Treatment options for cyano?

[Miami Reef]

If that was where it was I wouldn't be worried but it covers my purdy corals

Definitely do something about it. Corals should not be smothered by cyano, algae etc.

The first priority should always be health of corals.

I personally do not believe dosing nitrifying bacteria will have any drastic benefit to cyano. If it was that easy, everyone would do it.

 

[rmorris_14]

Somewhat relative to the OP thread but have you guys noticed that almost all mature tanks seem to have some form of cyano living in their sandbeds? Not on top but below and visible through the glass. I turkey baste my sand every water change and it still lives in there with its reddish hue.

Perhaps it's just part of the eco balance in a reef tank?

This the only place I get cyano on both my tanks! I Was wondering the same thing. I just stir the stand next to glass before each water change but it comes back by the following week. If I didn't know it was cyano, I would think its kind of pretty

 

[Simon Reefing]

Would y’all put it on a doser or just do it by hand?

 

[Sean Clark]

Would y’all put it on a doser or just do it by hand?

Just by hand. It should be all at once to be most effective; and you should only need to do it once or twice.

 

[Simon Reefing]

Just by hand. It should be all at once to be most effective; and you should only need to do it once or twice.

Resounds great! Just to make sure it’s 2.5 per gallon and not 2.5 per 10 gallons? I’m goin go to try it right now as well. My nutrients are in order and haven’t swayed but I can’t get cyano to go away lol. I always do water changes to. Thank you for your help!

 

[Sean Clark]

Resounds great! Just to make sure it’s 2.5 per gallon and not 2.5 per 10 gallons? I’m goin go to try it right now as well. My nutrients are in order and haven’t swayed but I can’t get cyano to go away lol. I always do water changes to. Thank you for your help!

Yes. To knock out Cyano, 2.5ml/gallon. The lower slower methods are better for things like green hair algae. Your corals will probably close up for an hour or two after dosing, which is normal. If you have thick mats of Cyano then follow up with another dose after 24 or 48 hours.

 

[Simon Reefing]

Yes. To knock out Cyano, 2.5ml/gallon. The lower slower methods are better for things like green hair algae. Your corals will probably close up for an hour or two after dosing, which is normal. If you have thick mats of Cyano then follow up with another dose after 24 or 48 hours.

Sounds good! Thank you I’ll give it a shot

 

[BrianH]

I used 2.5-3 ML per 10 gallons for 7 days. I would be very careful about adding 2.5ML per gallon.

 

[Sean Clark]

I used 2.5-3 ML per 10 gallons for 7 days. I would be very careful about adding 2.5ML per gallon.

Fair enough, we all have our own experiences to draw upon. Do you have any experience treating Cyano with H2O2 dosing at 2.5ml/gallon to share that would make you say that?

 

[Simon Reefing]

To credit Sean. This is what is happening as we speak after dosing 200 ML. All corals close instantly (when dosing 1.5 per 10 gallons corals would open after 5 min). Corals are all closed for about 2 hours now. Some zoas are opening up again. Tank is cloudy with a red tint to it (very light tint of reddish). Skimmer and UV are off(Skimmer is off because it overflowed since socks were dirty and ato put water in). I can say I can visually see a difference in Cyano by the hour. I never had a ton but I can see my sand being lighter and lighter and the rocks are not having a slime algae coating on them anymore. This is only after two hours I will update around the 5 hour mark.

 

[Simon Reefing]

Also going to turn skimmer on again for Oxygen just in case

 

[ScottB]

@Dan_P @taricha @ScottB

What causes cyano in aquariums? How do we remedy it?

Does cyano go away on its own, or is chemi clean the only solution for it?

I personally dealt with cyano in a tank that didn’t seem to go away until I dosed chemi clean. I feel reluctant to recommend anyone to dose this chemical, even though it worked for me.

I know Paul B has cyano is his 50+ year old tank.

What causes it? How do we treat it?

All tanks have some amount of cyano in them. It has to be one of the most common bacteria in salt water.

In my systems, they are fairly transitory and generally I see them when my PO4 creeps well ahead of my nitrates. Once I correct that, it can still take a few weeks or longer to settle down.

I don't sweat them too much. They aren't toxic, just visually annoying.

Chemiclean certainly kills the stuff, but then you have to contend with whatever surface competitor swoops in to fill the void they left behind. Sometimes you get lucky with a film algae or bacterial film. Other times dinos take that space.

 

[Simon Reefing]

Update: corals are still closed but they don’t look to stressed honestly I think they should be opened tomorrow hopefully. The tank is still cloudy but I turned my UV on to hopefully help. Skimmer is still off because it’s going crazy issue is it overfilled so everything went into the tank most likely the cause of overflowing now.

On the algae side most of it is fully gone already! Never had this much success even with chemiclean.

the reason for doing this is cyano was building on one of my large zoa colonies and it would come back after cleaning it off

So far so good!

 

[Sean Clark]

Update: corals are still closed but they don’t look to stressed honestly I think they should be opened tomorrow hopefully. The tank is still cloudy but I turned my UV on to hopefully help. Skimmer is still off because it’s going crazy issue is it overfilled so everything went into the tank most likely the cause of overflowing now.

On the algae side most of it is fully gone already! Never had this much success even with chemiclean.

the reason for doing this is cyano was building on one of my large zoa colonies and it would come back after cleaning it off

So far so good!

I hope you took a before photo to share your results.

 

[Simon Reefing]

I hope you took a before photo to share your results.

I’m kicking my self for not! I poured it around 2 PM went to the room to work a little and by 3:30 PM most of it was gone

 

[Uncle99]

I like Hydrogen as well. Is this dosage safe for all corals and inverts and pod’s?

Keep in mind, when you use hydrogen peroxide, you kill some good and bad bacteria, your corals will not enjoy that much and may shrink.
Kill the Cyano….but at what cost?
Did not affect fish or inverts.

 

[CourtNjoeZreef]

I’m kicking my self for not! I poured it around 2 PM went to the room to work a little and by 3:30 PM most of it was gone

I have the dose measured out and it's scary

 

[CourtNjoeZreef]

I have the dose measured out and it's scary

I keep looking at the cup in a great debate. 277ml is alot

 

[Miami Reef]

I keep looking at the cup in a great debate. 277ml is alot

Can you split the dose in half and dose it 12 hours apart? I think that’s more safer and logical. It should still be very effective.

It’s unlikely to lose corals from this. I’m reading as long as the pure h2O2 cloud doesn’t hit any inverts directly they will be fine.

Based on your h2O2 test, the cyano completely dissolved when in contact with h2O2, this means you aren’t dealing with the spirulina variant and h2O2 will be extremely effective.

 

[Miami Reef]

The spirulina variant is treated with chemi clean. This is based on @twilliards studies.

I actually did try dosing h2O2 before chemi clean, but it didn’t work on my spirulina case (the cyano didn’t even dissolve in the h2O2 cup test).