I just can't beat this cyano

[brandon429]

They sure might and if a good feed web is set up for them, could be perpetual

 

[Jl330]

They sure might and if a good feed web is set up for them, could be perpetual

It was an experiment.

Still going to manually remove and clean my tank.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Vivid

Do you mean vibrant ?
It has a potent organic carbon source and will fuel cyano.
The die off of the algae it does kill will also release nutrients and such and fuel cyano.

Hate to do lights out. Too many corals.

I'll increase water changes, decrease food, siphon it out and try peroxide. Any particular peroxide to use?

Feed the fish healthfully, scrub , siphon as you planned.

Peroxide you can try, do a test cup and see if has effect.
But it will help.
Myself , I avoid it.
Any food grade 3% works.

 

[Jl330]

Do you mean vibrant ?
It has a potent organic carbon source and will fuel cyano.
The die off of the algae it does kill will also release nutrients and such and fuel cyano.



Feed the fish healthfully, scrub , siphon as you planned.

Peroxide you can try, do a test cup and see if has effect.
But it will help.
Myself , I avoid it.
Any food grade 3% works.

yes vibrant.

And now that you mention it, it has gotten worse since then. I have no other algae. So now one more thing to eliminate. I've been thinking it would help and its doing the opposite.

So plan of action tomorrow is 20%water change after manual removal, cleaning the canister and removing mechanical filter media, skipping the vibrant dose that was scheduled, and filtering my food.

I'll continue bau from there. I think that should do it.

Also going to hang my lights in my new canopy tomorrow so they'll be a bit higher above the tank. That may or may not help.

 

[thewedge]

As if you needed more advice...I had good success with Dr. Tim's ReFresh and Waste Away combo until my deep sand bed became a cyano factory. In the end I got rid of the dsb and my cyano issues. But it may be a good long term and natural solution. Check out his site for more info. But I would also rinse frozen food and do weekly water changes, be on top of changing gfo, and feed once a day.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

yes vibrant.

And now that you mention it, it has gotten worse since then. I have no other algae. So now one more thing to eliminate. I've been thinking it would help and its doing the opposite.

So plan of action tomorrow is 20%water change after manual removal, cleaning the canister and removing mechanical filter media, skipping the vibrant dose that was scheduled, and filtering my food.

I'll continue bau from there. I think that should do it.

Also going to hang my lights in my new canopy tomorrow so they'll be a bit higher above the tank. That may or may not help.

Yup and go slow. It'll fade.
Myself , In a canister filter I only run floss and carbon. The floss is cheap and you can throw it out. And it sits in the top so it's easy to work and clean.

The V does kill algae , but it has its pros and cons.

As if you needed more advice...I had good success with Dr. Tim's ReFresh and Waste Away combo until my deep sand bed became a cyano factory. In the end I got rid of the dsb and my cyano issues. But it may be a good long term and natural solution. Check out his site for more info. But I would also rinse frozen food and do weekly water changes, be on top of changing gfo, and feed once a day.

+ 1 on the dr tims.
I just use one and only.

I don't rinse food. I have two Dsb in my 55. And no cyano most of the time.

 

[brandon429]

Wedge I agree. Vs nitrifiers, those are competing heterotrphic strains just like mb7 bacteria and they have an online history of battling cyano. Those bacterial competition enhancers are a fine prevention strategy and unlike vibrant if they don’t work on primary target, they don’t cause collateral invasions.

 

[smoothmove]

Just chiming in. I had a cyano problem and tried chemiclean which worked for about a month.

I did heavy skimming and 50% water changes a week- I used seawater and it didn't fix it.

I manually removed the visible stuff and stopped doing water changes. In a month, the cyano started to die off on its own. I am thinking with my water changes, I was feeding the cyano. Just a theory.

Could this explain why it persists water change after water change?

 

[brandon429]

Not sure. It doesn't persist after fixing the sandbed source of the issue though, there's something about those beds...

Most were changing water but leaving a bed that would cloud the tank massively if disturbed. That cloud was a mix of both feed and the invader, I think they take refuge inside the upper layers of a sand bed

 

[Jl330]

Not sure. It doesn't persist after fixing the sandbed source of the issue though, there's something about those beds...

Most were changing water but leaving a bed that would cloud the tank massively if disturbed. That cloud was a mix of both feed and the invader, I think they take refuge inside the upper layers of a sand bed

It really started after I got rid of my goby who stirred the sand constantly.

He was just a pest and tried to kill my coral.

Im going to try to attempt to siphon out some of the sand.

I also had the issue above with the outbreaks happening with water changes. I do think the new water is feeding it.

I do think my root cause is the nutrients.

I did wake up this morning and notice its receding but my cerith snails and crabs have been at work. I think there's really something to stirring the sand.

 

[Duraticate]

Best of luck to you and your tank. I believe i deal with a strain of cyano on a daily basis. Its green instead of red. I used chemiclean one time when i had the red cyano and it worked but a strange coincidence one of my clownfish died the next day. So decided to not use it ever again. With that said i turned up my flow and directed to move around everything. I started to feed less and weekly water changes. Now with the green cyano or whatever it is which it acts like cyano. I physically move it into the water column to get into the filtration and removed through my sump/skimmer. I have also noticed that when i suck air through my powerhead and create tiny bubbles you can see it starting to physically disappear like i used chemiclean. I feed heavy now and do water changes when needed but i also have a well established tank that is very diverse which i believe helps.

 

[Travis Stewart]

Make sure water you’re using to do water changes is 0 TDS. I changed all my filters when fighting it.

 

[hubble]

It took me about six months to get rid of mine. But its been gone for a while now. I was really getting tired of weekly water changes, scrubbing the rockwork with a brush, netting the floating stuff, lights out, chemi-clean. It would always come back in a day or two. Then after a cleaning day with a large water change it just completely went away and has never returned

 

[Jl330]

I need to start mixing up my own salt water instead of buying it from the lfs. I think that would make a difference.

I got in the tank early this morning and cleaned out everything I could see. Going to mount the lights up in the stand shortly and then head over to the store when they open.

Trying the no chemical approach.

 

[Brew12]

You've been given some great advice. At the very least I would pull some sand and stir the rest every day. Try to get it cleaned out.

One other thing you may want to try is to add an iron supplement. Your system may be iron deficient which, along with nutrients trapped in the sand, can cause cyano/dino issues.

 

[Jl330]

I just pulled the lenses on my black boxes for better spread. I'm wondering if the light reaching those low lit areas may help too.

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

It really started after I got rid of my goby who stirred the sand constantly.
He was just a pest and tried to kill my coral.
Im going to try to attempt to siphon out some of the sand.
I also had the issue above with the outbreaks happening with water changes. I do think the new water is feeding it.
I do think my root cause is the nutrients.

I got same issue with algae after removed the diamond goby too and for sure it's just an annoying fish that spit sand everywhere in the tank.
I did remove sand along with each water change and algae/cyano show up less and less each day, also I found out my power head didn't work at its max peak cause it's to too old and worn down so I replaced it, I got more flow along with less place for waste build up and cyano soon goes out of my system.

 

[Jl330]

Okay maintenance day is complete.

Manual removal of all visible cyano I could get
20% Water change
Siphoned a small amount of sand out without getting crazy with it.
Mounted lights 12" higher and removed lenses



Current status

 

[saltwaterpicaso]

water changes usually feed cyano its a bacteria that can make its own food I would go no water changes vacuum daily into a filter sock with the lights out and dosing either h202 or bleach your choice it will kill it and the tank will be fine I have really high end corals and even at a week of darkness at a time nothing gets hurt

 

[Jl330]

Update

As of yesterday I saw it trying to come back. Was going to manually remove today because it wasn't enough to be able to mess with.

This morning, the sand bed is perfectly white. Its all gone.

Well, there's one small patch behind some rocks I can't get to but even that is receding. I think the copepods are eating it. My tank looks better than it ever has.

I did keep the gfo in the filter but only a small amount. I'll keep up with cleaning that more frequently.