like this.. Notice how the cross section isn't just one block of red\green cyano colonies. My sides of the bed are actually completely white from back to front!
I don't mean to hijack your thread but want to give you my experience. Literally six months of HC GFO, Carbon, lots of salt, RO equipment and a lot of frustration. Chemi clean did more in one day that all of that did in months. Now I just work to keep it tidy and am not climbing a straight uphill climb anymore..
Good luck, let me know if I can help, I just went through this.. it sucks.[/QUOTE]
My sand Bed is about 3 to 4 inches deep. My system is about 3 years old now. Here is a photo of my 60G cube and all the Cayno on the rocks. Excuse SPS stucking off the glass I just added it in yesterday. No worries on Hi-Jacking as long as it's informative to everyone else in the community. I like to hear about other experiences this is how we learn from one another.
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
Mine looked JUST like that... whenever I siphoned it out, it came back immediately.. Literally, my non-scientific theory is I overwhelmed my sand bed somehow, trapped a bunch of crap in my bed rendering it either overwhelmed or useless. Whenever I did huge WCs, ran GFO, it slowly, and I mean SLOWLY cleaned up in patches, but it was slow... After chemiclean oxidized the sludge and cyano in my tank, those patches almost quadrupled all over the place.
Just my experience, but it helped a LOT.. I'll likely end up doing it again to completely the process. Looks like my sand and biofilter is able to keep up now at this pace.
Just my experience, but it helped a LOT.. I'll likely end up doing it again to completely the process. Looks like my sand and biofilter is able to keep up now at this pace.
Dre59
Z&P Addict from IL
You still running a fuge?
Can be many things that can cause this issue lack of flow, frozen food or my favorite chemicals that we added for our corals (like reef chili from BRS).. I have used Chemiclean and even added an air stone for safety with no issue but make sure you read the instructions on label. I only used it once and never came back!! But I also started doing many water changes
Instead of doing BP again look into vinegar dosing if your NO3 is high..
Can be many things that can cause this issue lack of flow, frozen food or my favorite chemicals that we added for our corals (like reef chili from BRS).. I have used Chemiclean and even added an air stone for safety with no issue but make sure you read the instructions on label. I only used it once and never came back!! But I also started doing many water changes
Instead of doing BP again look into vinegar dosing if your NO3 is high..
xtlosx
Just Reefin'
I tried the high alk might keep cyano at bay, but did nothing, just ****ed off sensitive SPS. My alk is now stable at 8.3-8.6 and after chemiclean, it's like it never happened... Quite amazing.
Another interesting thing I noticed is lots of algae I had on my acrylic dividers in my sump are clearing up visibly, daily! I attribute a lot of this to Chemiclean, as this was all very dirty and nasty looking for a while, but chemiclean just flushed the sludge and garbage out. Almost like what I'm doing for lent... no liquor for six weeks
Another interesting thing I noticed is lots of algae I had on my acrylic dividers in my sump are clearing up visibly, daily! I attribute a lot of this to Chemiclean, as this was all very dirty and nasty looking for a while, but chemiclean just flushed the sludge and garbage out. Almost like what I'm doing for lent... no liquor for six weeks
moe458
New member
From the looks of it. it's not cyno. It looks like dino to me.
As you stated once you clean it and instantly comes back as the light period starts...convinces me that dino. Secondly when you start to see your snails are disappearing is also a sign of dino. thirdly, the dino slime will have a bubble tip at the end of the slime which i notice in your picture as well..nothing eats dino's because they are toxic. No treatment will help no water changes will help. Hydrogen peroxide methods won't help you since you have corals in your tank and it kills everything that it comes contact with bad idea to do in reef tanks people are doing it with limited quanity and it has helped but to me it didn't..IMO...
I have been battling with the same and ignoring the fact it's dino's for past 3 months and then i found the below article that i lised for you...i'm in final stages of getting rid of let see how that goes..
here is an excellent article to read before you keep fighting against it...
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/how-i-beat-dinoflagellates-and-the-lessons-i-learned
I hope the above helps...
As you stated once you clean it and instantly comes back as the light period starts...convinces me that dino. Secondly when you start to see your snails are disappearing is also a sign of dino. thirdly, the dino slime will have a bubble tip at the end of the slime which i notice in your picture as well..nothing eats dino's because they are toxic. No treatment will help no water changes will help. Hydrogen peroxide methods won't help you since you have corals in your tank and it kills everything that it comes contact with bad idea to do in reef tanks people are doing it with limited quanity and it has helped but to me it didn't..IMO...
I have been battling with the same and ignoring the fact it's dino's for past 3 months and then i found the below article that i lised for you...i'm in final stages of getting rid of let see how that goes..
here is an excellent article to read before you keep fighting against it...
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/how-i-beat-dinoflagellates-and-the-lessons-i-learned
I hope the above helps...
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moe458
New member
Forgot to mention one last thing..if you don't have a fuge maybe start consider when you start the 72 hour light out period...it may not help you right now because turf algae and slime will eat up your nutrients and your cheato's/macroalgae will suffer with no nutrients..cuz turf algaes have tendency to suckup nutrients faster than what's in the fuge..IMHO..
Check 3 things...alk, ph, phosphates, nitrates and see the what's the status on them.
please don't use API kits they are not good for phos and etc..they can read over 2.5ppm infact you are trying to get a better picture use redsea, salifert or hanna kit get accurate measurements of nutrients...cheers, Moe.
Check 3 things...alk, ph, phosphates, nitrates and see the what's the status on them.
please don't use API kits they are not good for phos and etc..they can read over 2.5ppm infact you are trying to get a better picture use redsea, salifert or hanna kit get accurate measurements of nutrients...cheers, Moe.
