cyanobacteria

[Guppy4Life]

Hey guys. Robert here. I started having an outbreak of cyanobacteria. Red slime. I was wondering what the best and safest way to eliminate it would be? I do have coral and fish in the tank. Does turning off the lights for 3 days work?

 

[Kriegad]

I personally try not to worry about small cyano outbreaks. It comes and goes at times. If it is a big outbreak you could try reducing lighting. I wouldn’t think it is necessary to do a blackout for that long to fight it, but it may work. Could dose chemi clean or just try to let it run its course. How old is your tank and what is your water change schedule?

 

[mcgyvr]

Siphon as much as you can on the next water change. .then go lights out for 3 days...then another water change/siphon....repeat every couple weeks as needed..

 

[ROlympia]

Or leave it and it will kill all the algae it covers. Siphon it off at the water change as above. Leave it again until regular water change interval and siphon again. Eventually it will go away. Eventually it will come back again too as I recently found out.

 

[Bary]

I've used chemi clean successfully but it was fish and softies only.

 

[ReefsandGeeks]

I've used chemiclean a few times on my mixed reef and always had good success. IME, it's about 95-99% effective, and the cyano seems to stay away for a good 6+ months.

 

[Thinner25]

ChemiClean worked for me as well during a major outbreak on a mixed reef. However, it seems to come back without the proper husbandry. Weekly water changes, gravel siphoning, and strong water flow seemed to help in my case and eventually went away after a 2 months.

 

[Dmorty217]

Figure out what is causing the nutrient build up and eliminate it, otherwise you will fight this for the life of the tank.

 

[FireViper]

New to the hobby and had a tough cyano outbreak in one corner of the tank. Our light failed, and we weren't able to get a replacement for a couple of days.

When we turned the new light on, the cyano was pretty much gone and after several days, it has yet to come back. Turning off the lights really does work!

A couple of chalices and a duncan weren't too happy, but everything else looks a okay.