My reef tank destroyed by cyano

NanoSteam

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A frag I had ordered came with some GHA. I thought I had removed it manually before putting it into the tank but I guess not. Shortly after I had been battling a GHA outbreak. I finally decided to try Vibrant. Well it immediately killed off the GHA but Cyano exploded everywhere. Here's where we are now... I don't know what to do and I want to avoid using red slime remover so we're just taking the old school approach. i'll do my whole suite of testing to make sure parameters are stable and regular water changes.

 

vetteguy53081

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On cyano, siphon as best as you can and add some chemipure elite which will lower phos and keep in check
Also reduce white light intensity for a few days
 

Tired

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Before adding chempure, definitely check your nutrients. Nitrates and phosphates being too low can also let cyano run wild, since it has no other algae (yes, it's a bacteria, but it acts a lot like algae) to compete with it.

Manual removal is very helpful. Siphon the stuff out. Add more snails of species that eat cyano- try ReefCleaners.
 
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NanoSteam

NanoSteam

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On cyano, siphon as best as you can and add some chemipure elite which will lower phos and keep in check
Also reduce white light intensity for a few days

I have one bag of Chemipure elite left so i'll throw that in. I wanted to avoid light intensity but i'll give it a shot. I wish I had a par meter, i swear the price is worth it to just buy one to have at all times.

Before adding chempure, definitely check your nutrients. Nitrates and phosphates being too low can also let cyano run wild, since it has no other algae (yes, it's a bacteria, but it acts a lot like algae) to compete with it.

Manual removal is very helpful. Siphon the stuff out. Add more snails of species that eat cyano- try ReefCleaners.

I'll do that, didn't realize there were snails that eat cyano. I'll check it out, I still have my tiny original CUC from 10 months ago. 2 trochus snails and 3 blue leg hermits. They're doing work but I can tell they are being overrun.
 

Tired

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Oh, yeah, you need more cleaners. I think trochus will eat the stuff? Ceriths and dwarf ceriths are a good all-purpose snail that will move sand a bit, eat detritus, and clean the glass to some extent, and will at least bother the cyano.
 
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NanoSteam

NanoSteam

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Oh, yeah, you need more cleaners. I think trochus will eat the stuff? Ceriths and dwarf ceriths are a good all-purpose snail that will move sand a bit, eat detritus, and clean the glass to some extent, and will at least bother the cyano.

Thanks, I'll pick up a variety of sand sifting snails and a few more hermits to get in between the rocks.
 

Tired

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I wouldn't add more hermits, they're not great cleaners and can fight and/or attack your snails. To get between rocks, try dwarf ceriths, they like to get into crevices.
 

Revnobody

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Years ago I had a cyano outbreak like no other. I tried everything to get rid of it to no avail. As a last ditch effort I ordered some Garf Grunge plus, after reading other success stories, and within 3 weeks I was cyano free. I don't know why it worked but it did.
 

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Biodiversity! Cyano thrives in tanks that aren't biodiverse/established enough. It's not good at competing with established life.

Siphon the stuff out and you should be able to keep it from harming anything. Use a turkey baster or pipette to blast it off any corals that it tries to grow on. If you keep it from harming your corals, you turn it into a visual problem, not an overall problem, and give yourself a bit more time to deal with it.
 
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NanoSteam

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Thanks for the help all, did an update video... One step at a time. Going to try to stop by the LFS soon to beef up the CUC.

 

Tamberav

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I had green cyano and it went away over a few months with just regular maintenance of water changes and stirring the sand/removing debris. I have heard of people sometimes getting dino after chemi-clean. Probably because something wants to take the place of the last pest... so be aware of that.
 

Labora

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That stuff is really aggressive and hard to remove. If its not showing signs of slowing, be more aggressive in treatment. Especially if it starts filming on your glass. Once it reaches a threshold its too late.

I see CUC online advertised to eat cyano so you I agree you should try that too. Chemi-Clean is fantastic and doesn't harm other things for the most part. Definitely put that in and make sure you're using recommended/max dosage. Too little won't do anything.
 

jimc40

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Chemiclean fixed mine I now use it about every 4 months takes a few times to get used to how skimmer will act after 2 day water change. I just let the foam pour out bottom of skimmer into a bucked for a couple hours.
 

Labora

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Thanks for the help all, did an update video... One step at a time. Going to try to stop by the LFS soon to beef up the CUC.



That's cool. You're literally removing layers from it. Good start.
 

92Miata

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Just siphon it out.

The problem with these chemical kills is that the pest dies and dumps a whole lot of nutrients into your water - which typically drives another pest. If you kill the cyano, it'll be something else.

Cyano is a naturally occurring reef occupant - its normal. What's not normal is the matting - and that's driven by nutrient imbalances.

Just remove it (and the nutrients it has consumed)
 
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