I hate cyanobacteria

[sillygoose]

I've been vacuuming it out, and it helps but that is not keeping it away. My nitrates are 20 - which does not see too bad, especially since I don't have SPS. It's not horrible - I don't want it to get that way. What do you do?

 

[oscarslr]

there is some white powder stuff they sell at the LFS, i used on my last tank turned off the lights for 3 days, then did a 30% water change and that was that, ur nitrates are high make sure you are testing your RODI water and stay ahead of your water changes

 

[Tucson Reef]

check your feeding habits, water changes, type of filtration/flow, bio-load. Chemi-clean or the likes will kill it off but you need to clean up the cause too or it will keep happening. Wet/dry's, canister filters, not using good RO, heavy bio-load and over feeding are the main causes. Bad flow will cause detritus build up and cyno avoids high flow areas.

 

[Akimbo]

Everyone in the Tucson area gets the red cyano during the summer. Your best bet is to just keep the nitrates as low as possible so it can't feed. Also keep your water well aerated at as this cyano is an oxygen hog.

 

[2006]

What Tucson said plus more flow. Keep stuff suspended until your skimmer can get it.

I've always been of the opinion that if you have a sand bed and nitrates the cause is too heavy feeding and therefore probably too many fish. A one inch sand bed and live rock should handle the bio-load on most moderately stocked tanks.

Of course if it's a new setup the tank may be maturing and a little slime algae is to be expected.

 

[Tanque Verde]

IMHO, your nitrates are high. I'd work to bring those down.

I had cyano in my tank for much of the first year. I tried sand replacement, more flow, less feeding, stabilizing the salinity (a good ATO), chemipure, rowaphos, filter floss, more cuc, reduced light cycle (on my nano tanks, I limit my daylight cycle to 6 hours), and some other stuff I can't remember.

I didn't finally eradicate it, though, until I implemented a monthly three-day black out.

Day 0: regular lights
Day 1: actinic only
Day 2: no lights
Day 3: actinic only
Day 4: regular lights

This trick put all my algae in check. I now do this light reduction regimen every month.

Good luck.

 

[aquaph8]

+1 for tucsonreef
thats right on

 

[sillygoose]

Thanks for all the feedback. I've done another water change and added a third Koralia that I had in a cabinet to increase flow. I've upped my cleanup crew and - added some snails and hermits. I am thinking about upgrading/refurbishing the pump. Also, I probably need to rig the pump out of the water to lower summer water temps. That brought the temp down about 2 degrees last summer.

I will continue to do water changes more frequently until my refugium/skimmer catch up with the NO3.

My tank has a fairly low population. It's a 90g (plus 30 g refugium) with 6 small fish; it's primarily a reef tank. I will cut down on the light, but I need to keep my other critters happy too. How do the blackout days work for photosynthetic corals?

 

[savageAJC]

+1 tanque verde
i did all that stuff but ddint get rid of it until i started blackouts.
only then did i see improvements!

 

[Tanque Verde]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15309152#post15309152 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sillygoose
How do the blackout days work for photosynthetic corals?

I keep LPS and softies and they usually close down for the black out and may take half a day or so to open back up. But I've not seen any significant ill effects. I've also read that some SPS keepers believe that a black out promotes coral growth.

But you should research this , because I gather some people don't like/trust the technique. I think some folks instinctively balk at the idea of depriving light-sensitive creatures of light. Proponents counter that the sunnyest reefs in the world nevertheless have cloudy days.

Personally, I think the monthly blackout is one of the best things I do for my LPS/softy nanos. I beat cyano by this technique and I see an instant reduction in the film and sand algae that builds up between water changes after every blackout.

 

[Tucson Reef]

Cyno is not a bacteria algae, get your detritus/nitrate problem and cut back on feeding(most fish can go to every other or more, Tangs need daily and cause high load)

 

[prickles]

for a quick fix (temporary possibly) but it gets rid of the stuff, red slime control with a 3 day blackout works well.

 

[Tucson Reef]

Couldn't edit, just noticed. Cyno is a bacteria algae

 

[sillygoose]

I'm happy to report that things are going well - so far. I added a few Mexican turbo snails (I had mainly Astreas). Although I know they don't really eat the slime, they are doing a bang-up job with housekeeping and that in itself has cut way back on the cyano problem. I've switched up the flow - still experimenting with that. Anyway, the snails are my buddies. I've decided to beef up my whole clean-up crew. I'll keep the black out in mind if things slide in the wrong direction.