Cyano first timer.

[spielco]

Can I get some guidance here to see if I’m in the right directions.
First time for me. I’m having a cyano breakout. Been about a week of it. Staying mainly substrate but working onto the rocks.
I’ve been blowing with a turkey baster each day to break it up.
Switched to chemipure elite. Instead of blue which is what I was using. And staying on my wc per week.
My parameters all have stayed consistent.

Is this just in time and I’m doing ok. Or do I need to jump onto the chem clean route which I was trying to stay away from.

 

[spielco]

Oops. Forgot the picture b

 

[WallyTime7]

Need to post parameters my friend.. pretty in the dark if you don't.

 

[monfilsi]

Grab a sample and look at it under a cheap microscope with 250magnification. Important that you clearly identify it as cyano. Cyano and Dino’s have very different treatments.

I was sure I had cyano until I saw Dino’s under a microscope.

 

[spielco]

Need to post parameters my friend.. pretty in the dark if you don't.

Got ya.
1.026
77•
1300mag
512ca
.06po4
5-10pm nitrate
8.7dkh

 

[Ghostbuster]

Oops. Forgot the picture b

Tank looks good! There’s a lot of info out there about how to eradicate cyano. I personally remove what I can without a water change, scrub the infected rocks with a toothbrush. Then use calcium carbonate to bind the free floating/dissolved organics. If you have a skimmer, it will remove most of the material. If not, use a filter sock. Don’t recommend Chemiclean. You could do the calcium carbonate treatment once a week if you wanted. But you won’t have instant results. It takes time to totally resolve, but don’t take any drastic measures because your coral look happy, even though you might see a little cyano

 

[Ghostbuster]

 

[spielco]

Tank looks good! There’s a lot of info out there about how to eradicate cyano. I personally remove what I can without a water change, scrub the infected rocks with a toothbrush. Then use calcium carbonate to bind the free floating/dissolved organics. If you have a skimmer, it will remove most of the material. If not, use a filter sock. Don’t recommend Chemiclean. You could do the calcium carbonate treatment once a week if you wanted. But you won’t have instant results. It takes time to totally resolve, but don’t take any drastic measures because your coral look happy, even though you might see a little cyano

Thank you! I do run a skimmer and have noticed it grabbing a tooonnnn more junk. And I don’t want to run chemiclean so good lol. As of now I am grabbing any I can and blowing the rest around in hopes of it getting removed.

In my week journey so far so you think I’m going the right way then? In my head I’m wanting to stay the path I am but just making sure I’m not allowing it to grow worse in the time frame.

 

[Ghostbuster]

Yeah, stay the course

 

[Ghostbuster]

What’s this frag?

 

[spielco]

What’s this frag?

Here’s a picture of it open. I can’t think of the name of the zoa.

 

[spielco]

Yeah, stay the course

Thanks again for the reassurance

 

[Biokabe]

You've gotten good advice, so this isn't to contradict anyone -

But don't be afraid to use Chemiclean if and when everything else fails. It's another tool to add to your belt when the time is right. Cyano can sometimes get stubbornly established no matter what you do; when that happens, there's no shame in using a treatment to knock it out and get your tank back in shape.

Definitely consider it a last resort - it's better to not have to use it, as there are some side effects to its use. If the cyano was fueled by excess nutrients (as it often, but not always, is) then knocking the cyano down just gives a different nuisance a chance to get established. Identify the root cause of the cyano and address that before using Chemiclean if you feel that the circumstances demand.

 

[spielco]

You've gotten good advice, so this isn't to contradict anyone -

But don't be afraid to use Chemiclean if and when everything else fails. It's another tool to add to your belt when the time is right. Cyano can sometimes get stubbornly established no matter what you do; when that happens, there's no shame in using a treatment to knock it out and get your tank back in shape.

Definitely consider it a last resort - it's better to not have to use it, as there are some side effects to its use. If the cyano was fueled by excess nutrients (as it often, but not always, is) then knocking the cyano down just gives a different nuisance a chance to get established. Identify the root cause of the cyano and address that before using Chemiclean if you feel that the circumstances demand.

Appreciate it. There has been a ton of help out there thankfully this hobby is filled with some amazing reefers that share some great info!!

Wish there was a time frame to know I’m checking off all the right boxes as I’m going along lol

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Can I get some guidance here to see if I’m in the right directions.
First time for me. I’m having a cyano breakout. Been about a week of it. Staying mainly substrate but working onto the rocks.
I’ve been blowing with a turkey baster each day to break it up.
Switched to chemipure elite. Instead of blue which is what I was using. And staying on my wc per week.
My parameters all have stayed consistent.

Is this just in time and I’m doing ok. Or do I need to jump onto the chem clean route which I was trying to stay away from.

I agree with ghostbuster, calcium carbonate, AKA coral snow will help. Somewhere on here there is a diy recipe for it.

 

[spielco]

I agree with ghostbuster, calcium carbonate, AKA coral snow will help. Somewhere on here there is a diy recipe for it.

Thanks for the reassurance. I’ll check it out!

 

[spielco]

Still fighting it. Believe I’ve made matters tough again though? I’ve been running 0 nitrates and undetectable phosphates.

I’m still very new into this but I’m thinking I’ve caused another cycle to create? My plan tomorrow is to do a full water change and cleaning manual removal of any I can.
I’ve limited the time my lights are on
And I’m turning my skimmer off for a couple days.

My corals seem to be as happy as ever but the growth of cyano has worked its ways onto my rocks and around some zoas so I’m getting nervous I don’t get it straightened out.

 

[Bruttall]

You need to adjust your skimmer so it is removing a lot of skimmate. Get the foam closer to the top of the neck in the skimmer. This will aid in the removeal of excess nutrients that is the food source for the unwanted algae.

This is not my coral snow recipe, I cannot take credit for creation and I forgot to copy the name of the original poster so my apologies to you. But I did get this off these forums somewhere;

For 500ML of Coral Snow Solution, add 10 level tablespoons of Calcium Carbonate powder to roughly 425-450ML of RO/DI water. (link to what I buy from amazon https://tinyurl.com/yc5cjbdx )
Shake the bottle up, and let it sit for two hours. After which, it will be ready to use.
Now, I don’t believe that you can overdose with this product, but a good recommended dose is 5ml per 50gl of aquarium volume.
Be sure to shake up the bottle prior to each use as the powder can settle.

The Mix
Take your measured solution of Coral Snow and add it to a small container.
A plastic or glass cup will suffice.
Next, add 10 drops of Microbacter7 per 5ML of Coral Snow.
Allow 5 minutes for the solution to sit and then dose into your aquarium.
Note that Coral Snow will cloud your aquarium for at least two hours. Filter socks and Protein Skimmer(s) should be left on.

Application

I use a DIY mixture of Calcium Carbonate to clarify the water. The solution acts as a flocculant, helping to export tiny free floating matter.
Now, you could just stop right there, and use this solution simply for water clarity, but, you would be missing out on some of the greatest benefits that the complete formula has to offer.
Combining the Coral Snow with bacteria has an outsized effect on undesirable things such as Cyano slime.
To get the full effect, you’re going to want to take a turkey baster and manually remove or blow off all cyano and other desirable organisms off of the rockwork and sand.
If you’re able to, run some filter socks in the sump to help capture any large free floating waste.

Now, your going to want to add the Coral Snow solution in a cup and then add the bacteria. You can go a little on the bacteria, slightly more than the manufacturers recommendation.
Allow the solution to sit for five minutes and then administer it to the aquarium.
For the full effect, I will turn off the main system pump and allow the solution to have time to coat the surfaces of the aquarium. Generally, I will let process play out for an hour before turning on my main pump and filtration.
After the hour is up, the main pump is turned on, filter socks setup, and skimmer turned on. The skimmer is going to play a key roll here in helping to remove the particles that have bonded to the coral snow.

Enhancing Coral Snow to Feed Corals
After some weeks, and the system is clean and clear you can then move on to some more advanced methods and mixtures.
I like to add bacteria, Zeofood, and Selcon to my mix.
The Coral Snow will help to distribute the nutrition directly to the corals. When dosed correctly, you should see a feeding response from corals, especially SPS who will extend feeding tentacles.
Now, not all corals will immediately go into feeding mode during the day. It will take some time but eventually they will be conditioned to do so. All things considered, the feeding mix has done very to aid with growth of corals in my system.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

I would not do a full water change as I believe that COULD cause a new cycle. Have you tried the coral snow? You really need both nitrates and phosphate to be detectable.

 

[spielco]

I would not do a full water change as I believe that COULD cause a new cycle. Have you tried the coral snow? You really need both nitrates and phosphate to be detectable.

I have not tried the snow yet.
The response above shows me how to do it. So it looks like I’ll be getting some calcium carbonate and microbacter 7 today.



I’ve been concerned to add anything to the tank but it seems that me putting off trying the coral snow is causing more harm than good.