Red Cyano Battle

[chefmike]

I am currently waging war on some cyano that is in my aquarium. The tank is relatively young having been set up for 6 months now. I realize that algaes, etc... come and go in stages and this isn't the first time I have dealt with these types of issues. So far all parameters are exactly where they should be and I am seeing nice growth and polyp extension in all the corals.

So far the battle consists of my blowing cyano off of the rocks, trapping it in a filter sock, which is then removed. Also been doing weekly water changes removing as much of the cyano as I can. I have turned up my skimmer to produce a wetter effluent and have cut way down on any food, etc that is added to the tank.

Any other suggestions....

 

[paintballer768]

Okay just a few questions to help see what your dealing with. What size tank? How many fish? How often do you feed them, and how much of what? Any non-photosynthetic corals?

Cyano can be fueled by a number of things, but the most common thing that I experience are when I feed a little too much for a few days. Even though nitrates may be low, there still could be very minute particles of waste and food and nasties floating around, which could be decaying slow enough to keep a constant, low level between water changes.

Wet skimming definitely helps reduce the dissolved organics, water changes definitely too.

A more uncommon issue is phosphates/metals in the water. You use RODI water in top offs? How about water changes?

Good luck and I hope it helps

 

[fishes2889]

Adding more flow is another remedy...

 

[chefmike]

It is a 100 gallon mixed reef with only a few fish...small yellow tang, pair of ORA misbar black perculas, 2 firefish, purple psuedo, banggai cardinal, algae blenny and spotted mandarin...I have been feeding every other day, a cube of mysis and a veggie blend...all water changes are done with RO/DI water that has been mixed for a day or two.

Flow right now consists of 3 Hydor Koralia 4 and the return from the sump, approx 700 gallons an hour, plus a maxijet 1200 which keeps my external overflow primed.

I think I am on the right track to beat this stuff...was just wondering if there were any new miracle cures out there

 

[chefmike]

Sorry...forgot to add that I have a fairly niced sized collections of hermits and snails....

More blue legged hermits help you think?

 

[paintballer768]

It is a 100 gallon mixed reef with only a few fish...small yellow tang, pair of ORA misbar black perculas, 2 firefish, purple psuedo, banggai cardinal, algae blenny and spotted mandarin...I have been feeding every other day, a cube of mysis and a veggie blend...all water changes are done with RO/DI water that has been mixed for a day or two.

Flow right now consists of 3 Hydor Koralia 4 and the return from the sump, approx 700 gallons an hour, plus a maxijet 1200 which keeps my external overflow primed.

I think I am on the right track to beat this stuff...was just wondering if there were any new miracle cures out there

That sounds good. I used Red Slime Remover, along with changing a few things I was doing wrong. I think youll be fine.

 

[gflat65]

I'd still up the flow if possible. That's a lot of bioload for a young tank, so it may just take some time to cycle through. Also, how old are the bulbs? I've changed bulbs before and a several month old cyano bloom disappeared overnight (just changed bulbs over my clam tank and got the same results).

 

[JuniorMC8704]

ive been sucessful turning all lights off for a few days.

Its arguable if its a good idea, but i did it for 3 days, and it went away completely.

Corals and what not, should be fine. Storms last for days in the real word, and it doesnt wipe out the whole reef.

 

[Reef Monkey]

Maybe try to adjust your flow to hit some of these spots more. I know that if I had a couple of spots in my tank that had very minimal flow than I would get the red stuff as well.

 

[chefmike]

The bulbs are new...younger than the tank actually...

I added another Hydor Koralia 3 I had in the garage and redirected one of the larger ones toward one of the larger problem areas...

Junior...I thought about killing the lights for a few days as well...might try just not running halides for a few days...actinic only...at least that way I can still enjoy the tank :)

I might try the Red Slime Remover as well...

Thanks for the all the input guys...I will keep you updated...

 

[Garth Schafluetzel]

ive herd that actinic only could produce even more alge lol but if it doesnt make the algea grow then go for it i understand about atleast being able to see it

 

[sleeper]

I have recently used chemi-clean and it knocked mine out in about 72 hours. I have some small colonies of zoas and LPS and all were fine. Great option in my opinion.