Oh no! I've got cyano. What do I do?!

[Reefbuds]

I've recently had an outbreak of red cyano. This is something I've never dealt with. What do I do?! Help!

 

[kazikage42]

Water changes, feed less, more flow, and manually siphon out as much as you can. If that don't work, you can try chemiclean. But that way is just a bandaid, you got to know where the source is coming from to eliminate it.

 

[rtparty]

First and foremost you need to figure out your nitrate and phosphate levels. I bet they are out of whack. Getting them in line (10ppm nitrates and .10ppm phosphate) will help your tank balance and let the good stuff grow.

 

[Reefbuds]

Water changes, feed less, more flow, and manually siphon out as much as you can. If that don't work, you can try chemiclean. But that way is just a bandaid, you got to know where the source is coming from to eliminate it.

I added a carpet nem about 2 months ago. Ever since, my bio filtration has been trying to get to the point it needs to. I have been struggling with nitrates since I added the nem but I'm not sure about phosphate, I don't have a test for them. This just happened in about the past week tho. I did have to add a t5 to my LED to provide enough light and it seems as tho the cyano is growing only where the T5 hits hardest.

 

[Reefbuds]

Nitrates around 15 to 20ppm. Sometimes spike higher for a day or so but usually stay around that threshold.

 

[kazikage42]

I added a carpet nem about 2 months ago. Ever since, my bio filtration has been trying to get to the point it needs to. I have been struggling with nitrates since I added the nem but I'm not sure about phosphate, I don't have a test for them. This just happened in about the past week tho. I did have to add a t5 to my LED to provide enough light and it seems as tho the cyano is growing only where the T5 hits hardest.

I would use the t5 less or not at all to see if it'll help out. Nitrates are a bit high. Phosphate must a on the high side too if you're getting cyano. How's your filtration?

 

[TbyZ]

I've recently had an outbreak of red cyano. This is something I've never dealt with. What do I do?! Help!

above all, keep calm

https://www.thespruce.com/cyanobacteria-blue-green-algae-1378628

 

[rockskimmerflow]

First and foremost you need to figure out your nitrate and phosphate levels. I bet they are out of whack. Getting them in line (10ppm nitrates and .10ppm phosphate) will help your tank balance and let the good stuff grow.

Agree wholeheartedly. Most cyano outbreaks I've dealt with in various tanks are directly linked to a phosphate level that is way out of line with the nitrate reading. Generally too high phosphate levels as compared to nitrate IME.

I would use the t5 less or not at all to see if it'll help out. Nitrates are a bit high. Phosphate must a on the high side too if you're getting cyano. How's your filtration?

I've never encountered a tank where lighting was the root cause of cyano so I don't think that's a viable fix in this situation. Your point on phosphate is likely spot on though. I think if the OP checks their phos they'd get some very helpful intel on the source of the issue.

Also, just a general point for the OP. Keep your parameters in line and the cyano should have no ill effect on your corals unless it is spreading out of control. Often times aggressive attacks on a fairly benign nuisance like cyano cause instability in a tank and irritate the corals more so than if the problem was dealt with in a measured, methodical manner.

 

[Reefbuds]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm most certain my excess nutrients is the root cause of this algae outbreak. I'm looking into ways to treat this without extreme chems. Anyone have experience with DrTims Waste Away?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Waste away is great. Use some.
Fwiw I have high po4 and no3.

I have no cyano.

It feeds on ammonia, animos, co2 and light.

Built up detritus will give off ammonia as it rots, the good bacteria eating it gives off co2.

So no Bactria food for a while. Limit feeding a bit. Do a cleaning , add dr tims, look at your flow, and it's posssible too that the cyano will just burn out the food source now that you added a spectrum it likes.

 

[Reefbuds]

Waste away is great. Use some.
Fwiw I have high po4 and no3.

I have no cyano.

It feeds on ammonia, animos, co2 and light.

Built up detritus will give off ammonia as it rots, the good bacteria eating it gives off co2.

So no Bactria food for a while. Limit feeding a bit. Do a cleaning , add dr tims, look at your flow, and it's posssible too that the cyano will just burn out the food source now that you added a spectrum it likes.

So this makes me think my new addition of the T5 caused the outbreak. I have done nothing differently than add the carpet and t5 recently. <6 months. Altho, the carpet definitely added bio load. The T5 had added a LOT of light which is needed. Altho, I do need the T5 to sustain the carpet which is prime concern. Maybe I could cut the T5 for a while and see if that helps?

 

[Reefbuds]

I would use the t5 less or not at all to see if it'll help out. Nitrates are a bit high. Phosphate must a on the high side too if you're getting cyano. How's your filtration?

Filtration, 55g tank 90g carbon filtration with 65 gal skimmer.

 

[rtparty]

I would use the t5 less or not at all to see if it'll help out. Nitrates are a bit high. Phosphate must a on the high side too if you're getting cyano. How's your filtration?

Cyano doesn't immediately mean phosphates are high. Quite the opposite in my case. 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates lead to my cyano outbreak.

 

[Katrina71]

Don't freak out. It's just cyano.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

It's not the cause, no. But im sure it appreciated it.

In my cube rescue it was bound phosphate creating thick mats and you could see even on freshly scrubbed rock the cyano begin to form. The only thing I did was blow it off and feed less and do weekly water changes. I actually increased the amount of light I was using during that time. The not went down and po4 did to. So quite literally , the cyano ate its way out of a job.

Don't freak out. It's just cyano.

Yup.
4 billion years old , it's not going to be erradicated, but it can be reasoned with.

 

[Reefbuds]

Thanks everyone for the info. I have started feeding dramatically less am going to do more frequent water changes until it is dealt with. Would you reccomend trying to remove the algae that has accumulated or will this spread the cyano around the tank via flow?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

No you can remove the mass. It's odd to think of , but it's a bacteria so it's already everywhere in your tank.

 

[Reefbuds]

No you can remove the mass. It's odd to think of , but it's a bacteria so it's already everywhere in your tank.

Hmm, this is quite odd to think of. I wonder, why does it choose to mass in these specific locations? Does this mean it is always present but can only group itself under certain circumstances?
And why does it appear as algae I wonder?