at least 2 weeks and CYANO IS STILL THERE!!!!

[Gwitness]

I posted a couple weeks back about my cyano and I am just getting nowhere I feel like.....I have a 180 mixed reef and I DO NOT want to put a band aid on this issue with any medicines. 3 days of no light, or stuff like that....I have an 8 bulb ATI unit that runs for 6 hours with all the lights on and I have a small refugium set up in my sump...My parameters are all in check...nitrates "read 0" and so do phosphates, but obviously they are being used up quick enough....I feed once a day but not much at all, I do not feed corals or anything else!! I do 15 gallons every friday for water changes. The only thing I have been dosing as of late now is the continuum product called CLEAN-M .....Not sure if it takes awhile to have the bacteria kick in or not, but the cyano isn't getting worse, but I feel like it's at a stand still. I have also read that water changes can actually make the cyano keep growing because of trace elements or something like that? I just need some opinions on what else I can do with this... I have sucked it up with the hose during every water change, but it comes back the next day. Or maybe I am doing the right thing and I just need to be more patient. Just let me know if anyone can help! Thanks so much!

 

[d2mini]

I don't see lights out as being a bandaid.
I will help you at least get it under control, and without chemicals.
But you will want to try to remove as much of it by hand as possible first, because that stuff dying off is toxic.
When you turn the lights back on I would do a large water change, run new carbon and skim heavy for a few days.

But as to the initial cause, i have no idea. I had it in my tank too.
I wondered if it too much accumulated gunk in the sand bed or behind the rocks? I dunno.
But that stuff is feeding on light and nutrients. So cutting off the light will help for the time being.

 

[cdness]

So I recently dealt with this and will give you the run down of what I did... I first did the 3 day lights out trick and it went away, only to come right back. I then tried 5 days which didn't have a different effect. Then someone said to try 3 days off, 2 on then another 3 days off. Same thing, it came right back again...

Then I was told to try doing the lights out then a significant water change immediately before turning lights back on. I did this and it went away for a little longer but not much at all. I tried both a 25% and 50% water change with no help.

I tried the bacteria additives to get rid of it naturally and all it did was cause it to stop spreading as fast. But then after awhile it just came back.

I was told my sandbed could be releasing nutrients and I should vacuum it out. Well I tried that but section by section as to not cause any major spike when the sand was stirred up. I think I lost a quarter of the sand from my tank while vacuuming it out.

My lights are LED and new so no spectrum shifting issues there. My skimmer is always working well. I do semi-regular water changes and do run small amounts of carbon and GFO.

Everyone who commented had the same recommendations and to be honest they didn't work to PERMANENTLY end the issue....

Come to see the tank today and you will see there is no cyano in the tank. What did I do you may ask. Well I caved and did the one thing I said I would never do. I added Chemiclean to the tank at the recommended dose on the box. I followed the directions as they had them written. I did the water change and crossed my fingers. The Cyano is still gone months after the treatment. I can say after removing the cyano, the corals are looking better, have better polyp extension, and I had no losses during the treatment.

This is just my opinion, but I truly believe there are some forms of Cyano that are extremely persistent and will never be removed without a chemical treatment. I despise adding medications to my tank and only do it in a hospital tank. However this was a display that had the issue and no choice but to add it there. I believe some people have removed cyano with water changes and no-light treatments. They are not bandaids. But with any issue, there can be many solutions or no solution at all.

 

[Gwitness]

It started when I switched from radions to t5 and I really think the problem was already there and then I switched lights and the sleeping giant woke up!! I just don't know the cause of mine either... Or maybe it was just a detritus build up over time or something.. I just have no idea.... When you say remove by hand u mean siphon it out right? I have been skimming very wet lately to try to get a lot out but I know that won't do anything... I always thought lights were a band aid just because I'm not getting to the reason of the issue.. I just nervous because of my acros

 

[saltyphish]

I changed my lights to leds and got an outbreak within a couple of days. I did the 3 days lights out with the tank wrapped in a blanket to keep outside light out of tank. Cyano disappeared but like everyone else came back. The only thing I did that cured the outbreak permanently is weekly water changes, feeding less, and cutting my lights back until it went away (not turned off just a shorter light cycle. Once the cyano disappeared I began to increase my light cycle until I noticed it coming back and adjusted the light cycle until it never came back. I also added a ATS from santa monica to help with extra nutrients.

 

[Gwitness]

Good to know.... And that's why I don't want to do the lights out thing because it's not fixing whatever is going wrong.... I really think my live rock is just leaking it out or something because I sweat I barely feed once a day and I don't feed corals or anything... And I always do weekly 15 g water changes.... Just crazy to me how out of control this got... It's so annoying

 

[fishroomlady]

One thing to check with cyano is to make sure you have good flow throughout the tank - I'm sure you've probably already checked that but just thought I'd mention. I have heard others finding good results with chemi-clean.

 

[G_Sanab922]

How old are your bulbs? If that's not the problem then I would stick to waiting it out with regular routine maintenance. Cut back the lights by a few hours and feed less, see where it goes from there. Cyano took a few weeks to go away in my experience. Do you have a CUC?

 

[cdness]

When you swapped to T-5 from Radion, what lamps did you choose to run?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

A number of folks have connected cyano with water changes and if you think you are seeing that, I'd stop them for a while.

They are not an especially good way to reduce nutrients anyway.

Reducing organics and nutrients int eh water will often help with cyano. Better skimming, more GAc, etc.

Usually I recommend GFO for phosphate, but if you want iron to be limiting, Phosguard or other brand of aluminum oxide may be a better bet, at least short term (although if soft corals shrink up, stop, as the aluminum may be bothering them).

Organic carbon dosing and/or some of the probiotic products may be worth a try. Normally I think them not needed with organic carbon dosing (vinegar, for example), but in a cyano situation, adding and driving other species of bacteria may be helpful.

If all else fails, an antibiotic treatment may be worthwhile, coupled of aggressive nutrient removal when they die. Also a lot of GAC to bind possible toxins the cyano release when dead.

 

[Gwitness]

THANK YOU EVERYONE for the responses and opinions! I agree that all of these options/advice have worked before and I guess I was being hard headed about not using the chemical stuff just because of my acros, but I am to the point now I am about to give in and do the medication.....As for flow, I have an mp40 and 2 of the jebao rw 15s in there....Bulbs are brand new because I just swapped from the radions about a month in a half ago. CUC I feel like my snails slowly have been disappearing and I know I have a nice amount of hermits left in there....Not sure if I should keep going with snails or not...I hate turning them back over all the dang time! Once again thank you for the advice everyone and I will be buying that medication this week at some point, followed by a big water change with carbon and some phosguard in the sump!

 

[Gwitness]

Should I run the carbon and phosguard while treating the tank? Also I think I need to turn off the skimmer for this process : /

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Should I run the carbon and phosguard while treating the tank? Also I think I need to turn off the skimmer for this process : /

What exactly are you going to treat with?

 

[Gwitness]

The only stuff I know of is that chemi clean product

 

[mike007]

As Randy suggestion slow down on the water changes. Every time you do a water changes you are adding nutrients such as trace elements etc. I had been battling this myself. What I have been doing is with a net I scoop out of cyano and I do not add any trace elements, coral food or anything thing else that will introduce nutrients. But I believe excess water changes were the cause of my issues. Cyano is under control now by implementing the practices. Hope this helps.

 

[DFW]

The directions for ChemiClean are on the package. Turn off skimmer. Remove carbon. Add lots of aeration! I have used it several times on my all acro system with success. Have your power heads churning the surface! Open windows of your house to get fresh air in house as much as possible during treatment. Antibiotics use up the O2 in the water! Add chemiclean. 48 hours later do 25% water change. If you still see some cyano, do another treatment. I have always done the water change, and then another treatment, and another water change. Then start skimmer, and add carbon. Use fresh chemiclean! It loses strength over time.

 

[Gwitness]

Will do!! Thank you everyone for the help

 

[DFW]

I suppose that a good way to aerate the water would be to leave the skimmer running, but not collecting anything. I don't have a skimmer, so did not think of that right away.

 

[Gwitness]

Great idea.... I didn't think of that either! I will definitely do that

 

[Gwitness]

What about ultra red slime remover? That will work the same right