The War against Cyano

[cd5]

At a lfs, the owner told me that bumblebee snails will eat red slime cyano, is there any validity, I have the circulation, I use RO/DI water, my nitrates are around 5ppm(trying to zero them out), my next level of thinking is finding something that may eat it or maybe trying one of those phosphate sponges products since I don't test for phosphates,
thanks for in advance

 

[lando]

Your next step should be actually testing for PO4. Test both your tank water and source water (Ro/DI). Nitrates at 5 are most likely not the problem. I do not know if the bumblebee snails will eat teh cyno. I have not heard of that before. To get rid of the cyno you have now you can use a product called Chemi Clean by Boyd Enterprises, INC. It worked great for me. Remember that it is not a cure, you still need to find and eliminate the source. It is most likely PO4. Good luck in the battle...Lando

 

[malkore]

are you skimming?
I always ask this, because I used a terrible skimmer, and had terrible cyano. I switched to a better skimmer, and within a week my cyano was gone. No other changes to my tank setup.
PO4 went from .07ppm to undetectable too.

 

[phases99]

I've got bumblebee's and they haven't helped my cyano . I'm in the same boat as you, I do not want to take the Chemi-Clean route but it's been 3 weeks and I am losing my patience.

 

[lando]

Chemi-Clean sure worked wonders for me. It cleared my cyno up in less then 48 hours. I just replaced three filters and my DI membrane and now all os well. Like I mentioned previously, finding the root of the problem is imparative, however, using the Chemi-clean sure helped me get a jump start on the problem.

 

[SALTY72]

www.garf.org get reef janitors, i gave up on cyano and tried these, mexican hermit crabs and snails, they actually work. they eat the stuff like candy, its great plus they are cool to watch.

 

[greggsvt]

Depending on how bad your Cyano problem is Chemi Clean might not work. I have put that stuff in my tank and it did'nt do a thing.

 

[cd5]

Thanks for all the advice, I think I will probably go with the good skimmer, I hear good things about the Remora and the BakPak, I do have a wood bubble skimmer, but I am told they are not as good, maybe that will combat the problem, and will look into a phosphate test

 

[SYLVERXRS]

Adding a better skimmer did the trick for me. I had a prizm skimmer and went with a remora, and now I have no problem at all. I also used chem clear with no luck. It helped but not even close to having a big impact.

 

[Nate C]

Chemi-clean is a shortcut - it attacks the bacteria and may also kill beneficial bacteria in your tank. Look to the root cause...

If you have a junk skimmer, upgrade it.

If its a new tank - be patient, it will pass.

If its an established tank - consider cutting back on your feedings and/or changing your light cycle. cyano needs 2 things to grow, food and light. An excess of either of these will make your job more difficult.