Worst Cyano problem I have ever seen

2

21ducks

In Memoriam
Hello everyone,

My boss has the worst case of Cyano bacteria that I have ever seen! He has tried chemi clean multiple times now and nothing works. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of it? I recommended sucking it up when doing a water change but he has a lot more than I have ever had.

Thanks
 
u and your boss need to plan to sit down here at the forums and do searches on nitrates, nutrient hygiene, ozone. Plan on much coffee and hours of fun educational reading. Once u have learned the basics and put them to work, seriously consider OZONE.
 
Increased water flow helps a lot too. Have him check his water params, see if he is usig RO/DI water. As well as what kind of filtration he is using.
 
He should scoop out as much as he can, too. This does help a lot until he gets things under control with water parameters and the correct lighting.
 
If you want instant results, just to make the tank more appealing to the eye, use EM tablets. You can find them in just about every fish store, they are usually 5-6 bux. All it is is erithimysin? If you have a skimmer keep an eye on it it will foam like crazy. I know that chemicals are not the right way to go, so don't flame me. But to get through a bad case real fast, and then do a significant water change, you can't beat the EM tablets.

Fuzz
 
water flow and low nutrients for long term success. Make sure the skimmer is working properly and then reevaluate your water flow situation. worked everytime for me
 
I have heard of people pointing a powerhead straight at this stuff and get no results. I think the more flow thing is just something people heard somewhere and so they keep saying it. Before I used the EM tabs. I did EVERYTHING could, heavy skim water straight at it with no results. Use EM tablets to kill most of it get it under control at least and then do what you gotta do as far as water parms.

Fuzz
 
I have thought the same thing about flow. I had a moderate case after neglecting my tank for a fer weeks ( life gets busy). It seemed to me that it was worse in the areas with the most flow. If I changed the direction of powerheads the Cyano also shifted and grew more in the new direction. It took a few weeks to get rid of it all through water changes and being more mindfull of my husbandry. After I got rid of it I have never seen a hint of it again almost 1 year later.
 
I too am having a serious cyano problem. I am starting to agree with others that water flow just isn't enough. I have a 55 gallon tank with 6 powerheads on it, all pointing in different directions and I agree with Jerry, wherever I change the direction, the cyano grows. I have been monitoring nitrates (2ppm), my skimmer is working fine and I use RO/DI water. I don't know what else to do. I think I'm gonna change out my lightbulbs next, they are a year old and due for it. I've just spent the last hour and a half scrubbing rocks and siphoning out water. Hopefully it will make a difference. 21, tell your boss good luck, it's quite a battle. I'm not giving up yet!!!!!
 
I'm serious dude, go to the LFS and ask for EM Tablets. They will not hurt anything in your tank. I am not real big on chemicals in my tank either, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do. They won't (shouldn't) be more 5-6 bux. If you have a skimmer keep an eye on it, Cause there will be a lot of foam. It is safe and once you have it under control then get your water dialed in.

Fuzz
 
For my problem I went to HomeDepot and bought 3/8" tube (very cheap) and used that to siphon out water for twice weekly water changes. While siphoning I concentrated on the alge and sucking out as much as I could each time. I have a 110g and was doing 10g twice a week. After a few weeks it was all gone and has not returned. As I said earlier, my case was moderate and not BAD. I have heard that changing the lights might help if yours are old but I don't know for sure.
 
Personaly, I would not use the EM in my tank. It kills cyano (which is a bacteria) but also kills the beneficial bacteria that keep your livestock happy. If you do use it, make sure you test for ammonia every day, and do large water changes or use prime, and probably discontinue treatment, if you start to see ammonia climbing.

Of course, just like with antibiotics in people, you run the risk of breeding a super strain of cyano that will be more resistant to antibiotics in the future!
 
I gotta disagree with you, I know a few people including myself that have used them with no spike in ammonia, or ANY negative effect for that matter. As far as a super strain of cyano I doubt it unless it has been laying dormant in my tank for a year now. I used it once when I first set my tank up and have never had a cyano problem since. And the EM tabs. were a last resort for me, I tried everything I heard from anyone, flow flow flow was all I heard and water changes, which I was doing both and it occurred to me....... flow and water changes probably bring nutrient to the problem cause this stuff was totally out of control. The powerhead I had pointing right at this stuff was like a life line cause the cyano went crazy. Take the powerhead off and it subside a bit, and then the EM tabs and 24 hrs. later no cyano and none from that day on.

Fuzz
 
Excess nutrients will cause something to grow like crazy. The concept of water movement is:
Firstly, water movement is nor simply amout of water you have moving. How is the water moving? A wavemaker is really good. You need the kind of movement that will stir leftover food and detritus and keep it from settling out and building little nutrient pockets.
Secondly, water movement needs to be in combination with mechanical filtration of some sort. Now, if you have good DETRITUS SUSPENDING water movement the the filtration should be able to remove it.

That all being said, phosphate remover is not a bad idea. Cyano will thrive on phoshates seemingly even when no other factor is present.

Best of luck getting rid of it!
 
My 02.

Since Chemi clean has had no impact you should make sure your dealing with cyano ... dinoflagellates are often mistaken for cyano and chemi clean or antibiotics are not going to have any impact on dino's.
 
Read this thread and you will find your answer:

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

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6255711#post6255711 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by xtrstangx
First, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
How long has your tank been set up? If the answer is less than 6 months, its a phase of the maturing process. If it is more than 6 months, you have a nutrient issue.

What are your nitrates? Chances are the cyanobacteria is thriving on nitrates, especially if it is 5+. In some cases, the cyano will take up nitrates faster than your test kit can read them.

Do you use bioballs, sponges, canister filters, or any other mechanical filter? Mechanical media can trap detritus. They will convert the junk to nitrates, but rarely finish the process of changing them over to nitrogen gas. If you want to run mechanical filters, make sure you clean them often.

Do you have atleast 1 pound of rock to 1 gallon of water? Having 1 pound of rock per gallon is ABSOLUTELY necessary for denitrification.

Do you use a skimmer and how often do you do water changes? If you don't use a skimmer, get one. If you use a skimmer that is underrated, get a better one. If you don't do water changes, do larger water changes more often.

Do you use a refugium? I recommend one because they not only provide a place for copepods to propagate, but you can also grow macroalgae (such as chaetomorpha) which uses up the same nutrients as your cyano does.

What is your alkalinity? I have found that cyano usually thrives in low-alkalinity tanks. I suggest bringing your alkalinity up (I used to use baking soda):
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html

Do you use tapwater for your reef? The only water that belongs in our tanks is RO/DI. You can also use distilled, but it may be expensive in the long run (nano tanks excluded). "filterdirect" has good quality (low price) RO/DI on eBay. Ask for the Dow 75GPD membrane (they will exchange it for no cost). The Dow membrane is more effective at removing junk from your water

Secondly, chemicals. There are a few chemicals on the market which claim to remove your cyano from your tank. Using these chemicals will remove the cyano most likely, but they do not remove the nutrients that the cyano is living on. Cyano will return or you will be stuck with another algae.

I battled cyano for a while. If your tank has just started up, its a phase that every tank goes through. Just wait it out and don't give up. If your tank is older, then you have a nutrient problem. More water changes of larger volume, skimmer maintenaince (and possibly a better skimmer), feeding less, etc

If you have cyano on your sand bed, DO NOT DISTURB YOUR SAND BED, especially if it is a DSB. This will cause very bad problems and can crash your tank.

Are there snails that eat cyano? In my experience, no. I had 1 Turbo snail that ate it, but he didn't go after it often. You can try to remove it by hand (I like to use a turkey baster and just suck it up). Another good method is to get 1/2" vinyl tubing (available at Home Depot for cheap) and siphon from your display into a filter sock in your sump. This will export the nutrients just like chaetomorpha

Myths about cyano:
1. Bad bulbs cause cyano. While old/expired bulbs will encourage cyano to grow (spectrum shift), it cannot be the only cause for cyano. Cyano has to have nutrients in the water (specifically nitrates and phosphates)
2. Low flow causes cyano. Just like light bulbs, this condition will encourage cyano to grow, but it cannot cause a cyano outbreak without nitrates and phosphates. Increasing the flow will help, but isn't your main problem.
3. Turning off your lights for a week. I suppose you could do this, it will kill what cyano you have now, but you still have the nutrients! You'll also have some angry fish and coral :lol:

Hopefully everyone can add something to this thread. I do not claim to be a marine biologist or even an expert reefer, just sharing my experiences with cyano.
Click to expand...
 
I'll jump in.

EM/Chemi-Clean/Red Slime Remover - all ver similar. Initial doses wiped out cyano. Then it everntually returned, and now dosing this stuff did NOT work. Why not? Some of it always survives, and is antibiotic resistent. An unfortunate dilemma.

I'm battling a new round of cyano that appeared a few weeks after I put in new PC bulbs. My nitrates are zero. I grow chaeto in my sump, it grows quick, I prune it, it keeps growing - so it's doing it's job. I have Phosban in the sump to absorb phosphates. I feed lightly. I light only about 9 hours/day. I use RO/DI.

Yet the cyano grows...
It grows right on the glass where powerheads are bouncing flow off it - it doesn't care about flow.
 
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