please ID?? Possible cyano outbreak.

[shawnt90]

Flow is only an issue when low flow areas allow food to accumulate and decay, leading to added nitrates. High flow will not stop cyano from growing. I’ve had it on the front part of my powerhead, right in the flow. It’s all about eliminating its nutrients. In this case, it looks like your phosphates are the likely cause.

Jesus. I'm glad in over 10 years my powerheads have been spared. This stuff sounds like a nightmare.
Where do you get it from lr it has to get in the tank somehow.

 

[paulweck]

I believe I introduced it when I put my LR in the tank I got it from a guy on CL. I popped up about a week after putting it in the tank and now 2 months later its starting to spread

 

[mr_X]

still not free of it?

 

[paulweck]

No not yet I haven't don't the treatment yet I have a big order from BRS so I'm waiting for everything to get here first. My sand bed is all messy to I'm wondering if this has to do with the cyano

 

[mr_X]

that looks like diatoms.

 

[paulweck]

Im not sure its diatoms. It looks them but just at the surface under the first layer of sand its almost like a carpet I've cleaned it out with a gravel rake and it came up in sheets still made my tank dusty tho.

 

[mr_X]

i can see the reddish spots. it's not diatoms. crazy. i thought for sure it would have been gone by now.

 

[paulweck]

Well I haven't treated it yet so I don't expect and changes yet. Now my question is what should i be expecting when I do treat it with chemiclean. Will it all get released from the lr and my filter cleaned it all out?

 

[carey]

When i used the chemiclean it actually peeled off the rocks and was gone by morning. I did a large water change after that even though it says it's un-necessary. Fingers crossed but I haven't had a single spot of it back since.

Good luck!

 

[paulweck]

Did your cyano grow on your sand bed? That's what I'm most concerned about it looks bad

 

[carey]

I also had some in my 125g on the sand only and dosed that tank. It was also gone by morning though it did drive my skimmer nuts for like a week afterwards. LOL

 

[paulweck]

Do I turn off my skimmer and my bio-pellet reactor during the treatment? Or should I leave everything on I think I'm going to start the treatment tonight.

Thanks for all the help guys

 

[carey]

I would shut those down for the treatment, just in case. Put it in tonight and tomorrow morning it should be all gone.

 

[mr_X]

definitely shut them down. the skimmer will overflow immediately anyway. you'll have to do multiple water changes to remove it.
it will remove all cyano from the tank. i believe it's the multiple water changes that keep it away.

 

[paulweck]

Ok what are the talken about? Like 3 20% pwc one per day? Or more. I wanna make sure I do this right.

 

[paulweck]

also is this stuff truly safe for all fish, inverts and corals?

 

[carey]

I had no ill effects to my fish, shrimp or corals. Even the mandarin and scooter were fine. I only used it as a last resort though. If you can't find and address the original cause it may just re-appear again over time.

 

[paulweck]

thats my problem ive tryed pulling it out scrapping it out and upping my water changes. and i wanna kill this stuff before i start dosing the tank( Weekly water changes are not kepping my Calc Alk and Mag stable) also adding my gfo reactor since its been 8 weeks since i installed my bio-pellet reactor.

my phospates are at .02 and my nitrates are at 0..... the stuff just keeps growing

 

[carey]

Yeah, this might be the ticket you need to start fresh. I know why i got it in my tank, I overfeed cause of the dragonets i have so the trates are always high. But since using that treatment I haven't had any cyano and hardly any green algae either. Still got the trates though. LOL

 

[paulweck]

ya i was over feeding for a while too but have since cut back and hoping a fresh start along with my new gf reactor and my bio-pellet reactor and a 20%pwc every 2 weeks will keep everything in check. im making up water right now for a 20% pwc once its mixing i will be adding the chemiclean to the tank.

should i do the first water change 24 hours after or 48 hours?