Maroon / Red Patches on glass and substrate

[Posseidon]

Update.

Thanks Nano Sapiens, Timber and JD. There were some key info in your posts that helped me big time.

I think the Cyanos have given up. Normally, they used to show up as little patches on the substrate between water changes. Now, it's been a week since the last water change and they are no where to be seen. So, Cyanos are pretty much gone.

However, now I have the regular glass algae very frequently. I clean the glass and they show up in a day or two. I think they were suppressed by Cyanos before.
- Now, how do I reduce that? It seems these things flourish even in Low Nutrient System.
- They get released like fine dust into the water when I clean them with the Magnet Cleaner. Can they be used as food by corals?

By the way, last week, i took my bio-pellets out of the reactor and placed them in a jug with same aquarium water (to not lose the beneficial bacteria or the condition of the pellets that helps the good bacteria). And then I cleaned the reactor to take out the thick brownish slimy stuff that was on its walls and in the tube. Somehow, I felt that could be adding up some Nitrates. And I thought, the good bacteria need the tumbling biopellets to work, not this. So, I washed it off and then put back the biopellets in the reactor with aquarium water and started it up.

Well, my Nitrates was around 5ppm or less after last water change. With that reactor cleanup and reduced bio load due to regular substrate vaccum, my Nitrates have become ZERO or UNDETECTABLE. This is the first time I ever read zero on my Test Kit since I started fighting all sorts of Algae. Let's see how it goes from here.

Any advice for the glass algae would be apreciated.

 

[Posseidon]

Quick question. When some people do the 3 days lights-out thing on their tank, they notice reduction in red/green slime on sand and rocks.
1) Does that mean that the cyanos have left that location and just died in the water column as they couldn't find light? OR
2) Does that mean that they just died on the same spots and hence lost the red/green coloration?

I ask because many of these reefers have noticed that at times the cyanos return after turning the lights back on.

If the answer is (1), then they might leave the sanbed un vacuumed for good bacteria to colonize, and in turn leave less ground for cyanos to return.
If the answer is (2), then these reefers should vacuum their sandbed after the 3-days light-out to take out the cyanos before they can respawn.

 

[Posseidon]

Another update.

I continued regular water-changes with siphoning of the substrate, added more GFO. But slowly, the cyanos have returned back. I've browsed a lot on the net to learn more about them.

Here's what I concluded. Cyanos have come in all sorts of tanks. Tanks with high Nitrate and Phosphate to ULNS Systems. These organisms have some sort of adaptive advantage since dinosaurs and can survive in many different conditions. Some of them can even trap Nitrogen from air and need not rely on Nitrates from the water to thrive. Not to mention they come in several different species. However, there have been reefers who've had success in eliminating them by varying some conditions of the tank, like changing the salt, increasing the salinity, decreasing the salinity, increasing the pH, etc. This is a hit or miss kinda thing. One remedy works on a tank but not on another. Apparently, when you change some parameter it can **** off the Cyanos and they die. But then, the same doesn't work on another tank. I guess Cyanos have personality

Anyways, constantly trying to change different parameters over a span of time is too time consuming and comes with its own risks for other tank inhabitants.

So, with all natural remedies exhausted, I've given Chemiclean a shot. It does what it says. After 48hrs, the Cyanos are gone clean! I left it for additional 12hrs to be sure. None of my tank inhabitants showed any signs of stress. I even have inverts like Turbo Snails and Shrimps and they seem fine and grazing. Just be careful with the Skimmer when you use this stuff and throw an airstone in for additional aeration.

I'll observe the tank for a few days and share my opinion on its effectiveness.

Another piece of advise:
Experienced reefers have claimed that maintaining a pH of 8.2-8.3 keep the Cyano's and GHA's at bay. I used to have pH between 7 - 8 when I had the Cyano's and GHA's. I'll try to maintain the pH from now on, just avoid them coming back.

 

[Salty Dog24]

Quick question. When some people do the 3 days lights-out thing on their tank, they notice reduction in red/green slime on sand and rocks.
1) Does that mean that the cyanos have left that location and just died in the water column as they couldn't find light? OR
2) Does that mean that they just died on the same spots and hence lost the red/green coloration?

I ask because many of these reefers have noticed that at times the cyanos return after turning the lights back on.

If the answer is (1), then they might leave the sanbed un vacuumed for good bacteria to colonize, and in turn leave less ground for cyanos to return.
If the answer is (2), then these reefers should vacuum their sandbed after the 3-days light-out to take out the cyanos before they can respawn.

Your best tool you have for fighting phosphate is your siphon. It needs light to feed, but it is not a cure, it simply a band aid, and without good husbandry, the algae will reappear soon.

 

[Posseidon]

Your best tool you have for fighting phosphate is your siphon. It needs light to feed, but it is not a cure, it simply a band aid, and without good husbandry, the algae will reappear soon.

Not exactly what I was asking, but thanks for sharing. Point noted and concluded already above. I've been siphoning regularly since then, becoz siphoning regularly does help take out the detritus before it breaks into Nitrates and Phosphates.

However, after siphoning every week, you reach to a point that any additional siphoned water looks as clean as the tank water. And if you still have Cyanos, siphoning every week only hides them temporarily due to shuffling of the substrate. My substrate looked clean while I was siphoning every week. However, I was busy one weekend and did a normal water change without siphoning. And bam! They were back. I have an almost ULNS setup and yet I was battling this stuff. My Nitrates never go over 5ppm and never got any reading for Phosphates.

If Phosphate really is the culprit, it is impossible to have Zero-Phosphate Water in an established tank. I mean, my test kit does not detect any Phosphate, but I believe that there's always some Phosphate introduced whenever I feed fish/coral, no matter how small the quantity is. Probably in ppb instead of ppm. And maybe, these Cyanos can use these Phosphates as soon as they are broken down from fish poo. Remember, they are actually bacteria and not algae.

Anyways, I've posted my current conclusion in my previous post based on my experience.

 

[Posseidon]

There are many threads on Cyanos and this could become just another one. Let's try to make this thread a little different, so that it can be more helpful to newbies and experienced alike.

Hence, from hereon, I would like to have this thread updated with actions that helped get rid of Cyanos, but STRICTLY BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCES ONLY. I've posted mine above. No more generic info about Cyano that we can get even from first link of Google search. I request all fellow reefers to share their particular moves that made the difference. It'll be nice to have multiple working opinions in one thread for quick reference to all.

Thanks to all the contributors in advance.

 

[Klnsheree]

My experience with this stuff-
My tank bottom was covered in that red algae and it was in the glass as well. I went and bought a sand sifting star fish and it took about a week for the star to get everything stirred up but now with him in there I haven't had it again. I'm guessing it was caused by nothing stirring the sand so it had a chance to grow and spread.

 

[Klnsheree]

And I have no idea about the chemical aspect of everything but I didn't dose anything or make any big changes

 

[Posseidon]

Wow! This is the first time I've ever heard of using Sand-Shifting Starfish to take care of Cyanos. Thnx Kln for sharing. This could be very useful for some of us.

 

[Posseidon]

An update on the chemical treatment. The Skimmer goes crazy after using Chemiclean. I did 20% water change. No go. I read online and many people just waited until it reduces. I waited another two days and did another 25% water change. No go. Its been a week now and still the same. The Skimmer overflows and fills the collection in about a min, even with the lowest setting. I had some Airstones all along for oxygen levels.

Here's how I got my Skimmer under control:
I set the Skimmer's control valve half way through (50%). Obviously, I let my Skimmer overflow into the cup quite fast. I then put one end of an Airtube into the Skimmer cup touching the bottom and other end into a bucket and siphoned out the water from the cup into the bucket. And then based on the water level in the sump I kept topping it up with freshly made saltwater. I siphoned for about 40 min, took an hour's break (to let the new water and tank water mix up well) and then siphoned for another 40min. I noticed less foam in the cup thereafter. I then reduced the Skimmer controller to about 25% and was finally able to control the level of bubbles without overflowing into the cup.

 

[Posseidon]

Update:
Chemiclean works as stated. A month had passed after the treatment and no sign of Cyanos. And to avoid any chances of recurrence, I added a GFO reactor in my sump to take out all the phosphates from the water column and keep it low. And now, another month has passed with GFO running and no signs of Cyanos.

All my livestock are ok and did not show any signs of stress. Amongst corals, I have some LPS, SPS, mushrooms, leather corals, zoanthids and Sun Coral.

 

[Nano sapiens]

Good to see that Chemiclean worked for you. As in anything Cyano related, sometimes the method and/or product knocks it down for good...sometimes it returns. Keeping nutrients relatively low and good maintenance practices performed consistently are the best overall defenses, IMO.

 

[Posseidon]

Thanks. And yes, prevention is better than cure.

Btw, I forgot to mention. After using Chemiclean, I monitored my Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates. They were all fine and Biopellets function was not compromised. As stated on the packaging, it seems safe for nitrifying bacteria too. Just make you follow the instructions strictly.