cynobacteria problem/how to get rid of it

[reeftankman]

I have a 37 gallon reef tank I set up with established live rock and sand in August. I now am getting several patches of cynobacteria on my rock.
I water change weekly, have clear water, and the fish and corals all seem happy. How can I get rid of it, or is this just something that everyone has to go through...

 

[HoopsGuru]

Probably due to the events of the tank change in August. Allow things to get back in balance, however increasing water flow to the areas and limiting/eliminating nutrients as much as possible would help as well.

 

[reeftankman]

Thanks for your advice...maybe I will put another Maxie pump on the other side where there is only the protein skimmer, and cut down on feeding...

 

[seaham358]

Have you tested the water for nitrates and phosphates? Do you use tap water? Test that also..

 

[reeftankman]

Yes,
I have tested, and I only mix my own salt water using bottled purified water...
I may buy another, less powerful maxie pump tp circulate water on the other side of my tank by protein skimmer...

 

[hcuellart]

I would really check on your water source, as sometimes bottled water contains high levels of nitrates and phosphates... If your water is RO/DI then your problem might be water circulation and an extra PH might suffice.

 

[malkore]

what is your exact phosphate level in ppm or mg/l?

lack of current, or presence of phosphates...that's what drives cyano.

 

[edwardpaul]

How about your lights, how old are they?

 

[90_berlin_joe]

I also have this issue in my 3month 90gal. Use RO water all level are on the money however i do not test for phosphates. Should i do this or just keep it under control?

 

[malkore]

test for phosphates. including testing your R/O water

 

[seaham358]

Any amount of PO4 is enough to bring on cyno. Test all waters and post numbers. It is a battle you want to jump on quickly.

 

[Mbeef61]

i had this problem for awhile and was certain my phosphates werent coming from an outside source...i have a little larger bioload that i should have and water changes that fast were getting expensive and time consuming...i invested in better flow and that helped but there were still spots...so i invested in a PHOSBAN REACTOR...look into that they are really nice and simple to use

 

[Brad]

My personal experience with cyano might be helpful.

I battled a serious problem for nearly 1 year. The only way I could keep the system alive was to carefully siphon off the cyano and do water changes nearly daily while I attempted one cure, then another.

I cut back on feeding...which has cost me a number of detrivores, and seriously hurt my sun coral.

First, I checked Phosphates. I could not detect any, but used various phosphate removers and AC for a time without effect.

I replaced all the filters in my RO/DI equipment. No effect.

I replaced all my lights, including my MH bulb which was only 8 months old. No effect.

I desperately experimented with various cyano remover chemicals like chemi-clean and red slime remover. I do believe that the red slime remover actually had an effect, but it was very short term.

I began aggressively vacuuming (sp?) my sand bed. (Which turned out to be pretty dirty!). This led to the eventual complete removal of the sand bed and plenum that was in my sump. No effect. (as a side note, I did discover than my sump sand had clumped and was making it difficult to maintain Ca/Alk/Mg levels)

Finally...I made the big financial decision to replace my Prism Pro with a Euro-Reef CS6-1 skimmer. I thought that the Prism Pro was working fine. I certainly had to clean it regularly. My system is maybe 40 gallons, so the CS6-1 seemed like pretty excessive skimming. Whamo! Overnight removal of a problem that lasted nearly 1 year!

That's my experience for what it is worth!