Need to get rid of cyano without using chemicals

[glb]

I have a cyano outbreak on the sand and one rock in my 40g breeder. Nitrates and Phosphates got super low and I think that’s what set it off. No changes to flow, etc. Tank is thriving and I’m hesitant to use something like Chemiclean. My alk dropped to 6.2 due to a dosing pump problem but that’s been fixed and the corals weren’t affected. What can I do to get rid of this stuff. Again, not due to excess nutrients. Thanks!!

 

[fushi]

I have a cyano outbreak on the sand and one rock in my 40g breeder. Nitrates and Phosphates got super low and I think that’s what set it off. No changes to flow, etc. Tank is thriving and I’m hesitant to use something like Chemiclean. My alk dropped to 6.2 due to a dosing pump problem but that’s been fixed and the corals weren’t affected. What can I do to get rid of this stuff. Again, not due to excess nutrients. Thanks!!

I tried many things like dr tims, uv, hydrogen peroxide but nothing ever really works besides chemiclean.


For the chemiclean
-Make sure to add an extra air stone to keep your oxygen and ph up, it will work even better if you can pull outside air (put the pump outside and run a long airline to the tank). (this is an inportant one)
-Take the cup off your skimmer if you have one.
-Make sure you stir up the sand bed so the chemiclean can get everywhere, if you have a sump use a gravel wash syphon to clean the sand and feed into a filter sock in the sump during treatment.
-Dont forget to do extra water changes after treatment.
-Dump some prodibio biodigest after the waterchanges to help keep up the good bacteria counts in your tank.

3 days and no more cyano

 

[Jekyl]

Manual removal. Just suck it out and get your parameters in order. No miracle cure needed.

 

[3sgterror]

I have a cyano outbreak on the sand and one rock in my 40g breeder. Nitrates and Phosphates got super low and I think that’s what set it off. No changes to flow, etc. Tank is thriving and I’m hesitant to use something like Chemiclean. My alk dropped to 6.2 due to a dosing pump problem but that’s been fixed and the corals weren’t affected. What can I do to get rid of this stuff. Again, not due to excess nutrients. Thanks!!

What is super low for Nitrates and Phosphates? Are you positive it is cyano?

my understanding is low nutrients could lead Dinos, which are hard to distinguish between cyano. They could by dinos.

 

[glb]

What is super low for Nitrates and Phosphates? Are you positive it is cyano?

my understanding is low nutrients could lead Dinos, which are hard to distinguish between cyano. They could by dinos.

Nitrates are 2. Phosphates 0.03, which is low for my LPS tank. Guess I should have specified. What I’ve got is a red mat with bubbles in it. Isn’t that cyano?

 

[glb]

It’s redder than it looks in the pic

 

[Kmst80]

Nitrates are 2. Phosphates 0.03, which is low for my LPS tank. Guess I should have specified. What I’ve got is a red mat with bubbles in it. Isn’t that cyano?

I got it in the sand too...loads of bubbles during the day. My Nitrates always hover around 2-5 an phosphates 0.02-0.06. I don't want to put chemicals in the tank either.
I do mechanical removal at waterchanges and i started dosing phytoplankton hoping the microorganisms will help.
After 2 weeks dosing it seems like it is getting better, i am yet to up the rate of phyto.
The rifht cleanup crew would help a bit too

 

[Kmst80]

To make sure its cyano you could always do this:

Dinoflagellates – Are You Tired Of Battling Altogether?

@mcarroll I am linking a thread I started that noticed my ORP was super low and I thought that was probably due to dinos. Anyone else notice the same thing? https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/can-dinos-cause-really-low-orp.325625/#post-4035164 I'll continue updating there.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[RobertTheNurse]

Add flow...add a powerhead to get things moving around. Siphon it up and add flow. Also get a conch or something to sift through the sand.

 

[glb]

Thanks everyone. I lost some snails so my sandbed may not be as stirred as they usually keep it.

 

[glb]

Add flow...add a powerhead to get things moving around. Siphon it up and add flow. Also get a conch or something to sift through the sand.

I’ve had a gyre for several years and nothing’s changed about the flow. But it is on the other side of the tank.

 

[t5Nitro]

Same here man. I just keep siphoning it out into a filter sock. Only thing I haven't tried is mega water changes, but I dont want to do that. Annoying thing to have, for sure. I feed a lot, dose phyto, nitrate and phosphate. Doesn't seem to matter. Best of luck to you.

 

[WVNed]

What worked for me
Low PO4 under 0.1
Nitrates of at least 10, 20 even
More flow
Turn down the lights 20% for a while
It just went away
I have run Chemiclean many times but this last time I decided to do it without it and I did
It has stayed away

 

[RobertTheNurse]

I’ve had a gyre for several years and nothing’s changed about the flow. But it is on the other side of the tank.

That why we increase flow, especially around the "dead" spot.

 

[damsels are not mean]

Siphon it out or just wait. Cyano always seems to starve itself out in my experience even in situations where it looks really bad at its peak growth.

Also, court jester gobies love it if you're into that.

 

[Spare time]

Keep in mind that everything in that tank swimming, eating, being eaten, growing, and dying are large masses of chemicals. Just because a certain arrangement of chemicals doesn't have a nice name such as apple or water or such doesn't mean that it is something to be wary of. If the cyano starts to really bother you, then I see no reason to not try chemiclean. I have used it only dozens of tanks (either my own, customers, work tanks, etc.). Not once was there a problem.

 

[Coralsdaily]

I have a cyano outbreak on the sand and one rock in my 40g breeder. Nitrates and Phosphates got super low and I think that’s what set it off. No changes to flow, etc. Tank is thriving and I’m hesitant to use something like Chemiclean. My alk dropped to 6.2 due to a dosing pump problem but that’s been fixed and the corals weren’t affected. What can I do to get rid of this stuff. Again, not due to excess nutrients. Thanks!!

Patience is your best friend. Reduce feeding (nutrient), and don’t overdo water change. it will cycle itself out overtime.

 

[damsels are not mean]

Not convinced nutrients alone are what cause or solve cyano outbreaks... I've had it appear and disappear in systems of all nutrient levels. I've seen experienced people in the reef space say you need more nutrients I've seen others say you need less.

I've seen it grow in areas with no flow I've seen it grow in areas with high flow and I've seen dead spots with 0 cyano. I really don't know why it grows or doesn't and I don't know how it decides where to grow. But one thing that always has happened to cyano in my tanks is that when it grows it stops at a certain point and then eventually starves itself and crashes, completely clearing out of the spot it took hold in.

 

[Coralsdaily]

Not convinced nutrients alone are what cause or solve cyano outbreaks... I've had it appear and disappear in systems of all nutrient levels. I've seen experienced people in the reef space say you need more nutrients I've seen others say you need less.

I've seen it grow in areas with no flow I've seen it grow in areas with high flow and I've seen dead spots with 0 cyano. I really don't know why it grows or doesn't and I don't know how it decides where to grow. But one thing that always has happened to cyano in my tanks is that when it grows it stops at a certain point and then eventually starves itself and crashes, completely clearing out of the spot it took hold in.

 

[Coralsdaily]

I definitely can agree with cyano growth coincides with flow in my tank, it appears in small clusters where flow is subdued (between coral branches).