Life after Dino algae.....do I nuke the cyano?

[revhtree Verified Admin]

So I’ve been having a major cyano outbreak since getting rid of Dino algae. Last week I siphoned out as much as I could, changed out my GAC and bolstered my cleanup crew.

I’m so tempted to nuke the cyano but what do you advise me to do?

Thanks!

 

[CNDReef]

I added biodigest and did a semi black out( didn’t actually cover the tank , still got natural light) for 3 days
Tip came from @PSXerholic and it definitely hit the cyano hard. Still have a couple of patches but nothing major. Hoping it’ll balance out on its own

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Thanks. I am tempted but I would rather deal with cyano for a little while than invite dinos back!

 

[Crimson]

I hear you, I dealt with both but cyno is the less of the two evils but not by much.

Not sure how biodigest would help, that just adds more bacteria. Unless it some how competites with cyno.

I found that my UV helped with both but not foolproof.

 

[dvmsn]

I have hit the cyno and had dinos return. I would let it run out for a while. There is a light at the end of that tunnel!

 

[Crimson]

I have hit the cyno and had dinos return. I would let it run out for a while. There is a light at the end of that tunnel!

Or a never ending cycle of GHA --> Cyno --> Dino back to GHA then dry goods section lol.

 

[Crashjack]

I’m in a similar boat. After dinos, I had a GHA breakout. Nutrients were high due to raising them to get rid of the dinos and when the dinos finally crashed, the lack of uptake and the higher levels I created caused nutrients to skyrocket and left me with a beautiful field of GHA. I stopped adding nitrate/phosphate and started removing GHA. After that was mostly gone, I started back testing and nitrate/phosphate were back to zero. I started dosing nutrients again, but much less amounts than when fighting the dinos. I started getting diatoms, cyano, and a brown algae or bacteria that looked similar to the dinos but didn’t produce air bubbles and only grew on patches of sand (no rocks). Also, the GHA started getting worse again. I continued to slowly increase nutrients and added more CUC. The GHA is now almost all gone and the brown algae or bacteria seems to get slightly better every day. I can’t tell if the cyano is getting better, but it isn’t getting any worse.

I guess my point is, keeping nitrate/phosphate at above zero and shoring up my CUC appears to be slowly fixing my problems, though time will tell.

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Anymore feedback for the Monday day crowd?

 

[dankreef]

Yo. I would check your n/p. If they are high do a water change then dose chemi clean or pure i can't remember the name for the cyano stuff specifically, is what I would do. In my experience that stuff works wonders on cyano with zero ill effects. If your waters at low N/P I would skip the WC and dose it. Cyano comes from nitrates jumping around so the die off probably jumped your nitrate up. I would also feel like running some GFO when going through anything like this helps with excess P that gets released anywhere from cyano death and it gets rid of the silicates in the water. I just got done dealing with this same setup in my 420. GL

 

[dankreef]

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[Dilan Patel]

I would get rid of it once and for all with chemiclean. Nothing has really happened when i have used it in my new tank as well as my reef tank so I believe it to be safe. I dont do waterchanges after due to me being lazy. so my skimmer always overflows(rn it is overflowing lol) but I just run some carbon and take out the medication

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Yo. I would check your n/p. If they are high do a water change then dose chemi clean or pure i can't remember the name for the cyano stuff specifically, is what I would do. In my experience that stuff works wonders on cyano with zero ill effects. If your waters at low N/P I would skip the WC and dose it. Cyano comes from nitrates jumping around so the die off probably jumped your nitrate up. I would also feel like running some GFO when going through anything like this helps with excess P that gets released anywhere from cyano death and it gets rid of the silicates in the water. I just got done dealing with this same setup in my 420. GL

I would get rid of it once and for all with chemiclean. Nothing has really happened when i have used it in my new tank as well as my reef tank so I believe it to be safe. I dont do waterchanges after due to me being lazy. so my skimmer always overflows(rn it is overflowing lol) but I just run some carbon and take out the medication

Thanks for the input but I want to make sure y'all saw that I'm just getting over dino algae?

I know what causes cyano and how to get rid of it but when it comes to inviting back dinos I want to be very careful! HA!

 

[KrisReef]

When cyano is threatening to smother stuff, I try siphoning first, and if it persists I reach for Boyd's tiny spoon and shut the skimmer off for a couple of days. When I restart the skimmer I have a routine to wet skim /water change the tank to dilute nutrients and replace old water with new, which als helps.
Otherwise, I plan on stepping up the maintenance to lower nutrients, or get them in low balance. If the system is new, I expect to deal with dinos, and then cyano, and possibly GHA depending on what I've stocked the tank with, but in older tanks when any or all of these gunk suckers show up it is typically after I have let the routine maintenance slack-off a bit.
I also put my fish into low carb diets if the nutrients start creeping up, they suffer more during cyano outbreaks than my corals do. My wife gets after me when the fish start looking gaunt, so the battle wages on, and on as she sneaks them rations.

 

[leepink23]

I got control of hair algae and cyano with a good algae scrubber, never dealt with Dino’s though, good luck though because cyano is so frustrating!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Thanks guys. I can beat Cyano no problem. I have done it many times. I'm just asking those who might have dealt with dinos and then cyano. I don't want to trigger the devil algae again!

 

[n4s]

What is your method of getting rid of the cyano?
After my dinos I got cyano. I let it ride out for 6 weeks or so. I then turkey basted small sections at a time a few days apart. Until most the cyano was gone. This took about an additional 2-3 weeks. I wanted to get rid of the cyano slowly so no chemi clean or anything like that to let the tank get a chance to get an equilibrium.
I would be hesitant if using any form of chemicals to get rid of the cyano because that gets rid of it fast and all at once for the most part. Doing that may give the dino a chance to grab a hold again. And we all know "nothing good happens fast in a reef tank".

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

What is your method of getting rid of the cyano?
After my dinos I got cyano. I let it ride out for 6 weeks or so. I then turkey basted small sections at a time a few days apart. Until most the cyano was gone. This took about an additional 2-3 weeks. I wanted to get rid of the cyano slowly so no chemi clean or anything like that to let the tank get a chance to get an equilibrium.
I would be hesitant if using any form of chemicals to get rid of the cyano because that gets rid of it fast and all at once for the most part. Doing that may give the dino a chance to grab a hold again. And we all know "nothing good happens fast in a reef tank".

No method for me except manual removal right now. Just being in the same boat as you have been I want to be very careful! Thanks!

 

[revhtree Verified Admin]

Well I couldn't wait so I nuked the cyano with chemiclean. This is day two and the cyano is almost gone. I will report back on if I woke up the sleeping giant!

 

[Viner87]

Well I couldn't wait so I nuked the cyano with chemiclean. This is day two and the cyano is almost gone. I will report back on if I woke up the sleeping giant!

Oh wow.. do you have any coral in there at the min? I’d love to nuke mine, but I’m too committed with coral now I think