2 months in: Cyano!!

duff0712 · Oct 11, 2015

It's my first sw tanks 2 month-a-versary in a couple days and I have had Cyanobacteria for over a week now. The fish and all but one coral I have look great (as far as I can tell) but man does the cyano on my sand look ugly.

I siphoned quite a bit of it out into a small micron sock and just dumped the water back in and i can't remember the last time my sand was so white haha. I will see how much it comes back in the next few days, hopefully little to none. It seems to only be on my sandbed (thank god) and in the fastest and slowest moving parts of my tank. In the fastest flow part it was starting to look like it was getting stringy.

I've read it is a normal part of the cycling process and accept that. I was curious how long it normally takes before it starts to go away?

Also I am pretty sure I already have some hair algae on a couple of the few live rocks I started with. What would be best to get rid of it? I have a 37g tank.

brandon429 · Oct 11, 2015

The hair Algae must be killed it can wreck your tank IMO

The Cyanobacteria I'd just manually remove over and over until it stops I agree that's ok for a newer tank

See chemistry forum thread called hair algae, opinions range on if you should kill it or leave it in. I try to make a good case for killing it lol. Others consider it part of cycling and it goes away sometimes if you do nothing. Others will recommend you buy additional products that remove phosphate and add them to your tank now, they see all algae as always a nutrients issue and no other way to fix, opinions vary starkly on the subject of GHA

Vivid Aquariums · Oct 11, 2015

It has been my experience that cyano grows very rapidly in a tank that has excess nutrients, so that is the best place to start looking to fix the problem. If you have high phosphates or high nitrates that is most likely the culprit, although it can also be related to a bacterial imbalance. We have been very successful in treating cyano by attacking it on all sides rather than just hoping it will work its way out. I would recommend getting your phosphates tested with a digital tester like hanna that is very accurate in the low range. If your phosphates are high a phosphate removal media is the recommended way to get them down(i really like rowa-phos) but don't add too much at once as it can drop your alk. I would also start a treatment of beneficial bacteria(like you use when you cycle your tank) just follow the instructions on the bottle and add daily if able. Then lastly try and remove as much as you can via siphon when you do your water changes. Within a week or so you should see the cyano start to disappear. I have helped many customers by using this method and have even used it on my own tank. As far as the hair algae if its a little bit your clean up crew should take care of it, but if it starts to take over that is usually a sign of excess nutrients in the system. Just keep in mind if your clean up crew eat the algae they will poop it back out as fertilizer and will grow new algae if you do not remove the nutrients(nitrates,phosphates) from the system via water changes and phosphate media.

James

Lynn52 · Oct 11, 2015

In both my tanks cyano seemed to clear up around the 4 month mark. This also coincided with the point I put Kessil LEDs on the tanks, may or may not be related. Hair algae comes and goes. It was worst in the first couple months then started to fade. Initially it just stopped growing then started to slowly die back over several weeks. I do have a halloween urchin in one tank and a tuxedo urchin in the other who help keep algae under control.

Reefrookie220 · Oct 11, 2015

Let the cyanobacteria run its course. Kinda part of the cycle. Hair algae can get crazy, cut down on ambient light and check your phosphate.

Also dial back your lights. If they are too strong it'll cause a crazy outbreak of uglies.

duff0712 · Oct 11, 2015

Thanks for the replies! I will have to check out how much an electronic phosphate meter costs. I've used the Seachem test, but I find it hard for me to accurately read it.

My cleanup crew currently consists of a couple blue legged hermits, 2-3 black footed snails (Trochus I believe) and two nessarius snails. The trochus spend most of their time on the back glass and I rarely see the hermits, I don't know where they go haha. For a cleanup crew my tank isn't set up properly (size and how I dont glue coral) for Turbos or urchins. Are there any others that would be good to at least pick at hair algae?

Also my nitrates are reading at 0. I am going to start feeding a little less until the cyano is gone, but the fish gotta eat!

brandon429 · Oct 11, 2015

agree with recent posts emerald crabs are good algae pickers I caught one doing lol:

dkray944 · Oct 11, 2015

I would also consider a 3 day lights out period to get rid of the cyno. I have a fairly mixed tank and it's always worked like a charm over the years.

Reefrookie220 · Oct 11, 2015

@dkray944 is that a real deal fish in your avitar? If so where can I snag 2?lol.

dkray944 · Oct 11, 2015

Reefrookie220 said:
@dkray944 is that a real deal fish in your avitar? If so where can I snag 2?lol.

I wish it was real. Let me know if you find one.

Pete polyp · Oct 11, 2015

The hair algae is telling you that you have some phosphates. Run some sort of phosphate removing media to bring it down and it will go away. When you start to notice tiny patches coming back then it's time for another round of phosphate removing media. Phosphate tests are notoriously unreliable and usually don't give an accurate reading. It will only show the phosphate available in the water column and not the phosphate that's bound.