cyano issue

[ClamKnuckle]

I have what looks to me like cyano in my 90 gal tank. The only thing in the tank is LR and a cleaner crew. since i don't have fish, over feeding isnt a problem. I plan on changing the flow in my tank around some to hit the effected areas. I also plan on upgrading the skimmer i have. I understand you want to remove as much of it as you can, but if its just a thin film on the rocks and glass how do you remove it? I cut down on the time the lights are on and I use ro/di water. Any thing else i can do? I want to get rid of it before adding anything to the tank.

 

[ellisz]

I feel your pain! I have been battling for awhile myself. I remove it by taking a small line of tubing and siphoning it out the display with this line. You can start the siphon easy enough by sticking it up to a PH. I only feed every other day(blender mush), try to run phosguard, use RO water, etc. Still has me in its clutches.

I have tried to re-direct my PH's which has done the best but my cyano is on the substrate mainly and it is had to get flow everywhere. I have 3 maxi 1200's and a mag7 return on my 75.

 

[Nitrate]

I know I'm gonna get yelled at for suggesting this, but here goes...
After I followed all the great advice I received in AA forums, multiple large water changes, siphoning off, reduced feedings, upgraded skimmer, increased current, even got rid of two fish and moved a third to another tank and my cyano got worse!!!!

In the end I gave up and treated my tank with Poly-Ox. Made by Kent Marine. After about a week I noticed the Cyano was dieing off. I have an old canister filter that I rigged up to use like a vacuum cleaner. I filled it with carbon and cleaned all the substrate, dumping the cleaned water over a poly pad back into the sump. I did one more water change and have had little to no problem with Cyano since (about a month). Whenever I do see it creeping back I pull out the canister and sweep it up again.

 

[Hara]

so then what you are saying is that the treatment with chemicals is not a cure all.


anyway, if you have nothing in there that requires lighting at this moment, shut off all your lighting for a week. This will help you get a handle on the problem...continue the water changes and siphoning and it will eventually die out.

 

[WarOrks15]

is that the red stuff. i had some of that and i did a large water change and then the hermit crabs ate it all up. they did a great job too. i had a patch that was about 8 in long and about 3 in wide. but i have not had a proble of it comeing back yet.

 

[Nitrate]

the hermit crabs ate it all up. they did a great job too.

I could be wrong, but I think most hermits avoid Cyano.....

As far as chemicals are concerned they are far less than a cure all and I use them only as a last resort. I doubt that the chemical by itself would have cured my situation, it combined with lots of work seemed to do the trick.

 

[Overstocker]

Chemi-clean by Boyd will clean it up in 24 hours.

Turn off the skimmer because it makes it overflow/bubble crazy until you do a large water change (it is a clarifier also) but your tank will be fantastic looking the next morning. I battled with the stuff for a few weeks and finally went chemical! Couple weeks later and no sign of the stuff still. It doesn't mess with any other algae in the tank, just the red slime.

 

[revhtree]

Not an attempt to hijack this thread, but for all us newbies out here,
What exactly is Cyano?
What does it look like?
What will it do to your tank?

Thanks!

 

[steve-s]

What exactly is Cyano?

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanointro.html

What does it look like?

Green

Red

What will it do to your tank?

Other than being unsightly, It will smother corals and coralline.

Cheers
Steve

 

[sparkchaser]

I agree that chemi-clean works great. I had Cyno from Jan-Apr, And I did everything to get rid of it. Nothing worked, I was stirring the sand every day because it looked so bad. My tank went from a cool addition to the living room, to a big eye sore. I tried chemi- clean, and it was all gone in a couple of days, and has not returned since. Over 2 months now.

 

[WarOrks15]

well the stuff i had in my tank was a red hair like slime. after i did the water change the red hermit crabs came and ate it all up. it only took them about 2 day i would say.the red hermit crabs were the scarlet reef crabs. i dont think the dwarf zebra hermits ate it, i think it was only the scarlet reef that did.

 

[revhtree]

So Cyno ;ooks like green algae? How do you tell the difference? I have a bunch ofthat green stuff right now, on the back wall of my tank.

 

[Atari]

Strictly speaking cyano should be blue/green.. but the more common kind seems to be the red one.

 

[Nitrate]

The Cyano in my tank only grows at the very bottom of the glass just above the substrate. Otherwise its on the substrate itself and covers decorations and rocks where the water flow doesnt hit it.

Early stages it looks like a film, then becomes more of a blanket like the pics in a previous post showed.

The shell in the picture is supposed to be pure white..

 

[ClamKnuckle]

so tell me more about this chemi- clean stuff...
is it safe for fish and snails and all th elittle things living in and around my LR?
Or will i have no cyano but everything else will be dead too?

 

[Overstocker]

It did not kill my peppermint shrimp, my bi-color blennie, clown fish, polyps, shrooms, or hermit crabs. It did not kill any green algae either. The water was crystal!!! clear after using it but I fixed that after my water change

I have seen no hint of the red stuff since. The stuff is about 15.00 a little vial of powder but the little bottle will treat over 300 gallons (hard to believe when you see the vial)