Cyano going to cause me to shut down my tank

[TexasReefer82]

It's this idea that vacuuming is the same as rinsing that causes the most confusion. I don't know why either, but I am guessing that vacuuming gets only a small portion of the detritus because water velocity and turbulence is low vs a hard rinse with relatively high pressure stream of water.

What you suggest will likely work, but it's more work than most people want to put into their tank every 6 months to a year. If I was running a lower flow tank that is what I would do for sure though. Sand is so nice looking. But I need more flow and I think it helps with coral health so I run without granular substrate.

Yeah, I'd have to assume the same. It seems completely reasonable that rinsing in a bucket with the garden hose removes way more detritus. Also, it's very possible that the fresh chlorinated water affects (if not kills off) the bacterial communities on and in the sand. It may also kill off the cyano itself.

 

[TexasReefer82]

Hmmm... my testing indicated low Phosphates, low nitrates... However upon my reading regarding test results were not accurate due to due Cyano consuming nutrients . In my case I think the bacteria to bio load was out of wack therefore the bacteria additions appear to have helped. Although rinsing will help clean, the rinsing seems like you would be killing the beneficial bacteria that is also needed. I can sympathize with you, it sucks... I hope you can resolve. I went through a series of out breaks. Bubble Algae, Bryopsis, and Cyano each seeming to be more difficult to rid than the last. Yes and each time I wanted to scrap and start over. Why did I have to go ahead and screw things up by upgrading to a larger aquarium Hang in there remember it is all a learning curve and we find out it is not free we pay each lesson. Eventually I will have a nice tank.

I understand that rinsing seems extreme and it likely does kill of the bacteria in the sand. But that's why you only rinse maybe 20% of your sand at a time, and then wait a couple days before you do another 20%. I've never noticed ill effects from doing this. Removal of that amount of bacteria won't affect the tank if performed at a reasonably slow rate. Far more impactful than the removal of those bacteria is the removal of all that detritus.

And yes, a major outbreak/abundance of a given type of algae will suck most nitrate and phosphate out of the water. That's why it's so important to control algae growth in our tanks - those nutrients are important to the corals, especially SPS. I like urchins the best for control of hair algae and low grade bubble algae. Fluconazole kills bryopsis easily. Cyano, in my experience, is detritus/organic carbon related when it occurs in an established tank.

 

[TexasReefer82]

I don't mind doing tank maintenance, sometimes its even therapeutic, but that sounds like a nightmare. I'd rather just go bare bottom.

I just ordered a roller filter because I hate socks and haven't been using them for a while now. I vacuum the sump every 4-6 weeks but there is definitely still some detritus in there.

Starting to lean away from using chemiclean and just doing a long lights out period and removing sand. Probably redo some rockwork as well, and hit the reset button.

Those Roller mats are really nice - I'd love one myself. However, it will do nothing for the detritus accumulated in your sand bed. It's honestly not that much work, really just a short series of water changes, unless you have a really deep bed of substrate. I see you have a 66 gallon tank, how deep is your substrate?

Performing a 2-3 day black out period is fantastically effective at eliminating cyano once you get all that detritus cleaned up. But it'll be pretty much futile to perform a blackout until then. And I don't personally use chemiclean - at least not in my sps tank. The last time I tried that product it really ticked off my acropora.

 

[Potatohead]

Those Roller mats are really nice - I'd love one myself. However, it will do nothing for the detritus accumulated in your sand bed. It's honestly not that much work, really just a short series of water changes, unless you have a really deep bed of substrate. I see you have a 66 gallon tank, how deep is your substrate?

Performing a 2-3 day black out period is fantastically effective at eliminating cyano once you get all that detritus cleaned up. But it'll be pretty much futile to perform a blackout until then. And I don't personally use chemiclean - at least not in my sps tank. The last time I tried that product it really ****** off my acropora.

No, I realize it won't help the sand. It will obviously help what's in the sump, which isn't nothing. Plus hopefully a bit of water polishing. I never really wanted to go away from socks (other than being a pain to clean) but when I started a refugium I decided to yank them. I don't know if that was good or bad but I notice a definite difference in water clarity since then.

Thinking about it for a few hours I am pretty content on going bare bottom and essentially starting over coral wise. It is very frustrating because the tank really was starting to grow acropora very well. I have wasted a ton of money and time in the last year trying to save from resetting. I don't want to hurt my fish so I will pull the sand out maybe 20% at a time during water changes over the course of a month or two. I already have four litres of Matrix in the sump additional to the rock, so that should be fine.

 

[R_L]

Had this problem for about 6 moths. I thought the same. Break the tank down! Got frustrated with the cyano so I gave up and stopped doing water changes for a month at a time. Before the mess was doing 10% water changes weekly. In between the 1 month water changes I would siphon the cyano and water through filter floss and put the water back in the tank. And guess what? It is gone completely and not to be seen again. I'm not saying this will work for you as it worked for me. My zoa's and acans had no issues with the water being a bit dirty for those months. Just don't give up! You can beat it. Good Luck.

 

[rushbattle]

No, I realize it won't help the sand. It will obviously help what's in the sump, which isn't nothing. Plus hopefully a bit of water polishing. I never really wanted to go away from socks (other than being a pain to clean) but when I started a refugium I decided to yank them. I don't know if that was good or bad but I notice a definite difference in water clarity since then.

Thinking about it for a few hours I am pretty content on going bare bottom and essentially starting over coral wise. It is very frustrating because the tank really was starting to grow acropora very well. I have wasted a ton of money and time in the last year trying to save from resetting. I don't want to hurt my fish so I will pull the sand out maybe 20% at a time during water changes over the course of a month or two. I already have four litres of Matrix in the sump additional to the rock, so that should be fine.

It has been shown in many other examples that rinsing in fresh water briefly does little to effect the biofilm on the sand grains. They are resilient little suckers.

The filter roll is a great idea, particularly for a bare bottom or at least high flow tank.

I don’t think you need to abandon your corals. Just suck some sand out every day! Between the sand leaving and frequent water changes I bet they perk up, at least some might. Just be sure alk is stable with the changes, and P doesn’t get too low, with detectable N. With the matrix in the sump you should be plenty stable on the biofilm area.

 

[hotashes]

Can I ask, when handling any rock work from within the tank, did it get handled bare hands or with gloves on?

A.

 

[rushbattle]

It has been shown in many other examples that rinsing in fresh water briefly does little to effect the biofilm on the sand grains. They are resilient little suckers.

The filter roll is a great idea, particularly for a bare bottom or at least high flow tank.

I don’t think you need to abandon your corals. Just suck some sand out every day! Between the sand leaving and frequent water changes I bet they perk up, at least some might. Just be sure alk is stable with the changes, and P doesn’t get too low, with detectable N. With the matrix in the sump you should be plenty stable on the biofilm area.

Well, maybe suck sand out a few times a week. Slower is probably better, but I'm just guessing.

 

[Potatohead]

Can I ask, when handling any rock work from within the tank, did it get handled bare hands or with gloves on?

A.

Pretty much never wear gloves. I don’t put my hands in the tank that much though, maybe two or three times a month. Why?

It has been shown in many other examples that rinsing in fresh water briefly does little to effect the biofilm on the sand grains. They are resilient little suckers.

The filter roll is a great idea, particularly for a bare bottom or at least high flow tank.

I don’t think you need to abandon your corals. Just suck some sand out every day! Between the sand leaving and frequent water changes I bet they perk up, at least some might. Just be sure alk is stable with the changes, and P doesn’t get too low, with detectable N. With the matrix in the sump you should be plenty stable on the biofilm area.

I could try that first I guess and leave the light schedule, but the only thing I know for sure will kill cyano obviously is darkness, and there’s a fair bit on my rocks too. I wasn’t planning on turning the fuge light off though and there’s a bit in there too so it wouldn’t get rid of it all. Maybe I should take a poll

 

[rushbattle]

I could try that first I guess and leave the light schedule, but the only thing I know for sure will kill cyano obviously is darkness, and there’s a fair bit on my rocks too. I wasn’t planning on turning the fuge light off though and there’s a bit in there too so it wouldn’t get rid of it all. Maybe I should take a poll

The roll filter will help, along with increasing flow. UV is a big help too.

 

[hotashes]

I went through an algae battle, using @brandon429 method suggested with h2o2 and it was a fair shout, got my rocks clean without jeopardising my livestock etc. The the algae came back. Once again I took rocks out and blasted the algae, it was back and forth like this.
Considering I only have a nano I’m glad this method allowed me to enjoy my tank rather than look at all the algae for weeks etc.

Anyhow thinking back, I believe when I handled rocks etc from with within the tank barehanded it may have left some body residue/oils on the rocks which in turn encouraged algae when placed back into the water. I say this as now my tank is virtually algae free, the very tiny places it lasted longest were places I handled the rock!!!

Just my 2 cents worth.

Hang in there,

A.

 

[truepercs]

Hang in there.... Here is a little inspiration. Yesterday observation in my aquarium polyps open on corals again! subtle signs of growth and only sparse coloration of where cyano was on areas of the gravel. I think it is on it's way out! I have been fighting the battle for a long time. A happy day it is...

 

[truepercs]

[QUOTE=" That's why it's so important to control algae growth in our tanks - those nutrients are important to the corals, especially SPS. I like urchins the best for control of hair algae and low grade bubble algae. Fluconazole kills bryopsis easily. Cyano, in my experience, is detritus/organic carbon related when it occurs in an established tank.[/QUOTE]

I agree with all...

 

[Potatohead]

The roll filter will help, along with increasing flow. UV is a big help too.

I've thought about UV but I didn't think it would do much because the cyano didn't really seem to be waterborne. I guess it obviously is, but not the majority of it? I did some research and it seems to help some people, maybe it's worth trying.

Last night I decided to blow off my rocks for the first time in a while and pretty much any green turf algae I had, which was not much but some was certainly there, is vastly reduced. So I think this Microbacter Clean stuff certainly works and this probably explains why my skimmer is pulling out an absolute ton of gunk right now, I've never seen it pull so much. So for now I think I'll just wait for the roller filter to get here, maybe pick up a cheap UV to play around with and see if it does anything.

 

[Potatohead]

I was just going through my notes and last time the cyano went away I had recently changed my sediment and carbon filters in my RODO unit. That was about six months and maybe 350-400 gallons of product water ago. Currently I still have zero TDS and my water is only 14 TDS coming out of the tap. Does anyone have any idea if this could be related?

 

[TexasReefer82]

I was just going through my notes and last time the cyano went away I had recently changed my sediment and carbon filters in my RODO unit. That was about six months and maybe 350-400 gallons of product water ago. Currently I still have zero TDS and my water is only 14 TDS coming out of the tap. Does anyone have any idea if this could be related?

I'd say it's plausible that exhausted carbon in the RO unit has an effect... but I'd suspect that the detritus in your substrate is the overwhelming contributor.

 

[dantimdad]

I'd say it's plausible that exhausted carbon in the RO unit has an effect... but I'd suspect that the detritus in your substrate is the overwhelming contributor.

I would say no.

I have dealt with Cyano in several systems over the years, mine and customers. Most of them I was able to clean the sand bed, increase/change flow and change around lighting and fix it. Some, I used tetracycline and irradicated it. I never saw ill effects on fish or corals, but, did see a slight increase in ammonia that was easily rectified. You also can't run carbon while using it and your skimmer will go insane.

 

[Potatohead]

Well guys, major unrelated problems tonight. I’m pretty disheartened.

Power has been out for about 13 hours or so now. It was off for about three hours when I came home from work, my battery backup was working with one mp10, so I didn’t think much of it. Tank was 75 degrees, I didn’t really look in the tank because it was all dark. Hydro company was saying power should be on about 6, which was in about an hour. I ate dinner, walked the dog and figured I would break out the generator if power was not on when I got back from the walk. Got home and nothing so I turned on the generator and plugged in the return pump and heaters.

Hour later I went downstairs and my two favourite fish were dead. I don’t know why. My clowns seem ok and two other fish I can’t find them. I ran the generator for a couple more hours while my wife boiled water on a gas camping stove and we filled two liter bottles with hot water. I’m in the suburbs and had to turn the generator off at 9:30. I borrowed some battery powered air stones from a friend, at this point pretty much just hoping the power comes on soon or all my fish are going to die. The hydro company has not updated their site and it’s now after 11. The frustrating part is the houses across the street have power.

I also have a 210g Frontosa tank I have grown those fish from 1” to now 12”+ for 5.5 years. That tank is a lot easier to deal with and will probably be ok until morning when I can fire the generator back up, at least I hope so.

If I lose my fish that pretty much settles it that I am going to just run this tank with nothing in it for a while and determine what to do from there. This is really sad.

I’m sorry I just had to vent, it has been a very stressful evening. If the power does not come on I don’t think I will sleep much tonight.

 

[ZaneTer]

I am very sorry but having large fish die first is normally oxygen deprivation. Can you run your skimmer off the battery? Point your powerhead at the surface even if it is sucking in air.

 

[rushbattle]

Well guys, major unrelated problems tonight. I’m pretty disheartened.

Power has been out for about 13 hours or so now. It was off for about three hours when I came home from work, my battery backup was working with one mp10, so I didn’t think much of it. Tank was 75 degrees, I didn’t really look in the tank because it was all dark. Hydro company was saying power should be on about 6, which was in about an hour. I ate dinner, walked the dog and figured I would break out the generator if power was not on when I got back from the walk. Got home and nothing so I turned on the generator and plugged in the return pump and heaters.

Hour later I went downstairs and my two favourite fish were dead. I don’t know why. My clowns seem ok and two other fish I can’t find them. I ran the generator for a couple more hours while my wife boiled water on a gas camping stove and we filled two liter bottles with hot water. I’m in the suburbs and had to turn the generator off at 9:30. I borrowed some battery powered air stones from a friend, at this point pretty much just hoping the power comes on soon or all my fish are going to die. The hydro company has not updated their site and it’s now after 11. The frustrating part is the houses across the street have power.

I also have a 210g Frontosa tank I have grown those fish from 1” to now 12”+ for 5.5 years. That tank is a lot easier to deal with and will probably be ok until morning when I can fire the generator back up, at least I hope so.

If I lose my fish that pretty much settles it that I am going to just run this tank with nothing in it for a while and determine what to do from there. This is really sad.

I’m sorry I just had to vent, it has been a very stressful evening. If the power does not come on I don’t think I will sleep much tonight.

I know this doesn’t help now, but in the future you might want to think about setting up a bank of deep cycle batteries to run your tanks overnight while you can’t run generator. Then obviously charge them during the day with the generator. Can you run the heaters with the generator you have?

If you think they are quiet enough, the inverted gens are good for small loads like the tanks and a fridge. What generator do you have?