Cyano

[barmer]

i was thinking about this. removing all the inhabitants and just having lights out for a as long as it takes for it all to die. but really i guess what i need to know is where does it come from. how do we get it. etc. also the idea of a new start doesn't sound bad. it seems like with every tank i set up i think of something i should have done or want to do next time. things would be easier if i didnt have a woman reminding me constantly of what i spend on my tank. i do have one question thats not related and that is with the 2 tanks i've had in my time my liverock always winds up turning green with algea. is this just from my light cycle being to long off the bat. it did take me a couple months to get a timer and my light cycle most commonly was about 12 hrs a day. thankyou all for your quick responses and help.

I'm batteling cyano as well. I tried to think of anything I needed to do different but to no avail. I am getting some Red Slime Remover to take care of it. The only place excess nutrients could be coming from is the water I use. I use the Culligan water dispenser at my local Walmart. My tank had 0 algae for 6 months and then overnight it started with green hair algae and cyano. I barely feed my tank. All I have been giving it for a couple of months is enough food for my clown to eat once a day with the occasional piece drifting to the banded coral shrimp. I am going to start getting my water at my LFS, I think it is 10-15 cents higer per gallon but worth the peace of mind that it being filtered by a system that truely receives maintenance and upkeep and not just checked off serviced record.

[mparker]

i guess i should mention we're talking about dino's here not cyano. the thread began asking if there problem was cyano but turned out to be dino's and thats what the thread has since been about.

[Uhuru]

dino's can be introduced in a number of ways and probably comes on your live rock to begin with, it's just I think the conditions have to be right for it to take over a tank. They are common in the ocean and as you know this is what lives symbiotically inside of the corals as well (though not the same species). Dino blooms in the ocean happen and cause things like "red tide" and some carry palytoxin which kills people that eat fish during dino blooms. it usually starts off because something dies and goes unnoticed (what happened to me) but once it gets going I think phixion said it right you can get it under control but I don't know if you can ever completely eradicate it without resorting to drastic measures.

i do have one question thats not related and that is with the 2 tanks i've had in my time my liverock always winds up turning green with algea. is this just from my light cycle being to long off the bat. it did take me a couple months to get a timer and my light cycle most commonly was about 12 hrs a day. thankyou all for your quick responses and help.

If you're having algae problems everytime you may end up with dinos again because there is some type of nutrient control issue going on with your tanks. It could be the lights and most likely your water as well. I would figure out what's going on there before tearing down the tank and starting over again or you will end up in the same situation again.

[mparker]

dino's can be introduced in a number of ways and probably comes on your live rock to begin with, it's just I think the conditions have to be right for it to take over a tank. They are common in the ocean and as you know this is what lives symbiotically inside of the corals as well (though not the same species). Dino blooms in the ocean happen and cause things like "red tide" and some carry palytoxin which kills people that eat fish during dino blooms. it usually starts off because something dies and goes unnoticed (what happened to me) but once it gets going I think phixion said it right you can get it under control but I don't know if you can ever completely eradicate it without resorting to drastic measures.If you're having algae problems everytime you may end up with dinos again because there is some type of nutrient control issue going on with your tanks. It could be the lights and most likely your water as well. I would figure out what's going on there before tearing down the tank and starting over again or you will end up in the same situation again.

is there anything else i should be checking for. to my knowledge really trates and phosphates are the algea activators right.

[Uhuru]

yup and the problem is with an algae or dino bloom the nutrients are taken up before you can test for them so it looks like your water is clean - when my dino bloom was at it's worst my nutrients consistently read 0 across the board - this might be an opportunity for you to figure out what is wrong with your system by process of elimination - it sure helped me figure out the weak points of my setup

 

most likely it's a combination of things... good luck

[mparker]

thanks for your help

[tsintse]

thanks for your help

 

 

I don't know if this applies to SW, but I had a terrible green slime algae in my FW planted tank for awhile. I did manual removal but then I put a UV filter at the intake of one my canisters. The slime went away after a few days and has been gone since. Can't really do higher flow in in FW tanks so it was frustrating sucking up all that nasty stuff day after day

[The Propagator]

Well a UV is good and also bad in Sw set ups.

If you have a large enough tank it can be great.

But in jut about anything under 90 gallons ( reef) or so and it can be deadly to the inhabitants via removing all good bacteria from the water column along with the algae spores if you go to large.

Personally I wouldn't do it.

I know folks who have but they also have large systems.

[geekreef_05]

Ive been there, so i feel your pain.

 

Ultimately my cyano overwhelmed tank ended up crashing while i was on summer vacation years ago. At that time my anemone got agitated by the cyano and moved, eventually ending up in the powerhead and getting ripped apart, resulting in a total tank meltdown.

 

Anyway, the solution for me was to clean up the mess and do a 100% WC. I let the tank run lifeless with high flow, no heat and no lights for about 6 months. That cured it. But honestly before that I tried everything I could think of for about a year, up until the tank crashed on my vacation. Nothing I did was a permanent solution; and I tried 90% of the stuff mentioned already (excluding one or two additives). The cyano would always come back in a week or two. I spent a couple hundred dollars trying to rid that plague from my tank.

 

So if you really, really wanna get rid of it, here is my suggestion. Setup a temp tank that you can run for 6 months. Place all your livestock in that tank. Clean out your main tank and manually remove the cyano. Do a 100% WC on the main tank and run with no lights and no heat for 6 months. I know thats extreme, but its the only thing thats gonna work 100%.

[Jackopus]

Cyno was about to kill me off too.. then I tried this config, with that Cadlight drop in UV light in the first chamber..http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=131200

 

GONE! I haven't seen any cyno since then...

[mparker]

alright reefers i'm back asking for help with my dino problem. i've decided to essentially start over. get rid of all my rock sand and water as suggested. what i was wondering though was would keeping my live rock in fresh water for a day or so kill the bacteria and my rock essentially uncuring it. that would i keep keep all my rock at least and would just have to cure it again. my second question is how do i make sure the corals wont carry it to the new tank. since its a bacteria it means its everwhere in the water right not just something i can spot treat. its physically only on once piece of coral and that is my galaxia. whats the safest way of removing it without damaging the coral and making sure it doesnt hitchhike off my corals into the new tank.

[geekreef_05]

No matter what you do cyano will always be there. Its a natural part of the reef system; but it has to be balanced and under control. So dont get into this thinking you'll eliminate every single molecule of cyano.

 

Your headed in the right direction, but you dont need to be that extreme. Time and patience are the two biggest allies you can have. Leave the rock simply without light and heat for a couple months to kill off all the bacteria. Do a big WC and manual removal beforehand as well.

 

If you do a 24 hour freshwater dip you'll loose all the other good bacteria's on the rock. And I bet that you would have to let it uncure in the FW for around 48hrs to one week in order to really get rid of all the bacteria on the rock. Keep in mind that bacterium are as resilient as cockroaches.

 

Either way your looking at time as the biggest expenditure. If you do with a freshwater dip it'll be a couple months before the rock is re-cured; and if you do with no light/no heat you'll wait a couple months before it all disappears. But at least you'll save other living parts of the rock..

 

G/L and happy reefin

[mparker]

how many times do i have to bring up that we're not talking about cyano. i'm not such a noob i couldnt get rid of some damn cyano.

[justaguy2]

how many times do i have to bring up that we're not talking about cyano. i'm not such a noob i couldnt get rid of some damn cyano.

 

The thread title is "Cyano, I am going to pull my hair out help".

 

It's kind of confusing to not be talking about cyano in a thread titled cyano.

[mparker]

sorry. the OP thought they had cyano but discovered it was dinos and none of my posts have ever mentioned cyano

[Noonan]

I have been doing aquarium maintenance for some time now, and I have always had great luck with Red Slime Remover. Chemi-Clean seems to nuke the corals a little, and really messes with the oxygen levels. I have used Red Slime Remover to little no effects to any corals.

 

Whenever I used it I siphon all the slime algae out of the tank, and then do a small dose. I usually add about 3/4 of what the recommended dose is. By the next day it is already starting to disappear, so I do another dose- probably half the size of the recommended dose.. and then its gone.

[roxy25]

sorry. the OP thought they had cyano but discovered it was dinos and none of my posts have ever mentioned cyano

 

The only way I have gotten rid of my dinos was 100% WC I tried everything