Cynobacteria and Nutrient Binding

[5Bucks]

I've been dealing with an ongoing outbreak of Cyno on areas of substrate and finally made some progress! Started a few months back when I let the phosphates get a little out of control like .026ish. Had Cyno on live rock at the time. Removed and scrubbed off what I could and after a month of doubling up water changes and increased use of GFO got phosphates under control. They've been .03 - .05 for 2+ months now. No more Cyno on rock, but continued to battle it on the substrate. Weekly vacuuming did nothing. It would be gone for a day and then grow right back. Was then advised that phosphates can bind to substrate and Cyno will continue to thrive in areas where it has. Solution for me, remove the substrate with Cyno growing on it. Worked like a charm. LFS further advised that bound phosphate can be released from removed substrate with a 2-3 minute bath in vinegar. Then rinse very well with tap water and let dry out completely. So far it's worked like a charm! Most of the Cyno was growing in areas of lower flow which I've since rectified. The lesson for me… If nutrients have been high at some point it can bind to rock and substrate so even when water is reading low nutrient it can still be available for use.

 

[EZMAC114]

I'm dealing with the same problem and I hate it lol....I don't like having red sand lol

 

[cginter]

I had the same problem for a while then I started dosing microbacter7 after about a months of use I no longer see cyano or gHa. I don't know how it exactly works but I was at the end of the road with that cyano and green hair algae so that's why I tried it.

But there are tons of reasons cyano could be in your tank... I my self could not find a reason other than my tank did not have enough beneficial bacteria alive in the tank to take care of the bio load.