Cyanobacteria

[coralhead]

Somebody please give me some insight. I have this on going battle with either cyanobacteria or some form or hair algae. I go to bed at night and my substrate is beatiful white , come home from work rust colored patches everywhere,as quick as it comes sometimes it leaves as fast most often i will vacume it out. Tank parameters- Ph-8.2 nitrates-0 nitrites-0 PO3/4-0 ammonia .25 Ca- 450 water temp. 79.4 4.5 watts per .ga.(50/ 50) I have been using API master reef kit (are these junk?) Getting frustrated , Please Help. Coralhead:frustrat:

 

[jermpool]

add some more water flow, it grows in "dead" spots

 

[RigoSharon]

use some turbo snails along with cleaning crew..those little critters helps a lot..and they are cheap...

 

[yote]

How long are you running your lights?You can try cutting them back a few hours.
If your feeding flakes or pellets,think about switching over to all frozen.I had the same fight with cyno untill I stopped feeding flakes.

 

[VAreef]

Hi there, I recently had an outbreak of cynobacteria as well. I left on vacation and allowed my ex to take care of my tank while I was gone. When I came back everything lived but water levels were very low and the skimmer was completely out of the loop. It wasn't skimming anything. I vacummed out the patches of cyno and got the skimmer back to normal. What I found out though is snails and crabs don't eat this stuff. It's nutrient based and can survive even without light. It thrives with more light and waste products. Doing some extra water changes, siphoning out what I could, and getting the skimmer back in good working order fixed mine. It took about 2 weeks total before the stuff wasn't growing anymore after I siphoned it out. They make a product to fix it but from what the LFS guy told me was not to add it to a tank that has corals and fish in it already. I guess it's bacteria based and the product will also kill off beneficial bacteria as well. He also told me how to siphon it out being careful to not disturb it as mixing it up can help it spread.

 

[WarmWaterDiver]

I had the same problem as well, I was ready to give up the tank it was so bad! I bought some turbo snails, so small hermit crabs, and about 100 ilyanassa snails. As well I bought a yellow tang... all of these things help keep hair algae down. The ilyanassa and turbo snails will clean your glass. Try also using one of those magnet glass cleaners. I would scrape the glass at night right before the lights would go off and let my skimmer and filter do the dirty work. Change the filter pad often while doing this. As a last resort you could try Ultralife Red Slime to get a head start and then let your critters maintain. One last thing...using a canister filter such as the magnum 350 works great as a diatom filter and water clarifier. I still have that green fuzz on my glass after a few days but it's totally manageable!

 

[Doc]

I assume you are totally sure it is cyano and not diatoms. My cyano was slimey red, while diatoms are brown. If it is cyano, then, the following may help:

1. they live on nutrients, so it will help to feed less often - every other day.

2. light makes it spread like crazy. Cut the light time down by about 4 hrs. Your corals will be fine if the lights are on for just about 4 hours.

3. make sure you have at least two powerheads, facing each other, on opposite ends of the tank to create a nice swell in the middle. Dead spots tend to foster growth of cyano.

4. Nothing really eats cyano - I have heard that some large angels do - like the Koran, but you would do fine with animals that sift - I have 5 sand starfish that keep the bottom all mixed up. Also, a dragon goby or diamond goby may provide stirring of the sand to keep cyano from growing. They are only helpful when the cyano is in "remission". They will not go near it when it is in full bloom.

5. increase you water changes to help reduce nutrients in the water. increase them by about 25% more than what you are doing each week.

6. Make sure your protein skimmer is working properly.

7. As a last resort, you can use Chemiclean, which a powder you add to the water. It is "reef safe", although if you over-use it, the cyano will develop a resistance to it and it will no longer work.

Good luck. As you tank matures, it will not be as big a problem. Hope this helps.

-Dr Marco:sfish: