Lfo's advice helping cyano troubles

[FinnyGyrrl]

Howdy!! My 6-month-old tank came down with CYANO BACTERIA, sliming every possible surface. Avoiding antibiotic resistance was my goal, so I wanted to gently deal with it.
I asked Lfs for advice. His first question, what was I doing regarding the sandbed?
Well, I told him I vacuumed it, about 1/4 of exposed bed during weekly water changes. He told me to stop that, immediately! It traumatizes the bacteria, pod & sandbed crew, who keep Pace with the nutrients. Also, it can unlock nutrients which are safely undergoing their cycles inside. He described it as a human population struck by a hurricane or extreme disaster! It takes time for the microfauna to rebuild, and then, Boom! I was destroying their factories & homes...Again!
It suddenly made SO MUCH SENSE. I had never previously vacuumed my bed, before watching some YouTube videos, with a happy person vacuuming his dazzling white sandbed. And, this tank was the first time to observe BLANKETS of slimy cyano covering everything!!!
So, after prayer, hours of reading, and watching the tank, I believe the following actions contained the outbreak. In less than 2 weeks, it melted away.
1. Stopped syphoning sandbed.
2. Toothbrush scrubbed all the rock, syphoned off the cyano floaties!
3. Added Dr. Tim's Eco-balance, at less than recommended dosage due to O2 concern (skimmerless tank.)
4. Added 1 smallish Turbo snail. The smooth kind. (My old fatties are in a larger tank, with "no small frags" to relocate!).
5. I had previously experimented with photo-period reduction until the corals visibly almost cried. I just gave up, ran a normal 8 hour white, 10 hour blue, and even added a blue bulb. Reducing light did not in my case impact the cyano as much as I hoped, so, concentrated on coral health instead.
The turbo snail literally tripled or more in size in less than 1 month.
So, don't be afraid to let the sandbed "do it's thing"! After all, it is alive, and it only wants what's best for the tank!!
Had pods been noticably in poor supply, I would have also added more.
Since ceasing weekly ritual of Sandbed Chaos, have witnessed new micro-fauna (limpets) multiplying, of whose presence I had been previously unaware!!!
Yes, my nutrients are usually on the higher end, but with leaving the substrate alone & adding Dr. Tim's Eco-balance, living sandbed is taking care the tank.

 

[Maggie321]

Great advice! This is what more LFS should do. Coach customers to success. So glad your tank is doing so well! Where's the pictures?

 

[ReefSapper]

This was interesting, thank you for sharing. My tank is about 6 months old and i am also fighting cyano right now, it is mostly on my sand bed in areas of less flow and i do vacuum it when doing monthly water change so perhaps i will stop that. I have heard both schools of thought on this, many say dont touch it and many say vacuum it, i would be interested to hear some more people chime in with their thoughts.

 

[Elude82]

To weigh in on the vacuuming. I have never in 6 years ever vacuumed my sand bed. To me, vacuuming is for freshwater pebble beds, to get out fish/food waste.
First, glad you listened to your LFS advice, as Maggie said it’s nice when a LFS gives you good advice and wants to see you succeed.
This is my mindset, to ocean does not have a magical vacuum that sucks up the sand bed, instead it has:
1. Constant Flow, Make sure the tank has no “dead spots” of flow. Purchase an additional Powerhead if necessary.
2. Livestock that stirs/sifts the sand bed. Might want to consider getting a Goby, one known for sifting sand well.
3. For now, cut back the lights to run no more than 8 hours.
4. Remove as much Red Slime as possible by hand.
5. Keep up with water changes routinely.
6. Make sure you are topping off with RODI water only.
7. Only feed as much as needed.
Doing those simple things will have your problem go away, and stay away. Good luck, and hope it clears up ASAP.