What causes the red cyanobacteria???

[John Hartford]

I have had my tank up and running for about 3 months now. I noticed last month that it started to grow some red algae, this began to grow on my live rock and in my refugium. Yesterday I scrubbed all of the live rock, and wiped the sides of the refugium and today there are little spots already growing back. My PH is at 8.5, and my nitrites are at 0 and my ammonia is at 0 and my nitrates are less than 10. Why is this algae growing and what can I do to stop it?

 

[bjonesjr1]

Have you checked your phosphate levels with a test kit, as this would be a cause for the problem... I had a cyano problem, AKA red slime problem, and I was told not to stir it around as this would spread it faster... I ended up using Chemi-clean to fix the red slime, as this isn't a fix for the problem thats casuing it, it just gets rid of the red slime everywhere, it works in 48 hours and if you just follow the directions on the box it will get of the cyano for you...

Some other problems that it could be would be flow, how old your bulbs are, over feeding, some maybe look into some of those alternatives...

 

[bjonesjr1]

Here is a link for Chemi-Clean

hope this helps you out, remeber this isn't a fix to what is causing the cyano outbreak, its just gets rid of it... Look into those things that may be causing the problem, I ended up finding out that it was my feeding, to much food was put into the tank, which cause my problem... So I started targer feeding and making sure that no food would hit the sand bed, what did get their my clean up crew would take care of...

 

[John Hartford]

Thanks for your help, my lights are brand new as well as the bulbs. I purchased them from Hamilton Technology in March. As for feeding I feed the 2 shrimp cubes once daily. I have a yellow tang, blue hippo, sailfin, naso, 8 chromis, 3 despar anthias and 2 sunburst anthias. And last I checked my phosphates were at .5

 

[Marinemom]

I wa s battling the same thing in my tank and I still have some of it on my glass on the side of the aquarium. However, I was told that it could very well be a problem with underskimming from the skimmer and to increase the flow in the tank. This was right around the time that I replaced my seaclone skimmer with a coralife super skimmer 125 for my 60 gallon reef and I also replaced two powerheads to create more flow in the tank. Just by doing those things I can see a dramatic improvement in the handeling of this problem. It seems that I see less and less of this every day. I'm not saying to go out and buy a new skimmer. I had to replace mine because it just decided not to work anymore. Maybe you need to adjust the way your skimmer is operating to help with this problem and try increasing the flow in the tank and see if that helps you with this problem. I was so disgusted with this problem that I too wanted to use a chemical to get rid of it but I thought I would try this first. So far, I am happy with the result. I hope this helps.

Marinemom

 

[John Hartford]

Thanks for the help. I have a new Bubbleking 250 internal, and that its full of skimmate every couple of days and has to be emptied. As for the flow of the tank I have two of the Tunzes 6100's on a mulitcontroller, so I think that I am ok there.

 

[PatMayo]

Too many nutrients would be my guess. I would not worry too much about the cyno in the fuge. It's the main tank that is the problem. Do you have the tunzes turned up on high? I think those are adjustable right? I still think it's flow and nutrients. You may want to back off on the food a bit or feed every other day and see if it helps. If the tunzes are adjustable I would keep them as high as possible.

I'm assuming you are using RO/DI water? Have you tested phosphates?

Do all those things and it will get better. I personally would not use chemi-clean. I would find the root cause and solve that.

I hope this helps. My tank has been up for about 138 days or so and I have never had cyno in the main tank. I have had a touch or so in the sump but that's it. I feed every other day but only have 2 fish in the tank and 1 coral so far.

I hope it helps.

Regards,

Pat

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7526509#post7526509 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by John Hartford
As for feeding I feed the 2 shrimp cubes once daily. I have a yellow tang, blue hippo, sailfin, naso, 8 chromis, 3 despar anthias and 2 sunburst anthias. And last I checked my phosphates were at .5

This has a lot to do with your cyanobacteria problem.
Let cyano grow along with macroalgae in your refugium and make sure there's a good population of pods in the 'fuge. (This will help to prevent cyano from growing in the main display and continuously feed your fish natural foods.)
I suggest reducing your fish stocking levels.

It sounds like you already know that high nutrient levels fuel cyano growth.

 

[John Hartford]

So what would you recommend that I feed the fish, and in what quantities, and how often. I am not sure if I have enough pods in my fuge yet. Thanks again for the help.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

Feed the Tangs nori.
I don't know what type of shrimp cubes you're feeding, but you're probably using them to feed your Anthias. I understand you need to keep those Anthias well fed.
Many types of frozen shrimp cubes (in particular) can contribute to red slime (cyanobacteria) problems (IME).

You have an excellent skimmer. Make sure that your S.G. is 1.025 to maximize it's skimming potential.
Make sure to keep your alkalinity and calcium levels up.
Perhaps a fellow reefer can give you some more pods.

 

[jallen1964]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7526685#post7526685 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Gary Majchrzak
This has a lot to do with your cyanobacteria problem.
Let cyano grow along with macroalgae in your refugium and make sure there's a good population of pods in the 'fuge. (This will help to prevent cyano from growing in the main display and continuously feed your fish natural foods.)
I suggest reducing your fish stocking levels.

It sounds like you already know that high nutrient levels fuel cyano growth.

Where do we get said pods?

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7529509#post7529509 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jallen1964
Where do we get said pods?

When I first got into keeping a reef aquarium it was very difficult to find anyone that sold 'pods; they'd usually hitch-hike into your aquarium on liverock, livesand or livestock.
Nowadays, you can find them for sale everywhere.
(Check the RC "Captive Propagated Livestock For Sale" forum or check out the RC sponsors.)
If you have a reefkeeping friend, see if they'll trade or give you some (they're usually crawling inside macroalgae grown in refugia).

 

[mike89t]

This thread should help some:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=725686

 

[alana Winner]

Red cynobacteria problem fixed

Red cynobacteria problem fixed

I increased waterflow, increased lighting and still had a problem in my 60 gallon reef tanks (live rock, coral, a mandrin, turbo snails and watchmen goby and his partner, a pistol shrimp. The red slime made my tank look ugly and was a battle. I have been fighting with it for years.I tried a product (it is a powder) a put a little of the powder in my tank. The awful red stuff is gone. My tank looks great. I was scared to put the product in at first becuase I thought it might affect the bateria in some of my corals. I will let everyone know if it was a short-term fix or worked for the long term. So far everyone seems healthy in the tank.

 

[Sk8r]

Typical phase tanks go through. If it gets thick, tune skimmer well and turn off your lights for 3 days (4th day of blues only) once a month until it stops being an issue. Can take a few months, but this is the safest way to remove it.

 

[Scoobysnack77]

Typical phase tanks go through. If it gets thick, tune skimmer well and turn off your lights for 3 days (4th day of blues only) once a month until it stops being an issue. Can take a few months, but this is the safest way to remove it.

won't this harm my corals? will my fish still eat in the dark?

 

[hotelbravo]

won't this harm my corals? will my fish still eat in the dark?

3 days will not harm corals and healthy fish can go well over 3 days without eating and not have any ill effects.

 

[MT_is_a_Pisces]

Cyno problem too

Cyno problem too

Typical phase tanks go through. If it gets thick, tune skimmer well and turn off your lights for 3 days (4th day of blues only) once a month until it stops being an issue. Can take a few months, but this is the safest way to remove it.

I was battling both green hair and cyno. Started running GFO; green hair is gone (phosphate - 0.08-0.16). But cyno is still present. I remove as much as I can by hand. Don't want to use anything in tank. Will try the lights, but my purple firefish will not eat when the lights are out.

 

[thelawnwrangler]

I was battling both green hair and cyno. Started running GFO; green hair is gone (phosphate - 0.08-0.16). But cyno is still present. I remove as much as I can by hand. Don't want to use anything in tank. Will try the lights, but my purple firefish will not eat when the lights are out.

If you cut on lights to feed quickly I think the lights out would still be pretty effective?

I am battling it myself tank is 6 months old. I think a maintsinence mistake I made was not blowing rocks with turkey baster on water changes. I just start blowing them off daily and my skimmer is going crazy and I am changing filter floss a lot to. I hope that helps me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

 

[vikinglord13]

Typical phase tanks go through. If it gets thick, tune skimmer well and turn off your lights for 3 days (4th day of blues only) once a month until it stops being an issue. Can take a few months, but this is the safest way to remove it.

I've been following this advice from Sk8r for awhile now and it helps tremendously. I always follow up with a water change as well. Its best to use whatever natural method possible before introducing chemicals into a tank.

When feeding frozen food it's good to "rinse" or "drain" it as it tends to come with excess phosphates. Get 2 plastic cups (solo cups work fine) punch holes in one and leave the other alone. Put the frozen food in the hole-cup. Rinse it with some RO/DI water and let the gunk drain to the other cup. That will fix some phosphate problems.