getting rid of cyano

[melissfish]

my tank is empty for 6 weeks due to white spot, so i thought it might also be a good time to try and control this cyanos(at least thats what i think it is) its green and mostly on the back of my tank ever since i got corals and started using reef supplements. I increased the flow, water quality is good, and now im not feeding the tank, it has no fish in it. (LR Corals and inverts) I have heard that you can get rid of cyanos by reducing feedings and increasing flow, if thats the case can i expect it to just go away? or do i need to try something, ive also tried siphoning ang scraping, it comes back in about 3 days

 

[darb2]

high phoshpates are a common cause.

 

[lando]

Test your PO4 in your tank and in your source water. Do you use RO/DI water? Try adding more flow, how much do you have now? You can also try a product call Chemi-Clean by Boyd Enterprises, Inc. It works well to rid your tank of PO4 but you still need to get to the root of the problem.

 

[gear-head]

Here's how I did it ... your mileage may vary

PO4 was zero, I had good flow (4 powerheads), I used RO/DI and had only crabs, snails and rock. I "fed" the crabs once per week, I had only Actinic lights on for about 4 hrs per day.

Still I had cyano. Like you, I'd siphon it up, bang it would be back.

So ...
I siphoned it out one more time
I used one dose of Red Slime remover
I added two fighting conches

The conches headed straight for the cyano and began eating, the Red Slime remover took care of the rest.

I have not had any cyano since, and I have not had to use Red Slime remover again, and the conches are still there eating other stuff. (and possibly any small amounts of cyano that do turn up)

 

[malkore]

aside from fighting conches, I think mexican red leg hermit crabs also eat cyano.

Let me ask this...are you running a skimmer? is it a good skimmer?

I had cyano problems in a lightly stocked tank. I did have phosphates, around .1ppm...which IS enough to feed cyano.
When I upgraded my Prizm Deluxe to a CPR bak-pak, within a week my cyano disappeared. Essentially the skimmer removed more DOC's, which then never had a chance to become phosphate.

 

[seaham358]

Are you sure its cyno?? Can u post a pic... you say its on the glass.... Sounds like regular algae.. do you have snails if so how many. Cyno is usually red and grows on sand bed and lr I have never seen or heard of it growing on glass. Cyno can be green also and it traps or creates air bubbles do you have this?
Can you blow it off the glass? Or do you need to scrape it off. Cyno is loose and will blow away easy regular algae will not blow away and need to be scraped. How big is the tank and what clean up crew do you have.

 

[malkore]

my cyano grew onto the glass, but was primarily covering the sand bed.
I even had a little on the pre-skimmer of my Prizm (how's that for an omen that your skimmer ain't doing too good?)

 

[seaham358]

Thats when you know you have problems!!!!!!! Time to open the wallet....

 

[melissfish]

its trapping bubbles and is red or green on the glass. I have snails and starfishes but they arent interested in this slime. I added a 2000litre per hour powerhead and pointed it right at it, it helped to get rid of bubbles, but the slime is still there, it needs to be scraped off, it doesnt just blow off, so iff it is regular algae i should leave it there?? it is not on my aragonite substrate

 

[quarryshark]

I would scrape and siphon it at the same time of you can. Breaking it up will just allow it to spread.
With all you fish in qt, it should help clear it up. Much less wastes in the water for the next month or so, if its any consolation. At least its a good time to attack it.
Here are some steps you can take (worked for me)
Test for PO4 and if its indicated, do the following.

1. Do you use RO water? If not your should make the switch and work on doing some water changes. If you already use RO water, test your source water. You may need to add a deionizer to it. This is the most important step.
2. Siphon as much of it as you can. Breaking it up only helps it to spread. You need to do this as frequently as possible.
3. Run a PO4 sponge ( I use Kents) it will remove PO4. Won't solve the problem entirely, but until you find the source of the PO4, it will help.
4. Do you have adequate water movement? Any dead spaces in the tank? Cyno has a harder time setting up in a system with brisk water movement.
5.Do you have a skimmer? If so, is it producing daily amount of dark thick "skimmage'? Adding or upgrading a skimmer may help.

These are few of the key things that feed a cyno outbreak.