phases99
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I have finally won the month long battle I had been having with Cyano in my 6 month old 46g reef tank.
It started as a small patch on the sand and over the course of 2 weeks spread all over the substrate and was just starting to grow on the rocks. I tried many different tactics which did not appear to work at first. I am not sure that any one tactic solved the problem but it was probably more of a culmination of the following:
1. Added 2 additional PH's to get 20x water flow, experimented with positioning to get balanced circulation.
2. Checked my bulbs but were only 4 months old. Started wiping down the acrylic lens cover daily if needed.
3. Tested my stored DI water and found that it was high in nitrites. Determined that bacteria was getting into the container. I dumped it all and now only make enough water for 1 week. (My tank never tested positive for any bad water parameters so its real important to test your water source).
4. Tried breaking up and siphon out as much Cyano as possible with 10% water changes. (I did 6 of these)
5. Cut down on the amount of feeding a little.
6. Cut my lighting down to 12 hrs actinic and 10 hrs Daylight (was at 14/12)
7. Used a Turkey baster and blasted the rocks. There was a ton more detritus on there than I expected. Hooked up my old Fluval to assist with removing it (I do not regularly use mechanical filtration).
8. Thoroughly cleaned my skimmer, ph's and kalk dosing container.
9. Bumped up my hermit population from 1 per 10 gallons to 1 per 4 gallons.
10. Added a large clump of Chaetomorpha to my refugium.
Within 2 days of #10 I noticed the cyano was receding. After a week it was completely gone. Hopefully this may help someone solve their problem. I wasn't going to use any chemical until I had tried everything. Good Luck.
Stephen
It started as a small patch on the sand and over the course of 2 weeks spread all over the substrate and was just starting to grow on the rocks. I tried many different tactics which did not appear to work at first. I am not sure that any one tactic solved the problem but it was probably more of a culmination of the following:1. Added 2 additional PH's to get 20x water flow, experimented with positioning to get balanced circulation.
2. Checked my bulbs but were only 4 months old. Started wiping down the acrylic lens cover daily if needed.
3. Tested my stored DI water and found that it was high in nitrites. Determined that bacteria was getting into the container. I dumped it all and now only make enough water for 1 week. (My tank never tested positive for any bad water parameters so its real important to test your water source).
4. Tried breaking up and siphon out as much Cyano as possible with 10% water changes. (I did 6 of these)
5. Cut down on the amount of feeding a little.
6. Cut my lighting down to 12 hrs actinic and 10 hrs Daylight (was at 14/12)
7. Used a Turkey baster and blasted the rocks. There was a ton more detritus on there than I expected. Hooked up my old Fluval to assist with removing it (I do not regularly use mechanical filtration).
8. Thoroughly cleaned my skimmer, ph's and kalk dosing container.
9. Bumped up my hermit population from 1 per 10 gallons to 1 per 4 gallons.
10. Added a large clump of Chaetomorpha to my refugium.
Within 2 days of #10 I noticed the cyano was receding. After a week it was completely gone. Hopefully this may help someone solve their problem. I wasn't going to use any chemical until I had tried everything. Good Luck.
Stephen
