Cyanobacteria out of control!

ReefPig

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I agree it looks more redish, but maybe this is your light spectrum.
I recently found that (my strain of) dinos glows bright red under UV.

It does appear to be dinos though, largely due to the microbubbles, as cyano doesn’t have this same effect.

Follow the path to success I gave you, and this will be resolved fairly quickly.
UV is the key to creating space in the tank for good bacteria and algae to take it back.
If you’re worried about the micro algae, get an urchin, after the dinos are cleared away, but avoid turning to reef flux, chemiclean or vibrant again, as dinos will once again fill the space these create.

If you do actually get cyano when the dinos goes away, see this as a sign of success, and remove it naturally over a couple of months.

Quick fixes cause this “bounce from one issue to the next”, and why nowadays so many people get dinos, as this wasn’t always the case. “Back in the day” we never had dinos to anywhere near the same degree as today, as natural, more gentle methods, were king.
 

Miller535

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When I had dinos that's pretty much exactly what they looked like, same shade of red too. Cyano tends to look more like a solid matt, or a sheet. One of the main recommendations on the dino threads is to get a microscope and id the particular kind of dino. Because the different kinds of dino take different methods.

With that said, people always assume they have dinos OR cyano, one or the other only. Meanwhile there are multiple types of dino, some even prefer to live in and on cyano. In my case I had two different types of dino living on strands on cyano that I could clearly see under a microscope. Microscope doesn't have to be fancy, mine was like $30 on amazon.

Or you could go to the dino thread and try the most general methods, many of which have already been mentioned in this thread. Good luck.
 

taricha

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people always assume they have dinos OR cyano, one or the other only. Meanwhile there are multiple types of dino, some even prefer to live in and on cyano. In my case I had two different types of dino living on strands on cyano that I could clearly see under a microscope.
yep! Nuisance tag teams are really not that uncommon. dinos and cyano often coexist.
 

MabuyaQ

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I agree it looks more redish, but maybe this is your light spectrum.
I recently found that (my strain of) dinos glows bright red under UV.

It does appear to be dinos though, largely due to the microbubbles, as cyano doesn’t have this same effect.

Follow the path to success I gave you, and this will be resolved fairly quickly.
UV is the key to creating space in the tank for good bacteria and algae to take it back.
If you’re worried about the micro algae, get an urchin, after the dinos are cleared away, but avoid turning to reef flux, chemiclean or vibrant again, as dinos will once again fill the space these create.

If you do actually get cyano when the dinos goes away, see this as a sign of success, and remove it naturally over a couple of months.

Quick fixes cause this “bounce from one issue to the next”, and why nowadays so many people get dinos, as this wasn’t always the case. “Back in the day” we never had dinos to anywhere near the same degree as today, as natural, more gentle methods, were king.
Chlorophyll fluoresces red under UV, since both cyano and dino's contain chlorophyll there is no UV-test to see the difference.
 

taricha

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Chlorophyll fluoresces red under UV, since both cyano and dino's contain chlorophyll there is no UV-test to see the difference.


There's a few fun pigment tests to differentiate between the pink phycoerythrin in cyano and the orangey peridinin-chlorophyll A in dinos.
Easiest one I can think of is to suck up some material, put it in a little fresh water and freeze/thaw it.
cyano will bleed lots of very pink into the water. Dinos will put something that is kinda orange-brown and not very strong.
 

MabuyaQ

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There's a few fun pigment tests to differentiate between the pink phycoerythrin in cyano and the orangey peridinin-chlorophyll A in dinos.
Easiest one I can think of is to suck up some material, put it in a little fresh water and freeze/thaw it.
cyano will bleed lots of very pink into the water. Dinos will put something that is kinda orange-brown and not very strong.
Never thought about using a freeze/thaw cycly to seperate pigments.
 

taricha

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There's a few fun pigment tests to differentiate between the pink phycoerythrin in cyano and the orangey peridinin-chlorophyll A in dinos.
Easiest one I can think of is to suck up some material, put it in a little fresh water and freeze/thaw it.
cyano will bleed lots of very pink into the water. Dinos will put something that is kinda orange-brown and not very strong.
Here's the result from some cyano in my tank....
20201118_172810-COLLAGE.jpg


Now, I actually know that there's dinos in that sample too (from microscope), but this pink is all from the cyano phycoerythrin. It's very strong, very pink and water soluble.


So this test is only good to confirm that there is cyano in the sample, it doesn't rule out dinos.
 

CanuckReefer

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There's a few fun pigment tests to differentiate between the pink phycoerythrin in cyano and the orangey peridinin-chlorophyll A in dinos.
Easiest one I can think of is to suck up some material, put it in a little fresh water and freeze/thaw it.
cyano will bleed lots of very pink into the water. Dinos will put something that is kinda orange-brown and not very strong.
This is appreciated...going to try it to confirm Cyano in my own system...as you have mentioned sometimes Dinos as well so at least good to nail down if it's one of the culprits...I dont want to Chemiclean it and cause more of a problem than I already have. Battle is one I am slowly (I think) winning. There used to be a slightly bubbly slick on top of water in my tank, and that is now gone. One thing I am noticing is mat on the sand bed is almost non existent at sunrise phase and then one or two hours later the slick shows up in spades....
 

nano reef

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I used Vibrant once, it nearly killed everything in the tank because
I forgot to remove the Phosguard bag first.
I used Vibrant once, it nearly killed everything in the tank because
I forgot to remove the Phosguard bag first.
I just started using phosguard and dose vibrant. My corals are stating to die except for soft and a pectina that looks fine. I have a mat of reddish brown stuff that dosnt look slimy but when I try to vacum up it clumps together. I have used chemiclean with no success and have also preformed a coffee filter test whevner you strain it through a filter and put under lights and if it clumps up its supposed to be dinos. I have passed that test several times so I have no idea what I have. I do know that its starting to grow on some of the corals, particually the ones that close up at night so gives it a chance to smother them.

There are no bubbles and it grows like a mat also on my walls. I have been delaying water changs since it seems to make it worse. I did have 0 po4 for a wihle and now it jumped up to 0.36 I also added some chemipure elite because the phosguard wasnt working. Anyone have any ideas? Should I remove chemiclean when I add vibrant? I also dose MB7 I usually dose both once a week. I dose 10 ml and have 50 gallons. I am thinking of adding 1 ml of peroxide per 10 gallons as well.

It has also got into my other tank now. Maybe because I have been using the same turkey baster? I did just pick up a microscope but dont really know what I am looking for guess I can try try snap a pic and make a post. Thanks for any advice! I have also notice corals using more alk and my magnesium is high.
 

GeoSquid

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People have success with it but I will never dose any of that bottled whatever crap in my tank again. Good maintenance and let the algae run its course. Something else will out compete it at some point.
 
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