Tried everything. Still cyano!!

RVANANO said:
Well I was excited but now it's coming back.
Click to expand...

Like I said earlier, IMO, you may have a dissolved organic problem. Looking at your tank, the bioload is not that high so I'd look for something that is not operating properly particularly the skimmer.

What skimmer are you running and what is the flow through it? Is it producing a lot of skimmate? What color? How much?

How much flow through the sump?

Is the current in the DT sufficient to keep detritus suspended until capture by the overflow?

How often do you change GAC?

Are you vacuuming the sand, rock, and sump regularly?

Are you adding any carbon (organic) compounds? Alcohol, sugar, some calcium supplements, vitamins, amino acids, vinegar, salt mixes that have vitamins in them, etc. can all feed cyano.
 
Lots of skimate now that it's back up. If you missed it earlier, my skimmer pump died and it took a few months for me to get another. Now running a bubble blaster HY-3000S on my Octopus extreme 200. I skim wet so every 2-3 days I get a 1/2-3/4 full collection cup with brownish green stinky skimate.

Running a 1950 GPH return pump and a center mounted MP40 as well as a Tunze 2065 (IIRC) in a dead spot. The tank is very open so flow is pretty good. The return pump alone with twin 1" drilled returns puts a lot of flow in the tank as is. I don't have any places where detritus really builds up in the tank except a little bit under the right rock island.

Only supplemental I have is via Deltec P509 Ca RX.
 
How long have you kept the lights out for?

It's usually something that takes 3 days with no lights to really have much lasting effect

The one time I got it, I got it BAD. Tried everything, ordered Ultralife and then did a 72 hour lights out...including covering the front with a blanket. Killed it and it has never come back. I had tried the lights out for 2 days before but not with the blanket. You may want to try that before the chemicals...I still have the Ultralife; never had to use it, the cyano was gone before it arrived
 
I would try covering the front of the tank. I don't know if it was that or just coincidence that it died off after all the other things: heavy water changes, removal, lights out, but 3 days without lights and the front covered so it got no light from the room and it was 100% gone and never returned

It wasn't a little outbreak, either. This stuff covered EVERYTHING! Every day, I was doing a 5 to 7 gallon water change from using a mini shop vac to take the stuff out...and it would be back, just as bad, in 3 hours. I had tried turning the lights out for 48 and 72 hours but it never worked. Had the thought that just because it looked dark to me, the bacteria might still be getting enough light from the room so I draped a blanket across the front and sides. When I took it off, I couldn't believe how white my sand was again and finally saw purple, not brown, rocks again

Try it and let me know if my success was a fluke. All my corals were fine with it, btw. In fact they looked better than ever, grabbing all that light after it was over
 
I tried to beat it in my 120gal using bio pellets and MB7. It went away and like you all of a sudden it starts returning all ****ed off. I can honestly say the pellets and MB7 kind of kept it under control. It would still grow but not out of control, it was just consistent. Then I stumbled on a thread here on RC. I forgot the posters name but he mention dropping the temp to 78F. So I dropped mine from 80F to 78F. I'll be damn, the cyano starting disappearing. Needless to say I was pretty stoke. I was still running the pellets and MB7 when I dropped the temp. I have broken down my tank and started a little cube. 8 months of no water change and skimmer emptying. You guessed it, cyano action. Again, this time just MB7 and dropping temp from 80F to 78F plus a small power head every other day to blast rocks and sands to let the detritus float into my overflow. I also have the drain going directly into the intake of my SWC 120 skimmer. It has been a month and the cyano is ALL gone. HTH.
 
I also started using MB7 when I had my outbreak. I went with the total darkness about 3 days in so I don't know how much it helped but I've continued using it at their low nutrient dosage, ever since
 
Chemi Clean works great and it did not bother anything in my tank. The only advice I can give you is follow the instructions, as far as the carbon and skimmer go, and do the 20% water change. Give it a few days and treat it again. I call it the one two punch. Then of course find your problem, ie overfeeding, sock filters, bio balls, not a good CUC, not good husbandry. Best of luck. I've used it a few times and it works great. I've found it works best when you give it the one two punch, even if it does not look like it needs it. And remember when you turn your skimmer back on for the first time it will go crazy.
 
And by the way that tank looks GREAT! Love the Rose. I had a guy give me one on RC. It split a month later. Try the one two punch. I think the first time it breaks lots of the cyno loose and you'll get rid of lots of it but you'll still have some come back later. also I saw best results a couple days after the treatment.

<a href="http://s921.photobucket.com/albums/ad59/rab1212/?action=view&current=RoseAnemone.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad59/rab1212/RoseAnemone.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
Here are a couple or video's of my tank before and after chemi clean. And it's completely gone now and I've found the root cause so I should be good to go. I have to scroll down to see the second video. Not sure whats up. Buts it's cool if you stop the top video in the cyano spots and then let the other video catch up. You'll be able to see the difference.

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid921.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad59%2Frab1212%2FAquariuimCyanoTxDay1.mp4">

<embed width="600" height="361" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullscreen="true" allowNetworking="all" wmode="transparent" src="http://static.photobucket.com/player.swf" flashvars="file=http%3A%2F%2Fvid921.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fad59%2Frab1212%2Faquarium3daysafterCyanoTx.mp4">
 
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Yeah I tried the chemi clean and lights out and it went away for a week but is now coming back just slightly in a few areas.
 
Do you have 1900 GPH flowing through your sump? How much is flowing through the skimmer? Could it be that the high flow rate is reducing the efficiency of the skimmer?
 
I am not sure how I would know that but it was fine for 18-20 months so I cannot imagine that is the issue. As stated, it all started when my skimmer pump died and at the same time I realized my lights needed changing. And then we had the hurricane and during that time I sold off some of my corals just in case and then moved all my rock around. More likely it was a combo of all those negative attributes.
 
Oh yeah sorry.. Nitrates were 15 and I don't have a phosphate test. I had been told recently that my tank may not test for phosphates with the cyano issue.
 
Test for them anyway they can only be absorbed so fast..... I would do a water change to get the nitrate levels lower also - 15 is not bad but not good either...
 
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