cyano

[hunter57]

I'm having a major cyano outbreak. I've stopped feeding the tank and doing as much skimming as possible. I've done 1 20% water change and am planning another. I do have very high nitrates. Will the nitrates export naturally or will this only happen through water changes?
I'm in a bit of a panic so any help would be appreciated.

 

[bpd964]

How long has the tank been up?

 

[Rockitmakr]

Tell us more about your tank & setup. I have written many posts about Cyano as I am about to write another. Cyano is a problem that almost everyone in this hobby will encounter sometime or another. It is caused by Phosphates and low current in your main display. The best way to remove it is to increase your turnover rate and be sure that you have a good skimmer. Not all skimmers are good, some are absolute junk and do no good whatsoever. Let's just say that you really get what you pay for when it comes to filtration methods. If you have plenty of CURED live rock then your nitrates will be taken care of naturally, water changes will help too. So, remove what you can by hand & do what I mentioned above. Your Cyano problem should go away on it's own, in time.
:beer:

 

[hunter57]

I had an incident with a mantis shrimp. As a result I had to remove a large piece or LR (I have about 130 lbs in a 120 gal. tank). When the LR went back in there was alot of die off. That occurance raised my nitrates through the roof and now 70% of my LR and 50% of my sand bed are covered in cyano (red slime). I have an aqua c urchin pro skimmer. I have 700 watts of lighting(2-250 mh, 4-54 t5's). Daylight cycle is 8 hrs. actinic is 10 hrs. My phosphate is 0, amm. is 0, nitrite is 0, nitrate is, well, I don't think they make a test kit that goes that high.

 

[hunter57]

I forgot the tank has been set up almost 2 years.

 

[hmello@bermexin]

get some cerith snails. red slime vacuum cleaners.

 

[hunter57]

Never heard of them?

 

[hmello@bermexin]

http://www.reeftopia.com/cerith_snail.htm

Should be able to get them at the LFS. I picked some up 6 for $10.00

 

[hunter57]

Ok. I've seen them. Do they all eat cyano?

 

[hunter57]

Also I have high nitrates right now and I just read they have a low tolerance to high nitrate.

 

[hmello@bermexin]

Don't know abou thte nitrate but they are voracious on the red slime. I had a 2 inch swath across the front on Sunday, This morning there about 3 places that are the size of a quarter. The are cyano eating machines. Even saw one eating cyano off of a mussel.

 

[smartang22]

I know this is a debated topic, but I just has a horrible cyano outbreak that was going on three weeks. I did a 4 gallon water change and several 1 gallon ones (I have a 14 gallon BioCube). I put a phosphate/silicate remover in as well. I do NOT overfeed and I have 14 lbs. of live rock and water parameters were great. Nothing helped. So I tried Maracyn which was recommended by several "old pros" both at the LFS and on Reef Central. It is not supposed to kill the beneficial bacteria so I was hoping for the best. The first day of using it all of the cyano was gone.

I am not recommending it as a cure-all, but as a first step. I have since bought a new maxijet 900 and more live rock. I also plan on adding another small pump in the tank itself for even more flow. I also keep up with regular water changes. I am new at all of this so I have been taking a lot of recommendations and this one worked.
Good luck.