Cyano problem

[Davenandez]

Hello everyone,
I have a really bad cyano problem that seems to have come out of nowhere and has already smothered a capnella colony. I know u sps guys are water quality buffs so mayb u can help me out.
I have a 50 gal tank (36X18X18) with a very light fish population (only 2) and a 10 gallon sump/refugeum. I skim constantly and produce relatively dark skimmate and feed once a day- only the fish- no phyto, ect.
water params are:
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
Ca:400
Ph:8.1
Temp: 76-78
PO4: will test soon
i can take pics but i dont know how that would help

 

[acropora nut]

not knowing all your params my first thought would be lack of FLOW.

 

[marine_freak]

Just had a terrible bout myself..... few things that come to mind: poor lighting, lack of flow, cut your lighting period back to 4hrs a day..... keep your rocks blown off 1-2x weekly... oh turn your lights out for 2-3 days of every week or 2 weeks...... cyno is photosynthetic and will begin to dye if not enough light..... do water changes every week 10-20% vacuume out the cyno with a hose as you do so... it will be a uphill battle but good husbandry and patients will take care of the problem.

 

[ALTI]

when was the last time u changes your bulbs? i have no water quality issues,but the cyano seems to come back every time my bulbs need changing.

 

[Davenandez]

I have an 8hr. photo period with 250 watts of hamilton 14K mhs and 130 watts of actinics (pc)
flow inside of the tank is arround 900 gph total but there are no dead spots
the bulb has been in for quite some time now so i think it might just be the bulb
also i do 10% water changes biweekly since there is such a low fish population

 

[brad]

I don't think cynao is photosythetic, if it isn't changing your lighting won't help.

The typical, proven solutions are increasing flow, increasing skimming and/or large water changes.

If you feel risky, I have heard of success from adding vodka, removing it by hand (if you have lots) or antibiotics.

Have not seen or heard of anything else working.

 

[Sk8r]

Check me out on this---brown slime, right? Chemi-clean got mine: the 3rd month of tank life, and I'm told it happens now and again. One treatment of Chemi-clean and it just went away inside a few hours---I had to roll up some sheets of it and net them out, then massive water change after 24 hours, but no reoccurance, no damage to sps, lps, fish, or inverts.

 

[twon8]

am leaning to the bulbs or flow.

 

[Nathan]

I have cyano in a HIGH FLOW area of my tank. It has approx 1400gph of flow through my overflows and it is growing there, so the theory of increasing flow to make it go away is a MYTH, an urban legend. Flow may displace the stuff to somewhere else, but it won't eliminate it. Some people even have cyano growing in the nozzles of their powerheads where there is extremely high flow.

Cyanobacteria IS photosynthetic. It also manufactures ammonia and/or nitrate and releases oxygen bubbles.

Cyano needs organics such as phosphate to survive; it does not need nitrate to survive since it makes it's own.

If I were you I would increase your skimming, use a phosphate removal media (like iron oxide hydroxide (phosban)) and take care not to introduce excess phosphate into your tank from feedings.

-Nathan

 

[robitreef]

I am having the same problem on a newly setup reef. I have a 150w Phoenix 14K bulb on for 6.5 hours, and have about 300gph flow on a 30 gallon. I notice the slime algae mostly on my gravel, but there seems to be a strong enough flow rate(?). I just added phosban and did a water change last week. I will keep you posted if it does the trick, but my guess is that I will be battling for awhile while the tank cycles. So far the only animals are three Trochus snails, that are working on the hair algae.

 

[Casie]

/agree with ALTI

I get cyno all over my back wall when my XM bulbs get old. (7-8 months)

=)

 

[Nathan]

Casie,

Are you using 10K or 15K or 20K bulbs?

-Nathan