whalewhalewhale
Active Member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2021
- Messages
- 160
- Reaction score
- 149
- Location
- Los Angeles (West SFV)
- What state or country do you live in
- California
I had this extremely persistent and resilient red cyano in my tank for a while now. I tried chemiclean which knocked it back for a few weeks, but it eventually returned as a more "resistant" version that was unresponsive to subsequent doses.
I originally thought it was a nutrient issue, but my nutrient levels and other parameters were perfectly fine at 0.05ppm phosphate and 8-10ppm nitrate (both checked with hanna in brand new cuvettes cleaned with RO/DI and alcohol). Vacuuming had no effect as it would just come back over the next 72 hours. Blackouts had no effect. I eventually started looking at alternatives like PNSB, coral snow (calcium carbonate powder), microbacter7, microbacter clean, silicate dosing, heavy wet skimming, etc. and it just didn't make a dent. I don't think it was a flow issue as my tank had plenty of powerheads coming in every direction, and yet, the cyano even grew on areas that were getting blasted with flow (they became this really hairy and fuzzy form instead of of "slime").
After exhausting most of the common recommendations, I stumbled upon a facebook post recommending KZ's CyanoClean. I've been a fan of KZ's products like Pohl's Xtra Special and Sponge Power, but I had never heard of CyanoClean before. I ordered it off BRS and started dosing it as recommended (3 drops a day for my tank's volume).
For the first 2 weeks, it didn't really seem to do much. I thought I got burned again buying another chemical/bacteria that I thought would help. I did read that it worked super slowly so I just kept it in my routine and dosed it during my morning feedings.
A month later, there has been a nearly 90% reduction in red cyano. In its a place a green cyano began taking over but it's a much slower grower and avoids high flow areas. I consider this a big win. I'm 100% sure it's not the green cyano taking over the red cyano given how slowly it grows and the fact that it only seems to occupy the low flow zones like the corners of the tank or shaded parts of rock. The upper high flow zones near the SPS are spotless.
Big thank you to KZ, and it's earned my recommendation to anyone dealing with a red cyano that's unresponsive to chemi-clean.
I originally thought it was a nutrient issue, but my nutrient levels and other parameters were perfectly fine at 0.05ppm phosphate and 8-10ppm nitrate (both checked with hanna in brand new cuvettes cleaned with RO/DI and alcohol). Vacuuming had no effect as it would just come back over the next 72 hours. Blackouts had no effect. I eventually started looking at alternatives like PNSB, coral snow (calcium carbonate powder), microbacter7, microbacter clean, silicate dosing, heavy wet skimming, etc. and it just didn't make a dent. I don't think it was a flow issue as my tank had plenty of powerheads coming in every direction, and yet, the cyano even grew on areas that were getting blasted with flow (they became this really hairy and fuzzy form instead of of "slime").
After exhausting most of the common recommendations, I stumbled upon a facebook post recommending KZ's CyanoClean. I've been a fan of KZ's products like Pohl's Xtra Special and Sponge Power, but I had never heard of CyanoClean before. I ordered it off BRS and started dosing it as recommended (3 drops a day for my tank's volume).
For the first 2 weeks, it didn't really seem to do much. I thought I got burned again buying another chemical/bacteria that I thought would help. I did read that it worked super slowly so I just kept it in my routine and dosed it during my morning feedings.
A month later, there has been a nearly 90% reduction in red cyano. In its a place a green cyano began taking over but it's a much slower grower and avoids high flow areas. I consider this a big win. I'm 100% sure it's not the green cyano taking over the red cyano given how slowly it grows and the fact that it only seems to occupy the low flow zones like the corners of the tank or shaded parts of rock. The upper high flow zones near the SPS are spotless.
Big thank you to KZ, and it's earned my recommendation to anyone dealing with a red cyano that's unresponsive to chemi-clean.
