Cyano is killing me

[ndz98]

This stuff is just a non stop battle for me. Given it's not like a crazy amount in my tank but it is there and it really just looks awful. It accumulates a lot on my sand bed. There is a little bit on the rocks. Usually when I do water changes I try to get as much as I can off the sand bed but it comes right back not even 12 hours later. All my parameters are in check and this is nothing new. This has been going on for probably 6-7 months now. I have tried to eliminate the cause by feeding my fish pellets and watching them eat each one, feeding once a day and not over feeding, frequent water changes, I've got a skimmer that is rated way higher than what my total water volume is, and I have tried chemipure. Now I know peroxide dosing is something a lot of people do to keep it away but what are the pros and cons? Would you see that as my only option now? How many mL per gallon over how many weeks, etc.?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

All my parameters are in check and this is nothing new.

What do you mean by in check? how old is the tank, dry or live rock? Hows you Ph swing and average PH. Are you dosing aminos?
How much light do you have? do you have a refugium? is it 24/7 or reverse? Do you use outside air?
a lot of stuff effects cyano growth.

 

[ndz98]

What do you mean by in check? how old is the tank, dry or live rock? Hows you Ph swing and average PH. Are you dosing aminos?
How much light do you have? do you have a refugium? is it 24/7 or reverse? Do you use outside air?
a lot of stuff effects cyano growth.

All rock that is in the tank started off as dry rock. I don't dose aminos. I don't use a refugium. And for outside air not sure if this is what you mean but are you talking about for the ph like by opening a window? If so, no I don't open the window. I use a sb reef light 16 in for lighting and if it helps I could put the schedule in here so you can see how I'm running it.

 

[cgd01]

This stuff is just a non stop battle for me. Given it's not like a crazy amount in my tank but it is there and it really just looks awful. It accumulates a lot on my sand bed. There is a little bit on the rocks. Usually when I do water changes I try to get as much as I can off the sand bed but it comes right back not even 12 hours later. All my parameters are in check and this is nothing new. This has been going on for probably 6-7 months now. I have tried to eliminate the cause by feeding my fish pellets and watching them eat each one, feeding once a day and not over feeding, frequent water changes, I've got a skimmer that is rated way higher than what my total water volume is, and I have tried chemipure. Now I know peroxide dosing is something a lot of people do to keep it away but what are the pros and cons? Would you see that as my only option now? How many mL per gallon over how many weeks, etc.?

I had the same problem. I use only RODI water, got a diamond Goby and a conch. Beautiful clean sand now.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

All rock that is in the tank started off as dry rock. I don't dose aminos. I don't use a refugium. And for outside air not sure if this is what you mean but are you talking about for the ph like by opening a window? If so, no I don't open the window. I use a sb reef light 16 in for lighting and if it helps I could put the schedule in here so you can see how I'm running it.

how old and what's the parameters?
I haev the SB too, the max intensity , heith over the tank and tank size will do.
And Yes, air and PH. Cyano likes co2. whether its being supplied by the air or by new sand and rock being exposed to low Ph levels. .

 

[iReefer]

I ve problem with red slime as well. But recently I started dosing vodka and it seem to help a Lil bit.

 

[ndz98]

how old and what's the parameters?
I haev the SB too, the max intensity , heith over the tank and tank size will do.
And Yes, air and PH. Cyano likes co2. whether its being supplied by the air or by new sand and rock being exposed to low Ph levels. .

Tank with rock has been running for about a year and 3-4 months now.

Alk-8.5 dkh
Calcium-430 ppm
Salinity-1.024
N03- 0 ppm
P04- < .04 ppm

Light is 1.5 feet from the surface of the water. Tank is 29 g (30x12x18)

 

[ndz98]

Also, I don't have much of a cuc but if I do remember correctly, I shouldn't have to rely on a cuc to keep algae away anyways, right?

 

[meir]

Mexican red legged hermits are really good at eating cyano, I just realized I've got a bit of a prob so I picked up a couple and they seem to do a good job. I mean it's worth the try, they do kill snails for shells if there aren't enough, so either make sure there's enough shells or make sure not to have small snails in the dt

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I shouldn't have to rely on a cuc to keep algae away anyways, right?

what else would you use? Also the other thing a good cuc including pods does is to make small bits of food even smaller for the bacteria in the poop and the bio filter to process it to get it sent to the skimmer. I should add good flow is also needed to keep stirring stuff up so it gets to the skimmer and mech filter if you have one. surface agitation also helps the gas exchange. prob know All that bit.

Are you in an AIO?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Have you done the cyano spirulina test? Might be a candidate for chemiclean too. Ive had best of luck without bottles n gfo really. that's why I start there.

 

[Travis Stewart]

New tank syndrome. Happens to the best of them. Increasing flow and getting a rodi unit with a TDS meter reading 0 was what helped me. It was at least 6-7 months by the time it was gone. I was doing weekly water changes also and siphoning out all of it. Hope this helps.

 

[ndz98]

Have you done the cyano spirulina test? Might be a candidate for chemiclean too. Ive had best of luck without bottles n gfo really. that's why I start there.

No I haven't done that test. I've never heard of it.

AIO? All in one? Lol not sure what the abbreviation is.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

AIO? All in one

yup.

the test
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/help-cyano-wont-go-away.283323/page-2

 

[sidney109]

i will leave my experience with that awful slimy stuff here just incase it may help, i fought it for like 4 months to no avail even through some shop bought slime killer that only seemed to get it go into suspension and block my filter socks quickly, what ever i tried i just kept going.

i tried the 3 days lights off trick and that cleared my display tank up until the point that i turned the lights back on and within a day it was back across my whole sand bed.

so at this point i knew i could clear it i just needed to keep it away and the only way i found to do this was to add a carbon source (in my case i started pellets) but on there own they were useless as like yourself i had no nitrate reading so i started dosing sodium nitrate as well.

after a month of running the pellets and to be honest i got the maths wrong so massively overdid my nitrate up to 20 the cyno is gone even though i still have nitrates at 5 so i can only guess it was the phos that was feeding it in my system.

if you are out of options i would say its worth a shot as it worked for me.