Cyano?

[Hiker4twenty]

Hi,

I have a 14g Biocube that is just over 2 months old. About 3 or 4 day ago I noticed some red/purpleish algae growing on some of the LR. Since then its tripled in size and now has some whispy looking strings floating around in the current. This morning I noticed a few other patches sprouting up in various spots around the tank. Any idea if this might be Cyano? If so, is cyano bad and how do I get ride of it. Snails/hermits don't touch it.

The pic below is not my tank, but mine looks like this just on a much smaller scale.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

Ya, that's def. cyano. Can you post your water parameters (ph, Salt Gravity, dKh, temp. , etc.)? How long do you run your lights for? Is your tank stocked with any fish?

Did you start your tank with tap water? Have you ever done water changes? Your should be siphoning out, then replacing about 2 gallons a week with a fresh mix of salt water.

And you won't find any invert that'll touch the stuff.

 

[daugherty]

+ 1 that is cyano water changes is about the only way to help get rid of it when doing water changes suck up as much of it as you can. or even use a fish net and scrape it out into the net and out of the water than follow up with new water.

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

The best way to rid your tank of cyano is to cut down your phosphates, lighting time and by doing water changes, as stated. So COMPLETELY cut your lights off for 3-4 days. By doing water changes, which will reduce your phosphates, and cutting your lights you will be starving the bacteria. You'll notice that the cyano will "disappear" whenever you cut your lights out, but it's still in your water column so don't be fooled.

Don't use any "Red Slime" remover unless it's a LAST resort, and you remove any fish and coral to a seperate tank for the treatment of the infected tank. :helm2:

Good luck!

 

[dcantucson]

Great advice from all above. Good luck with it. We've all been there.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

Ya, that's def. cyano. Can you post your water parameters (ph, Salt Gravity, dKh, temp. , etc.)? How long do you run your lights for? Is your tank stocked with any fish?

Did you start your tank with tap water? Have you ever done water changes? Your should be siphoning out, then replacing about 2 gallons a week with a fresh mix of salt water.

And you won't find any invert that'll touch the stuff.

Water param's are:

ph - 8.3
temp - 78
salt - 1.024
amon - 0
trite - 0
trate - 20 or less

I run the lights for roughly 12hrs per day. Actinics are on solo for a total of 4 hrs per day. I started the tank with water from the tap, but I have a well. Not sure if that's bad or not. I've done 2 water changes since the tank cycled, both 3 gal. I have a reef tank w/ a mix of corals, fish and inverts.

I've only seen 1 blue leg hermit on the cyano about 2 days ago. Since then I haven't seen anyone on or near it.

What will cyano do to my tank? I'm assuming it's a bad thing?

 

[Hiker4twenty]

The best way to rid your tank of cyano is to cut down your phosphates, lighting time and by doing water changes, as stated. So COMPLETELY cut your lights off for 3-4 days. By doing water changes, which will reduce your phosphates, and cutting your lights you will be starving the bacteria. You'll notice that the cyano will "disappear" whenever you cut your lights out, but it's still in your water column so don't be fooled.

Don't use any "Red Slime" remover unless it's a LAST resort, and you remove any fish and coral to a seperate tank for the treatment of the infected tank. :helm2:

Good luck!

Will cutting out the lights for 3-4 days hurt the corals/inverts/fish at all? I'll do a water change tonight when I get home from work.

What about phosphate removing media pads?

 

[Hiker4twenty]

Also, what is dKh? I'm newbie so I'm not familiar with all the acroyms.

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

dKh refers to your water hardness.

All your params look good except your nitrates are HIGH, which has my finger pointed at it for being the reason you have cyano. Also, you should be doing a water change EVERY week.

Your corals, fish, inverts should be fine. I believe it was Yote who compared a "lights out period" to when corals are shaded from the sun by nasty stroms in the wild. And they're still fine, in a way.

Do you have a skimmer? If not you should invest in one ASAP.

If you have a sump as well you could run some ROWA Phos, which is a phosphate removing media.

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

Sorry for the million posts. I just keep leaving important things out.

You need adequate flow to keep debris from settling on the sand. Cyano can't hold up to good flow. Unless you've let it go for so long it's created a mat lol.

How many powerheads are in your tank?

 

[Hiker4twenty]

dKh refers to your water hardness.

All your params look good except your nitrates are HIGH, which has my finger pointed at it for being the reason you have cyano. Also, you should be doing a water change EVERY week.

Your corals, fish, inverts should be fine. I believe it was Yote who compared a "lights out period" to when corals are shaded from the sun by nasty stroms in the wild. And they're still fine, in a way.

Do you have a skimmer? If not you should invest in one ASAP.

If you have a sump as well you could run some ROWA Phos, which is a phosphate removing media.

Well, I did a 4gal water change last night w/ RO/DI water. Now I'll do them once a week. My lfs told me to only do 2-3gal change every month. I used a toothbrush to scrape off the cyano and syphoned it up. I checked my nitrate level this morning and it dropped 10 points, so that's good. Why are my nitrates high?

Yes, I do run a skimmer. My lfs sold me the oceananic skimmer for the biocube. It's rated for up to 30 gal. I actually don't think it works all too well becuase I don't seem to be getting much gunk in the collection cup. It's mostly water that has a slight brown tint to it.

Unfortunately, I do not have a sump system in place yet. I plan to do so in the near future. I'm a bit short on cash since I put it all into my current setup.

How do you test for dKh? I bought the marine test kit and it only tests for PH, amm, rite and rate.

As far as the powerheads go. I have the one that comes as part of the biocube and also a Hydor Koralia Nano powerhead. The majority of the cayno was located on lr directly in part of the flow of the powerhead.

I want to thank everyone for taking the time to answer all of my questions and have patients for a newbie like myself. I was a member of the Vivid Aquariums forum, but everyone their talks down to you and make you feel stupid. Thanks for making me feel welcome!

Dave

 

[yote]

For your DKH,just pick up an alkalinity test kit.DKH is the hardness of the water measured in german degrees of hardness.I usually use an API GH/KH kit.Just count that drops until the color changes and that gives me the DKH.
Evens got you covered on the cyano.Just cut the lights for 3 or 4 days.It wont hurt your corals.They dont get full sunlight every day on the reef.Theres days and even weeks that may not get any light at all because of storms.

 

[AdeptMrSniffles]

Your nitrates are high because you haven't been doing water changes, lol. Just keep up on your water changes and you'll be GOLDEN!

Everyone here on the LR (Living Reef) forum is a fellow hobbyist. We've "been there, done that" and have gotten through with the help of others on this forum. ESPECIALLY! me. Don't hesitate to ask any questions or post any comments on other threads. You won't be called stupid, just corrected. I've learned SO MUCH from reading threads and other peoples problems from this forum. So good luck and happy reefing! Cya around!

 

[PufferGuy]

ive also been at war with Cyano for a while and just recently it seems like ive made a SLIGHT dent in it... it will take time, so dont get frustrated if it doesnt go away really quickly, but like others have said, change water, leave your lights on for less time, try to feed less, try to get some macro algae in a refugium if you can... with time it will go away

 

[dcantucson]

It seems to spring up almost overnight, but can take weeks to get rid of.

 

[Hiker4twenty]

Well, I've had the lights off for 4 days now. I just put them back on this morning. So far so good w/ the cyano. I'll do another water change on Monday and keep it on a weekly cycle. My trates are still a little high, but dropped from what they normally were. I've been reading the threads about the algae scrubber. It seems to work really well and will add some more water volume to my tank. I'm going to look into supplies for it this weekend. Thanks everyone for your help!