Cyano ID and advice please

[anddak]

Hi All,

I am hoping you can id the below and perhaps give me some advice or link to advice as I haven’t found a general guide on cyano (if this is even cyano):

I am battling with it for a month now by manually removing and doing water changes. I’ve done it yesterday and it’s back in a day.

Second most common appearance is on the rocks:

So if this is cyano, what is the best I can do to get rid of?

The tank is 3+1 months old (1 being cycling) params are the following:

KH 9
Mg 1420
Ca 420
Currently working on stabilizing these numbers with Red Sea foundation. (I loose around 2kh / day)

Nitrate is 0 first time since yesterday - I added some acans and two heads of Hammer a couple of weeks ago, that might be why the nitrates are consumed, before it was between 3-8 since the beginning.

Po4 is also undetectable.

pH is 8.1-8.3

temperature: 79-80 F

13.5g fluval evo

I feed twice a day randomly: frozen mysis or vitalis marin flakes or hikari; the past week before my nitrates bottomed out, I skipped a few evening feedings.

I hope you can help!

 

[Idaho Lone Wolf]

I have removed cyano by adding bacteria treatment. Good brands are Brightwell and Dr. Tim's. As I understand it, cyano is a bacteria growing on your rocks and sand bed. By adding beneficial bacteria to your tank it will out compete with the bad bacteria (cyano) and the cyano will die out over a couple of weeks. You will need to read instructions closely and carefully dose the beneficial bacteria according to instructions. Also, be very careful not to over feed. Your fish should eat up all the food within a couple of minutes. Do you have any clean up crew in your tank (snails, hermit crabs, etc. - I see a couple of shells in your photo)? They won't eat the cyano, but will get any extra food. You don't mention if you have a protein skimmer in your system. If so, make sure it is the correct size for your system and if not... get one... a good one. You need to use RODI water for mixing your salt, don't use tap water. Here are a couple of links: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/microbacter7-complete-bioculture-brightwell-aquatics.html

Waste-Away Sludge Busting Bacteria

Remove Gunk, Sludge, and Hidden Waste! Dr.Tim's Waste-Away is a 100% natural bacterial additive that helps dissolve sludge and hidden wastes. Using Waste-Away will also help increase your tanks ORP and the production of your protein skimmer. Six Sizes Available: 4oz (treats up to 120 gallons)...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Here's a video to watch: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/view/5-minute-saltwater-aquarium-guide-ep26-cyano/

Good luck

 

[MERKEY]

+1 great advice and link said above.

What kind of flow do you have? Maybe adding a really small powerless to move the water a bit more.

 

[anddak]

I have removed cyano by adding bacteria treatment. Good brands are Brightwell and Dr. Tim's. As I understand it, cyano is a bacteria growing on your rocks and sand bed. By adding beneficial bacteria to your tank it will out compete with the bad bacteria (cyano) and the cyano will die out over a couple of weeks. You will need to read instructions closely and carefully dose the beneficial bacteria according to instructions. Also, be very careful not to over feed. Your fish should eat up all the food within a couple of minutes. Do you have any clean up crew in your tank (snails, hermit crabs, etc. - I see a couple of shells in your photo)? They won't eat the cyano, but will get any extra food. You don't mention if you have a protein skimmer in your system. If so, make sure it is the correct size for your system and if not... get one... a good one. You need to use RODI water for mixing your salt, don't use tap water. Here are a couple of links: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/microbacter7-complete-bioculture-brightwell-aquatics.html

Waste-Away Sludge Busting Bacteria

Remove Gunk, Sludge, and Hidden Waste! Dr.Tim's Waste-Away is a 100% natural bacterial additive that helps dissolve sludge and hidden wastes. Using Waste-Away will also help increase your tanks ORP and the production of your protein skimmer. Six Sizes Available: 4oz (treats up to 120 gallons)...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

Here's a video to watch: https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/video/view/5-minute-saltwater-aquarium-guide-ep26-cyano/

Good luck

Hi

thank you.

i am using rodi (0 tds water), no protein skimmer. I’ve heard from many experienced reefers that its useless for a tank like this.

I have 0 nitrates right niw (never been more than 8) and I never feed more than what the fish can eat.

for CUC I have 2 turbo snails, 2 nassarius and 2 blue legged hermit. It’s a small tank, only 42l (11g) of water, 52l (13.5g) total

 

[anddak]

+1 great advice and link said above.

What kind of flow do you have? Maybe adding a really small powerless to move the water a bit more.

I have much more flow than what I need. 20x /hour return pump with RFG + Jebao SOW-4 wawemaker

 

[anddak]

I knew about the different type of “solutions”, I am just trying to avoid pooring chemicals in my tank + buy the 1001th silver bullet what this hobby offers