Live rock/cyano (I think!) help

[ShannonLeigh]

Hey all. I have a situation. I have a bad outbreak of what I think is cyano. It's all over my live rock. We have tried lights out for 3 days then massive water change and it didn't get any better. I only feed every second day and we do 20% water change once a week. My question is, if we take the rock out and give it a good scrub and then replace it and do water change will we get a cycle again? Any other suggestions on cyano?

Parameters are all good. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5

80 gallon tank with 30 gallon sump, skimmer, 3 power heads in DT

 

[Joeb1983]

If it's a newer tank it's normal.

They refer to it as the ugly stage(s)

Once the silicates die down it will go away its own with time. (Usually from sand)

I would not take the rock out and scrub it personally.

Just keep up with your scheduled water changes and keep your Params in check.

It's a brown rust color correct?

 

[OrQidz]

If it's cyano (as opposed to diatoms), the more you can physically remove by siphoning, scrubbing the rocks outside the tank, etc. the better. How long has your tank been set up and what kind of a bioload do you have?

 

[Joeb1983]

If it's cyano (as opposed to diatoms), the more you can physically remove by siphoning, scrubbing the rocks outside the tank, etc. the better. How long has your tank been set up and what kind of a bioload do you have?

True, good call. I was thinking diatoms.

Pics will help if you can throw some up.

 

[Joeb1983]

Diatoms

 

[Joeb1983]

Cyano

 

[ShannonLeigh]

If it's cyano (as opposed to diatoms), the more you can physically remove by siphoning, scrubbing the rocks outside the tank, etc. the better. How long has your tank been set up and what kind of a bioload do you have?

Tank has been going for over a year. Had a smaller tank for a year and upgraded to this tank. had a gha issue in the old tank and some diatoms with the new right at the beginning but nothing since. I will take some pictures in case it's not cyano and post them. It's really red but I was reading that cyano should be easy to blow off and this stuff isn't really. Also, not sure if it makes a difference but I have a bare bottom tank.

I have 2 clowns, a benggai Cardinal, a yellow tang, a Foxface, a royal gramma, and a starry blenny

 

[ShannonLeigh]

Pic of the live rock

 

[vikinglord13]

Yah it looks like cyano. Though... it coooouuld be some type of coraline, but I doubt it.

I've only had to use chemical (chemiclean to be precise) to treat cyano once and it probably would've gone away if I was patient enough.

Personally I would recommend another lights out period and make sure you're feeding less (or none at all during the period). If you can shoot it into the water column with a turkey baster towards the end of this period, excellent! Just try your best to catch it and export it.

 

[CStrickland]

If it's hard to get off it may not be cyano, which is sort of snot-textured. If it's harder it could be a type of lobophora maybe.

 

[ShannonLeigh]

If it's hard to get off it may not be cyano, which is sort of snot-textured. If it's harder it could be a type of lobophora maybe.

So is that a type of algae? I had wondered if it was like red turf algae but there's so many things that are pretty similar! It's definitely not slimy or easy to remove. I tried last night to scratch some off the rock with my finger nail and it didn't make any difference...I couldn't get any off.

So...what's my next step?

 

[CStrickland]

If it's that hard it might be coraline. Lobophora is slippery.