living_waters
In Memoriam
Keep in mind I believe that's from a 180 to 36 comparison I trim prob a baseball size once a month and I feed preaty decently but I feed them slowly so its not put to waste will a alge scruber help with cyano?
Cyanobacteria: how to fix it.
- Thread starter Sk8r
- Start date
living_waters
In Memoriam
I never feed flakes If I do its the new era ones and its very rare I feed pellets garlic soaked mysis live brine repeat in a few ours and always make nori available
SantaMonica
Well-known member
Well, filtering is proportional to photosynthesis. The strong the photosynthesis, the more nutrients are pulled out of the water, quicker. Photosynthesis requires light, and flow of an air/water interface, and attachment so the algae can hold still under high turbulence.
Chaeto is a weak filter, because the top side shades the bottom, and, because it can't hold itself still during high turbulence. If the going gets tough, chaeto will not be able to compete, even though it grows. In your case, the cyano has strong enough photosynthesis that it can win.
So yes, if you build a scrubber properly, it will have stronger photosynthesis than the chaeto, and will remove more of the cyano than the chaeto is.
Of course, pointing a powerhead at the sand helps too.
Chaeto is a weak filter, because the top side shades the bottom, and, because it can't hold itself still during high turbulence. If the going gets tough, chaeto will not be able to compete, even though it grows. In your case, the cyano has strong enough photosynthesis that it can win.
So yes, if you build a scrubber properly, it will have stronger photosynthesis than the chaeto, and will remove more of the cyano than the chaeto is.
Of course, pointing a powerhead at the sand helps too.
That's Cyano Aquanooby.
Sk8tr the original post is a super post. It's instructional but not overwhelming, and it works ;-)
Sk8tr the original post is a super post. It's instructional but not overwhelming, and it works ;-)
living_waters
In Memoriam
YES! I win the cyano is defeated!��
Biogenetic40379
New member
i had a cyano problem for awhile, I had to upgrade pumps, change gfo, and clean my sand bed really good (old pump had lots of dead spots)
MSreefdoc
New member
I want someone who knows about the Chemiclean product to tell me why exactly I shouldn't use it. I used it after about 3 months of being set up, and the the red cyano went away like magic! For at least a year it was gone. When it came back again I used it and again it worked beautifully. Is there something that I could be doing to my tank that happened to your tank or at least someone you know's tank with this product? My fish and coral seem just fine, but I am thinking about trying out a few sps frags in the coming months. Anyone?
Awesome. Did you do the steps laid out here by Sk8tr?
BlueCorn and i have used chemiclean twice. Like you, i've inly had to use it twice in the last few years, but when i did use it-it did the job. We've had success with it. Aside from our manual removal, bulb changes, siphoning.
CReyes350
Member
I battled the stuff for about six months with no avail… I tried all kinds of stuff! Increased flow, changed lights, manual removal, changed R.O. filters, under fed, four day blackouts, large water changes… the whole enchilada… NOTHING seemed to work… I had previously bought some Chemiclean, but I was too afraid to use it since I had read the horror stories and have WAY too much money tied up in corals, clams, and fish.
Finally one stormy night after exhausting all my avenues to deal with this stuff I dropped in a large bubble maker, left my skimmer on without the collection cup, and I added the Chemiclean…
The next morning all the birds were chirping and the sun came up… My tank was fine. The cyano was gone after 48 hours and I did a 35% water change.
Chemiclean gets a bad rap but it worked for me. This is not to say that we should neglect general husbandry procedures, but I don’t think that using Chemiclean to reset your tank is necessarily a bad thing.
Finally one stormy night after exhausting all my avenues to deal with this stuff I dropped in a large bubble maker, left my skimmer on without the collection cup, and I added the Chemiclean…
The next morning all the birds were chirping and the sun came up… My tank was fine. The cyano was gone after 48 hours and I did a 35% water change.
Chemiclean gets a bad rap but it worked for me. This is not to say that we should neglect general husbandry procedures, but I don’t think that using Chemiclean to reset your tank is necessarily a bad thing.
Looks like cyano, if you get it to come off the rock does it come off in sheets? More flow in that area. If a large problem follow the lights out for a few days (list above on this thread). Please note that after a couple days some of the corals may not look 100%. They will be fine in a couple of days of normal light. Good flow, a good skimmer and GFO or phosguard. Normal water changes are important.
Cyanobacteria is a photosynthetic bacteria. Chemi-clean is a product that kills bacteria. But bacteria is the bedrock of the filtration systems in our tanks.
There are many different kinds of bacteria, as Sk8tr mentioned; some antibiotics kill only gram negative or gram positive bacteria, while others kill both. I personally do not know if cyanobacteria is of only one type, and if so, which type it may be. I do know, however, that it is bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate, and thus it is bacteria that is essential to keeping things alive in aquaria. That is why I think it is unwise to use Chemi-clean, or any antibiotic, in a tank in an attempt to kill cyanobacteria.
Bacteria are everywhere, and indiscriminate killing of them can have unintended consequences.
There are many different kinds of bacteria, as Sk8tr mentioned; some antibiotics kill only gram negative or gram positive bacteria, while others kill both. I personally do not know if cyanobacteria is of only one type, and if so, which type it may be. I do know, however, that it is bacteria that converts ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate, and thus it is bacteria that is essential to keeping things alive in aquaria. That is why I think it is unwise to use Chemi-clean, or any antibiotic, in a tank in an attempt to kill cyanobacteria.
Bacteria are everywhere, and indiscriminate killing of them can have unintended consequences.
danil
New member
I agree with Elysia and Sk8tr that you have to try natural method(s) first but I also reserve open slot for ChemiClean as a final solution. I had to use it on my last tank and it was a great success. I believe there is a threshold than crossed you had to use it since biological disbalance went far in cyano favor. There are very little left from rival beneficial bacterias in the system and the only viable option is nuke it with CC giving time to other strains to multiply. As it said above this will work only for mature system with all parameters being under control and withing recommended ranges. That means if your Nitrate is 50ppm and phosphate 5ppm... nothing will help you.
msderganc
New member
It's debated whether Chemiclean is actually an antibiotic. Boyd's claims it's an oxidizer, not erythromycin, which does not affect the beneficial bacteria.
@Sk8r (OP)
My 120g has a mild case of Cyano outbreak - some golden brown dusting and bubbles. Not as bad as some I've seen here, but still quite ugly.
I have a "guy" that visits the tank once a week to do a thorough clean & maintenance. It seems that he disturbs my shallow sand bed each week such that the brown stuff gets mixed into the sandbed (which then looks a little cleaner afterward). Is this a bad practice and should I get him to stop doing that?
Given that its already done, will a three day blackout still help me?
Thanks for any advice!
-droog
My 120g has a mild case of Cyano outbreak - some golden brown dusting and bubbles. Not as bad as some I've seen here, but still quite ugly.
I have a "guy" that visits the tank once a week to do a thorough clean & maintenance. It seems that he disturbs my shallow sand bed each week such that the brown stuff gets mixed into the sandbed (which then looks a little cleaner afterward). Is this a bad practice and should I get him to stop doing that?
Given that its already done, will a three day blackout still help me?
Thanks for any advice!
-droog
The lights out approach is a very interesting technique that works for many aquarists, but it probably does not kill cyanobacteria. The bacteria are still present in small colonies but for some reason the big mats or red film break up. These mats or films seem to aid in the persistence of the cyanobacteria bloom but I have not found any hard data to support this conjecture.
