Battling Cyano

[marvelousone]

I have been fighting Cyano for a long time. 6-7 months. I cleaned some the sand and did a water change. This morning the sand had red all over it. I finally have had enough with it. I took out all my rock and scrubbed the down. Sucked some of the sand out. I will remove a little at a time during water changes. I scrubbed all 4 walls. It is acrylic tank which is a pain to clean. If I can't beat this stuff in a month. I will be taking the tank down and get rid of it.

 

[ndrwater]

Have you heard of Chemiclean? It works and will beat down Cyano quickly. Just be sure to follow the instructions to the letter..

 

[marvelousone]

Have you heard of Chemiclean? It works and will beat down Cyano quickly. Just be sure to follow the instructions to the letter..

Yea I used it twice and it comes back in about a week.

 

[ndrwater]

Then you need to delve deeper into the root cause. Where are your phosohates and Nitrates? Cyano is actually a bacteria and not an algae.
It is part of the "new tank uglies" oftentimes. I battled it for quite a while when my main system was new. With RODI, a UV steralizer, frequent water changes, lightening up on feeding.... And Chemiclean, I was able to get past it. Hang in there. You aren't the only one...

 

[marvelousone]

Then you need to delve deeper into the root cause. Where are your phosohates and Nitrates? Cyano is actually a bacteria and not an algae.
It is part of the "new tank uglies" oftentimes. I battled it for quite a while when my main system was new. With RODI, a UV steralizer, frequent water changes, lightening up on feeding.... And Chemiclean, I was able to get past it. Hang in there. You aren't the only one...

The tank has been running for about 4 years. I started it on zeovit. The first year it was nice. With my busy schedule it went south. It had a bad brown snotty slime. I got through that once I stopped zeovit. The last 6-7 months got cyano. when it first started I change ro/di unit. Tds is zero out of unit. Changed my bulbs 6 months ago. Treated it with Chemiclean. Now , Testing phosphates and nitrates at zero. I have used nopox to make sure they are lowered because I know I have to have some po4 and no3 that the cyano is missing up the test. When I was doing week water changes it seem to getting worst. I went to once a month and it helped slow it down but not go away completely. Out of all of the tank that I have had of the years. I have never had this problem like this. This is my first acrylic tank and I blame it on that. lol.

 

[Sherman]

Have you try siphon whatever cynao you can?
Are you dosing any carbon?
And dose bacteria

 

[Katrina71]

Don't let a little cyano make you give up.

 

[Robert McCreary]

i had the same issue with my tank. i was thinking of using fritzzyme 460, has anyone heard/used this stuff before? https://fritzaquatics.com/product/fritzzyme-460-saltwater-aquarium-cleaner/
and most importantly do you think itll help? maybe start dosing fritzzyme after you use chemiclean?

i just started doing more water changes (sorry that doesnt help, each tank is different) and directed my wavemakers closer to the sand bed. the sand is as good as new for about 2 days now. so yeah i didnt buy the fritz 460

i hate chemiclean the powdered stuff. it caused a small cycle and my bacteria went out of wack for about a week. it caused more problems in the end with a major hair algae take over like i have never seen before.

 

[marvelousone]

Have you try siphon whatever cynao you can?
Are you dosing any carbon?
And dose bacteria

I siphon all the time. Siphon the sand Saturday and Sunday morning it is back. Dosing carbon like nopox. Yes . Have the black carbon in a reactor no. I have tangs and try not to use it. I do have some though.

 

[marvelousone]

Don't let a little cyano make you give up.

I will not give up. I will get rid of the arcylic tank and go with glass.

 

[marvelousone]

I might order some coral snow or vibrant cleaner and try that.

 

[dwest]

I will not give up. I will get rid of the arcylic tank and go with glass.

My advice is to make sure, with a handheld tds meter only (in-line are junk), that your source water is 0 tds. And do weekly 10 % water changes.

 

[marvelousone]

My advice is to make sure, with a handheld tds meter only (in-line are junk), that your source water is 0 tds. And do weekly 10 % water changes.

I have a hand held one and it is at zero. When I did weekly it would get bad the next day. I would have to blow off the rocks to knock it down. I just can't get it to stay gone.

 

[marvelousone]

Yesterday I worked all day removing all the rock and scrubbed them off. Removed some sand and vacuumed the rest. Come home today after work and it is back.

 

[dwest]

Yesterday I worked all day removing all the rock and scrubbed them off. Removed some sand and vacuumed the rest. Come home today after work and it is back.

Your corals look healthy...keep growing them and try to not worry about your cyano. (Easy to say, tough to do)

 

[Sherman]

I siphon all the time. Siphon the sand Saturday and Sunday morning it is back. Dosing carbon like nopox. Yes . Have the black carbon in a reactor no. I have tangs and try not to use it. I do have some though.

Good you siphon out the cynao. Stop dosing any carbon source like NOPOX or vinegar. Instead dose bacteria

 

[MSB123]

I defeated it along with Dinos with a massive UV sterilizer. I used an 80 watt on a 150 gallon tank for a week and they both disappeared and I ran it for a total of two weeks and haven't seen them since. I now use the 80 watt on my 200 gallon tank and I have never seen them back

 

[mcarroll]

The presence of cyano bacteria means that you kind of reset the biological clock in those spots in the tank and things are trying to restart. If you keep starving the tank it will keep resetting.

Stop carbon dosing and stop trying to control nutrients and eventually green algae should replace the cyanobacteria and eventually Coraline algae should replace the green algae. If you already have significant Coraline growth in the tank then that might come first.

 

[marvelousone]

I stopped carbon dosing. I had cyano before I started carbon dosing. As far as coaline growth. I grows like crazy on the sides of the tank. Clean it off and two days later it is starting appear again.

 

[marvelousone]

I will get bacteria to try that.