Best way to beat Cyano bacteria

[Tiger Brown]

korallen-zucht Cyano Clean worked for me in about 2 weeks time.

 

[MysticSea]

I used different macro algae species which, absorbed the nutrients faster than the cyanobacteria could so I never had issues after. The main genus I used was Caulerpa.

 

[lapin]

Cyno. also sucks oxygen from your tank, that's what the big deal is.

And I always thought that:
By producing and releasing oxygen (as a byproduct of photosynthesis), cyanobacteria are thought to have converted the early oxygen-poor, reducing atmosphere into an oxygenating one, causing "the great oxygenating event" and the "rusting of the Earth" which dramatically changed the composition of the Earth's life forms and led to the near-extinction of anaerobic organisms

 

[FragileReefer]

First battle - I went straight to Chemiclean. It worked as directed and I had white sand and zero cyano. But it killed all of my sponges. I had a 4 inch seasquirt that melted over night. It did not bother any of my bubbletip or rock flower nems or the inverts that live on them. Featherdusters did well too. But it did kill all of my sponges and none have grown back; but the cyano did!.

Second attack!

I doubled the waterchange, twice a week instead of once. Manual removal. Run chemipure blue for carbon and phosphate, replacing it weekly. Feeding less. And watching my phyto and Amino dosages. IMO one of those may be the cause. It seems to go in cycles for me. At the start I saw it all go away, but now it's returning. Less than before but it's still in the system.

Natural way is slow and frustrating. If your not interested in getting your hands wet and really getting a feel for your tank, it's not the solution for you. But adding a chemical to kill anything in your tank has a chance for collateral damage. It killed something I enjoyed and in the end I would have out in the effort to keep it alive.

Keep up the good fight!

 

[xiholdtruex]

I rip cleaned my tank and rinsed my sand to get rid of my cyano issues I had for months!

 

[Timfish]

WHat has worked very well for me for about 2 decades is manual removal with small water changes. Considering how critical the coral holobiont is to the health of a coral and cyanobacteria (ie, diazotrophs) are an essential component of it I'm very leary of dumping any thing in a system as a quick fix.

 

[Maddlesrain]

I tried a little of everything I guess: manual removal, added a GFO reactor, and started vodka dosing because I also had hair algae.

Both the cyano and the hair algae have been gone for a long, long time, but I actually don’t attribute the above to the reason it finally completely disappeared. I think a combination of better lighting and having a refugium that could easily outcompete the bad stuff finished off the job for me in the end. Not to say the other factors didn’t help at all, but I no longer use GFO consistently, dose any vodka (or run a skimmer for that matter), and am running my tank off the no water change method as it stands.

 

[MnFish1]

I have used chemiclean (worked well) - I have also siphoned off areas using a python (about 2-4 gallons at a time - then done a water change daily (always did the siphoning at the top of growth (when the most cyano was there - it also worked well)

 

[Dave_J]

What in your experience has been the best way to beat cyano bacteria in your tank?

What in your experience has been the best way to beat cyano bacteria in your tank?

Natural:
Increased size of refugium to about equal to display tank.

 

[Punchanello]

I used Chemiclean as directed and it worked because I haven't had cyano since. I'm not going to blame the Chemiclean but there has been a chain reaction that has thrown my tank way out of wack and and it's taken me a month already and i'm still struggling.

 

[DibsOnMcRibs]

I increased my flow, did a few extra small water changes, and blew off patches of cyano with a baster.
I have had two outbreaks and this has worked well each time.
I don’t like to add products to the tank if I can avoid it.

 

[ArmyReefer]

I like others used chemiclean however I had to take some extra steps. I accidently zero'd out nitrates and phosphates in my tank and was battling one of the worst Cyano outbreaks I have seen. I did three treatments of chemiclean and still was having issues. It was not until I started dosing Nitrates and Phosphates in conjunction with the Chemiclean that it worked like it should. Admittedly I let it go way to long before starting to treat and paid the cost by losing lots of corals.

 

[Jay Tosi]

Chemi-clean worked great in my biocube, but took a few doses in my sister's just make sure you have a bubbler and you do the water change after. It made a serious difference in just one dose it completely cleaned my biocube which was coated in red slime.

 

[Teddy00024]

Properly sized/illuminated refugiums work wonders... I took my GFO reactor offline after implementing my refugium w/chaeto and have never looked back.

 

[Dave_J]

Natural:
Increased size of refugium to about equal to display tank.

I should mention that I keep very limited fish - two medium clowns in the 29 gal display.

 

[Spanky05]

I may be wrong but I feel as though if you can overcome these types of issues without adding chemicals that you'll be more likely to avoid them coming back in the future.

I had some green cyano that came in on a frag plug (stupid me didn't remove the frag from the plug once received) and it spread all over the sand and creeped up onto my rocks.

Kept up with water changes and it would recede and then come back. Ordered some chemiclean in a moment of feeling overwhelmed but decided to not use it after chatting with a buddy about it.

Moved my powerheads around and kept up with water changes and the cyano dramatically lessened over the course of about a week. There are still places where it will show up here and there but it's nowhere near what it was.

 

[Terry Mattson]

After 3 months of manual removal, lights, gfo, refugium.... used chemaclean. And it worked. Has not come back. Sand is clean like new.

 

[sag2]

I too battle it, I've used Chemiclean once and it was a temporary fix and it made my skimmer go crazy. I do a 15% water change every 2 weeks. I test with a Hanna ULR phosphorus tester and my phosphorus runs between 5ppb and 8ppb my nitrate runs between 3 and 7 I run a GFO reactor and dose a mixture of Vodka and Vinegar and it still comes back.

Any thoughts?

 

[JasPR]

Chemiclean will get rid of it, temporarily, but will not beat it, it will come back. It does work but can be dangerous, it greatly effects O2 and can cause undue stress, i have many times seen it spur fish disease like ick because of stress due to lower O2.

me too..... the cure can disrupt an established or a crowded system

 

[WilliG]

Chemiclean will get rid of it, temporarily, but will not beat it, it will come back. It does work but can be dangerous, it greatly effects O2 and can cause undue stress, i have many times seen it spur fish disease like ick because of stress due to lower O2.

Do not forget cyano's jerk brother, DINO's. I once used Chemiclean to rid cyano, and it's big brother DINO's decided to come in for a visit for round 2.