First thing's first - Know the facts about cyano so you can make informed decisions about how to treat it.
- It's a bacteria that behaves like an algae
- It has a hard time establishing itself in higher flow
- Different strains thrive on different resources
Step 1 - Do some water tests and see what your levels are, specifically for nitrate and phosphate. Fix levels that are out of whack.
Step 2 - Using some 1/2 inch tubing, siphon off as much as you can.
Step 3 - Increase the flow in the tank
Step 4 - Fight the bacterial war. Add good bacteria to overpower the bad. Microbacter7 and Microbe Lift Special Blend have been used with success. Alternately, try Dr. Tim's Waste Away but READ UP ABOUT IT FIRST.
Step 5 - Don't bother with band-aid solutions like Chemiclean unless you're going to solve the underlying problem first.
Flow is not going to really take care of the problem. Blowing it off just puts a tiny band-aid on it. It's Bacteria so it's in your water column even if you have small amounts in your sump.
Give us some back ground on your tank, are you testing and for what? How old is your tank
You can't use chem clean without a skimmer imo so let us know how your set up so you can get some help
This is my tank and its like 7 months old and i have 5 fishes and builtin skimmer in sump(no wavemaker and uv sterilizer).no water test done yet and using tap water
the best measure for you is to simply lift out that rock, and any other substrate it might be on as this tank matures, and rinse it off in a sink of saltwater poured over it use a light brush or even any triggered squirting device to dislodge. you can take myriad chemical and biological actions all shown to attack the colony
simple manual disallowance outside the tank is a powerful contender, and doesn't spread around bits as in tank work does, its true export.
your tanks substrate is larger than average and will take on a detrital loading 10x faster than an average reef, factor this, right now too new wont hurt.
in 6 mos? simple solution. or maybe a year, it ranges, but that's specifically an accumulative sand bed design and it will need to be forcefully vacuumed like a freshwater tank to avoid detrital loading, this is not like a typical reef where people do a hands off sandbed and the detritus will collect on top for siphoning, yours will go into the bottom of the tank. siphon it
occasionally, take everything out of the reef into holding buckets and take the whole sandbed apart and blast rinse it, put it all back, it isn't going to cycle anything. reacclimate the fish. do this as often as it gets cruddy, depending on fish waste incursion, feed, aging detritus etc.
always externally remove your invaders as a first reaction, we make giant threads on how that prevents lost tanks. giant ones. Its not that the chem or biological cheats are wrong, better, worse, its that among options forced reef control is cheap and the only true long term solution.
every mode other than this is a bandaid, since any invasion issues you have will be detritus driven/
I just got rid of both green and red cyano in my tank and sump. I have a 90g DT and 30g sump. I did 2 10g water changes a week for almost 2 months, increased flow with powerheads and an extra pump in sump, made sure I was not over feeding, removed as much physically as I could and made sure my lights were new and strong enough. Then It's just time. No chemicals.
I know it's unsightly, but water changes are your best friend here. Make sure your parameters are in check. Good bacteria is not a bad idea but chemicals are your last, last, last resort. Really unneeded.
It won't hurt. I think your problems are your water quality, your source, tap water, and your bio-balls.
There are people a lot more qualified than me to give input.
Your source water needs to be RO/DI. You need to start testing your water. You don't know what's happening in your tank without them.
Then I would get on Randy Holmes Farley's site and read about water quality and chemistry and then ask him questions.
Randy's approach is only one way of doing things but it is a sound foundation and a successful approach.