Help with Cyano

Dr.Xipoles

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How long has your tank been running? How long have you had cyano in the tank? How often do you do regular water changes? What kind of filter are you using( brand/model)?

I used to use phosguard but now ive switched to chemipure blue which has purigen and gfo. I havent tried phosban but ive heard good reviews and Phosguard hasnt failed me. Ive switched to chemipure blue and havent looked back; my tank is crystal clear.

Skimmers are good but a bit expensive and excessive for a 10 gallon tank as they only remove excess nutrients in the tank which your corals intake. Regular water changes should remove the phosphates once the cyano is gone.

A gfo reactor is one of the best ways to remove phosphates in the tank as it forces water through all of the gfo, unlike a filter that pushes water over some of the media.

Ultimately, I would recommend an algae reactor or an algae scrubber. Its the best form of nutrient export (nitrite,nitrate,phosphate) from a tank if you cant get a refugium, and you wont have algae blooms in the tank.
 

Dr.Xipoles

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Heres a diy scrubber if your budget isnt too big.

And heres some informational videos back when i did research on this cyano. I dont remember exactly what they said but i remember them helping me.





If you do try phosphate rx, (which I do not recommend) you have to do exactly as the video shows. Im not sure if it would help a 10 gallon tank as it create particulants in the water column as it precipitates out which might harm the fish in a small system, but its worth a try. In a large system, filter socks capture these particulants in a sump.
 

reeferfoxx

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Good luck. I started a tank doing the BRS method of dry rock and bottled bacteria. I've been battling cyano for over a year and a half. I would just start over with live rock. Live rock is the easiest most simplistic way to get a reef going.
 
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How long has your tank been running? How long have you had cyano in the tank? How often do you do regular water changes? What kind of filter are you using( brand/model)?

I used to use phosguard but now ive switched to chemipure blue which has purigen and gfo. I havent tried phosban but ive heard good reviews and Phosguard hasnt failed me. Ive switched to chemipure blue and havent looked back; my tank is crystal clear.

Skimmers are good but a bit expensive and excessive for a 10 gallon tank as they only remove excess nutrients in the tank which your corals intake. Regular water changes should remove the phosphates once the cyano is gone.

A gfo reactor is one of the best ways to remove phosphates in the tank as it forces water through all of the gfo, unlike a filter that pushes water over some of the media.

Ultimately, I would recommend an algae reactor or an algae scrubber. Its the best form of nutrient export (nitrite,nitrate,phosphate) from a tank if you cant get a refugium, and you wont have algae blooms in the tank.
Tanks been going on close to 5 to 6 months. Had cyano for id say close to 2. My filter is just a media basket in the back part of my tank. (all in one) i have phosband, purigen (i think ill double check) and just filter floss i replace about every 3 days. I do water changes every sunday. Roughly about 3 gallon changes so 30%. I get my RO and saltwater from my LFS
 
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ItouchedThebutt

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Good luck. I started a tank doing the BRS method of dry rock and bottled bacteria. I've been battling cyano for over a year and a half. I would just start over with live rock. Live rock is the easiest most simplistic way to get a reef going.
I started with live rock.
 
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Heres a diy scrubber if your budget isnt too big.

And heres some informational videos back when i did research on this cyano. I dont remember exactly what they said but i remember them helping me.





If you do try phosphate rx, (which I do not recommend) you have to do exactly as the video shows. Im not sure if it would help a 10 gallon tank as it create particulants in the water column as it precipitates out which might harm the fish in a small system, but its worth a try. In a large system, filter socks capture these particulants in a sump.

Ill have to watch them when i get home later on.
 

Dr.Xipoles

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Tanks been going on close to 5 to 6 months. Had cyano for id say close to 2. My filter is just a media basket in the back part of my tank. (all in one) i have phosband, purigen (i think ill double check) and just filter floss i replace about every 3 days. I do water changes every sunday. Roughly about 3 gallon changes so 30%. I get my RO and saltwater from my LFS
Have you ever changed the phosguard and recharged the purigen? And you should run some granular activated carbon on your tank. It pretty much a given when going to the hobby. I would recommend just going chemipure blue becuase it has everything in one.
 

Dr.Xipoles

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I also forgot that emerald crabs eat cyano. Ive heard they love it but one person said they go after your fish (im not sure how credible that is).
 

reeferfoxx

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I started with live rock.
Looking at your picture which really doesnt say a whole lot, I don't see much life on that rock. (ie, tube worms, vermited snails, coralline) Are you postive it was live or was it "pre cured" dry rock?
 

HawaiianReef

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I've been doing some research on cyano as Im also battling a recent outbreak.
I found that the cyano mainly feeds off the waste. Which is usually settled onto and into the substrate. You will need to vac up the waste left behind. You mentioned about sand being picked up as you try this. You might want to considered trying again, this time, try folding the hose to cause a kink in it so you can control the flow a little better. I zipped tied a plastic stick an inch or so from the end of my hose to lift up the top of the sand while the hose end is up high enough to just suck up the slime and waste.
You could also add a small pump to your line and empty it into your overflow into your filtration. Then you could vac up the slime without removing the water. Remember, the cyanobacteria is invisible and the slime is their waste. So you need to do a little more than just remove the slime.
And a small skimmer would be extremely helpful. Even if it were a simple diy waterbottle with an air bubbler.
 
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ItouchedThebutt

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To
Looking at your picture which really doesnt say a whole lot, I don't see much life on that rock. (ie, tube worms, vermited snails, coralline) Are you postive it was live or was it "pre cured" dry rock?
be honest i cant say no or yes with 100% certainty
 
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I've been doing some research on cyano as Im also battling a recent outbreak.
I found that the cyano mainly feeds off the waste. Which is usually settled onto and into the substrate. You will need to vac up the waste left behind. You mentioned about sand being picked up as you try this. You might want to considered trying again, this time, try folding the hose to cause a kink in it so you can control the flow a little better. I zipped tied a plastic stick an inch or so from the end of my hose to lift up the top of the sand while the hose end is up high enough to just suck up the slime and waste.
You could also add a small pump to your line and empty it into your overflow into your filtration. Then you could vac up the slime without removing the water. Remember, the cyanobacteria is invisible and the slime is their waste. So you need to do a little more than just remove the slime.
And a small skimmer would be extremely helpful. Even if it were a simple diy waterbottle with an air bubbler.
If i could find a reasonably priced skimmer for my tank i would but alot of small ones seem to not work so well. And i try the kink in the hose but it doesnt work so well for the combination of the slime and sand. The stick sounds like a great idea though.
 

Dr.Xipoles

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Like i said before that a skimmer might be overkill for a nano 10 gallon bc water changes remove mostly everything, if you were to get one, dont go cheap. Cheap stuff never last long for me.

Go with the aquatic life($50) or hydor nano($100). A bit pricy for some but worth the extra money.
 

HawaiianReef

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I was just thinking and wanted to share. Being a 10g, it wouldn't be too costly to change the sand out with new sand. Then put your old sand in a dark container with a small pump and a lid to kill the cyano. Changing it would be a full days work and a pain, plus youd have to vac as much cyano off the rock as well. But you'd have the new sandbed.
Do you guys think it would help? Or just seed new sand and be a waste of time?
 

Annahra

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I think trying to remove the sand would be a waste of time until you figure out what caused the cyano in the first place.
 
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I was just thinking and wanted to share. Being a 10g, it wouldn't be too costly to change the sand out with new sand. Then put your old sand in a dark container with a small pump and a lid to kill the cyano. Changing it would be a full days work and a pain, plus youd have to vac as much cyano off the rock as well. But you'd have the new sandbed.
Do you guys think it would help? Or just seed new sand and be a waste of time?
I think it would be a waste to. Im trying 1 ml of 3% peroxide to get rid of it for now so i can get it out and once its gone start looking at what i can do to get rid of it.

Ive read some storys and reports of it working and seeing results in atleast a few days. As far as i know of it doesnt bither corals but based on the two days ive seen so far 3 out of my 5 different zoas dont like it to much. Once i add it in theyll close up for about 15 to 30 min then open back up. But my euphillia doesnt care for it, my acans dont seem to mind and even my birds nest is still looking great.

But in two days i have yet to see any receding in it.

But those skimmers.. Can they fit in the back of a inovative marine 10gallon?
 
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ItouchedThebutt

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Alright!! I guess an update would be in order..
So the cyano is compmetley gone!! But i have no idea why. Lol.
I did a few things all at once so im not sure what it was or if it was all of thwm. But i think the leading contributor to the cyano was nitrates turning into organic phosphates and since i dont own any fish in the tank at the current moment i have not been feeding it a whole lot just once a week with reef roids and some pellets for the inverts. But i came home after being gone for 3 days and my sand bed was back to being pretty!!
 

reeferfoxx

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Alright!! I guess an update would be in order..
So the cyano is compmetley gone!! But i have no idea why. Lol.
I did a few things all at once so im not sure what it was or if it was all of thwm. But i think the leading contributor to the cyano was nitrates turning into organic phosphates and since i dont own any fish in the tank at the current moment i have not been feeding it a whole lot just once a week with reef roids and some pellets for the inverts. But i came home after being gone for 3 days and my sand bed was back to being pretty!!
So what are the few things you did at once?
 
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ItouchedThebutt

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Apart from being in fallow. I decided to rescape my tank so i took all the old live rock out and coral and added in 90% new live rock and went with more of an open scape for flow. I put about 45% of my old water back in. As well as siphoned out a good 15% of my sand. Mainly where the biggest clumps of cyano was.

The only other thing was my light decided to go hay wire and had a new one shipped on warranty.
 

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