Cyanobacteria: how to fix it.

[msderganc]

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.

I think the lights out method allows beneficial bacteria a better chance at competing with cyano since cyano is photosynthetic. So, while it doesn't kill cyano, it helps everything else out compete it.

 

[kissman]

Corals use light to grow. No lights, no growth. I am seeing small patches as well but it seems like red dust. As if it is struggling to grow. I am experimenting and reduced my red and green output from my LET'S from 35% to 15%.

Sonicboom....How did this work out for you?

 

[Sonicboom]

Sonicboom....How did this work out for you?

I ended up breaking down and going with chemi clean red slime remover, it was almost not worth it with the trouble you get with your skimmer but I learned and just raised the skimmer a few inches. I will say it works and I do not have a single trace of red slime it algae anywhere.

 

[kissman]

I used it years ago before i tore my tank down and redid it. Did a big water change 30%. I also lowered the whites on my LED's which has reds and greens in it down to 15% so hopefully that will help

 

[Sonicboom]

Yes, during the treatment I left lights out for about 48 hours.

 

[kissman]

I read somewhere that Cyano releases nutrients back in to the water column when it dies of at night the consumes it again during the day when lights are on. Is this true? If so sounds like it makes sense to do water change at night to remove nutrients?

 

[Triggerfish]

I recently have some in 3 locations. 2 changes the tank had when I first started to get it.
1.started GFO- so my PO4 is now much lower than before with not cyano.
2. new halide bulbs.

when I first setup my algae scrubber 10 months ago I had it bad in the sump for a number of months. that has since vanished.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I have to say... Chemi Pure Elite in my gfo reactor is amazing!!! No cayno, gha, pure white sand all the time. My corals have never looked better.

 

[big g]

i used chemiclean it said it was safe. bu

i used chemiclean it said it was safe. bu

Happens every spring. The sun moves in the sky through the year, and light hits a window it hasn't hit all winter long.
Cyano turns up. It lives on 3 things: carbon, water, and light. Any other thing---oh, it COULD use it, but take it away, and it'll use something else, so nitrate, phosphate, nutrients are all fairly irrelevant to treating this stuff. More flow won't solve it. I've had it turn up in tanks where the FISH had trouble swimming and the sand wouldn't stay put. Nope. It's an archaea, a real old thing from before the dinosaurs. It's part of every green plant on earth, so there's no dodging it. It's in your tank. Always. Just now and again it gets the spectrum of light it loves, and if you want to know where that beam is hitting your tank, try the spot where it first showed up.

What's it look like? A blush or red or brown (depending on your lights) on your sand. It gets thicker and starts producing bubbles. THose are oxygen, actually, and are harmless. It can get a quarter-inch thick and start blanketing everything in the tank. You're embarrassed to have visitors.

It is, however, not a crisis. Nothing under that blanket is really harmed. And it's easy to fix.

This is why I say everybody really should have a skimmer. If you don't, use a turkey baster as a suction device and remove as much as you can before you start this. Otherwise....

Turn out your lights. Wrap your tank in newspaper on the side facing any windows at all. Your fish will sleep through this. But they'll wake to be fed, so you can if you want, or otherwise they'll just doze, as they do through hurricanes and storms on the ocean.

Leave your lights out for 3 whole days. And have your skimmer running well. Empty it as needed. On the 4th, if you have strong coral-type lighting, use the blue actinics or twilight lighting only. Otherwise, back to normal. For coral-folk, on the 5th, bring everything back to normal.

It'll be improved. But it may not be the last you see of this pest this season. But if it recurs, bear with it for a while. Next month, same date, do the same thing. Typically, for a bad case, do this 3 months running and you should be rid of it for a while. Try not to let window-light reach your tank.

Do NOT use any red slime remover until you have a very mature tank or really know what you're doing, and even so---it may cost you your microlife, like pods, which can be hugely expensive to replace for a starving dragonet. This method works, costs nothing, and is far, far, far safer.