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Going through a cyanobacteria outbreak I decided to research it and reacquaint myself with the facts on this plight.
[FONT="]Ecology[/FONT][FONT="]
Cyanobacteria is, as it name suggests a bacterium and not an algae. The name comes from the Greek word [/FONT]kyanós[FONT="] or blue. Cyanobacteria coloring ranges from the ugly brownish red that we mostly see in our tanks to a very bright, almost neon, green, to black. Cyanobacteria is able to perform photosynthesis, thus feeding itself from the lighting we use in our tanks.
image
Cyanobacteria are found from the driest and coldest points on earth to the warm wet oceans and our reef tanks, on land as well and is a huge converter of nitrogen, helping terrestrial plants fertilize and grow. Cyano is what helped changed the earth in to an oxygen environment, many millennial ago. They are thought to be the 1st O2 producing organism, on earth (1)
Characteristics
Cyanobacteria can be unicellular or in colonies. The colonies can form filaments or even hollow ball shaped figures. Cyano is the most genetically diverse organism on earth, which accounts for their ability to survive. (2) They are believed to be 3.5 billion years old.(3)
Now that we have a little history, how do we combat it? Well there are several schools of thought on what to do to keep the problem in check. You can never eradicate it, the cells will always be there. We can only control where it grows and how.
Nutrient control
By controlling what nutrients are in the tank and what we add to the tank via feeding, salts from water changes, phosphate that is bound up in our rock work, we remove or reduce the necessary nutrients by carefully feeding. We rinse our food, we use a good quality salt, we remove detritus that accumulates. All of these are good husbandry and will also keep other nuisance algae from popping up.
Antibiotics
Being a bacterium, antibiotics, like Erythromycin, work well at killing off the bacteria. The problem you run into with this is you can make the bacteria antibiotic resistant and cause problems later on, if you ever have to treat your livestock with antibiotics.
Flow
Increasing flow makes it hard for the bacteria to adhere to the substrate. It doesn't get rid of them, in so much as it keeps them from attaching to and creating the unsightly mats we find in lower flow areas.
Lighting
Old bulbs will cause a spectrum shift and possibly speed up the growth of the bacteria. Regularly changing your bulbs to keep them in the correct spectrum will help keep this from happening. You can turn your lights off for a few days, with no harm to your corals, and that will help clear up your slime algae problem.
Additives
Additives, like Red Slime Remover is all organic and, from the reviews on it, works very well as long as you follow the instructions. Rawphos is an iron supplement you place in a reactor or low flow area of your sump to absorb phosphates.
[/FONT][FONT="]Conclusion[/FONT][FONT="]
Cyanobacteria is here to stay. You can control the spread of it but it will always be in your tank and system. The best way to control it is to siphon out as much as you can, control the amount of nutrients going in to the tank and remove the supply. Turn the lights out for a day or two and most importantly, stay on top of it. For those hard to reach areas where you can't siphon, blow it off the rock work and around corals with a turkey baster.
(1) http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...nobacteria.htm
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria
(3) http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/dia...slimealgae.htm[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
[FONT="]Ecology[/FONT][FONT="]
Cyanobacteria is, as it name suggests a bacterium and not an algae. The name comes from the Greek word [/FONT]kyanós[FONT="] or blue. Cyanobacteria coloring ranges from the ugly brownish red that we mostly see in our tanks to a very bright, almost neon, green, to black. Cyanobacteria is able to perform photosynthesis, thus feeding itself from the lighting we use in our tanks.
image
Cyanobacteria are found from the driest and coldest points on earth to the warm wet oceans and our reef tanks, on land as well and is a huge converter of nitrogen, helping terrestrial plants fertilize and grow. Cyano is what helped changed the earth in to an oxygen environment, many millennial ago. They are thought to be the 1st O2 producing organism, on earth (1)
Characteristics
Cyanobacteria can be unicellular or in colonies. The colonies can form filaments or even hollow ball shaped figures. Cyano is the most genetically diverse organism on earth, which accounts for their ability to survive. (2) They are believed to be 3.5 billion years old.(3)
Now that we have a little history, how do we combat it? Well there are several schools of thought on what to do to keep the problem in check. You can never eradicate it, the cells will always be there. We can only control where it grows and how.
Nutrient control
By controlling what nutrients are in the tank and what we add to the tank via feeding, salts from water changes, phosphate that is bound up in our rock work, we remove or reduce the necessary nutrients by carefully feeding. We rinse our food, we use a good quality salt, we remove detritus that accumulates. All of these are good husbandry and will also keep other nuisance algae from popping up.
Antibiotics
Being a bacterium, antibiotics, like Erythromycin, work well at killing off the bacteria. The problem you run into with this is you can make the bacteria antibiotic resistant and cause problems later on, if you ever have to treat your livestock with antibiotics.
Flow
Increasing flow makes it hard for the bacteria to adhere to the substrate. It doesn't get rid of them, in so much as it keeps them from attaching to and creating the unsightly mats we find in lower flow areas.
Lighting
Old bulbs will cause a spectrum shift and possibly speed up the growth of the bacteria. Regularly changing your bulbs to keep them in the correct spectrum will help keep this from happening. You can turn your lights off for a few days, with no harm to your corals, and that will help clear up your slime algae problem.
Additives
Additives, like Red Slime Remover is all organic and, from the reviews on it, works very well as long as you follow the instructions. Rawphos is an iron supplement you place in a reactor or low flow area of your sump to absorb phosphates.
[/FONT][FONT="]Conclusion[/FONT][FONT="]
Cyanobacteria is here to stay. You can control the spread of it but it will always be in your tank and system. The best way to control it is to siphon out as much as you can, control the amount of nutrients going in to the tank and remove the supply. Turn the lights out for a day or two and most importantly, stay on top of it. For those hard to reach areas where you can't siphon, blow it off the rock work and around corals with a turkey baster.
(1) http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty...nobacteria.htm
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyanobacteria
(3) http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/dia...slimealgae.htm[/FONT]
[FONT="]
[/FONT]
