Cyano Revisited

[callmesaul8889]

i try to keep it clean, but id probably say its been accumulating over a weeks worth of time

[Mr. Fosi]

Just wondering if it was thick enough and there long enough to go anoxic on the bottom.

[callmesaul8889]

i'm not sure how long it would need to be there before it becomes a problem, so i'm not sure... my sexy shrimp is still alive and seems well, so it might have just been the cleaner shrimp's time

 

anyway back to the cyano, can a new acrylic aquarium leech silicates or phosphates?

[callmesaul8889]

k, i did a little bit of research.. and i believe that my original assumption (acrylic leeching silicates) is at least partially true..

 

i'm still searching for some hard evidence of this, but i have found a few forums with people claiming that new acrylic aquariums tend to leech silicates and cause nasty cyano.

[Mr. Fosi]

Silicate isn't directly related to cyanobacteria abundance...? It is linked to diatoms though.

[callmesaul8889]

yeah sorry, that's more specifically what was discussed, diatoms rather than cyano.

 

i also found a few people that claimed 'leeching silicates is an urban legend' so i'm back to being confused

[Mr. Fosi]

Well, if they don't have any data showing that water stored in acrylic tanks exhibits higher concentrations of silicate, I would say they don't leach silicate.

 

I'm not quite sure how acrylic would leach silicate... Is there silicate in acrylic? Ditto PO4... Is there PO4 in acrylic? I thought it was all C, H and O.

[callmesaul8889]

I'm not quite sure how acrylic would leach silicate... Is there silicate in acrylic? Ditto PO4... Is there PO4 in acrylic? I thought it was all C, H and O.

 

not sure.. that's what i'm searching right now. i'm going to try and find the contents of the bonding agent used to bond the acrylic for tanks as well.

[el_heb]

Hi all

 

I have a little problem with cyanobacteria on the last couple of weeks, and was researching causes and treatments when i stumbled on this thread. From what i've read it's generally recomended to increase the water flow if experiencing cyano, and ironically, the only rock i have with cyano is the one with the most direct flow, the rest of the rocks are cyano-free. I have an NC6 with stock pump running at full blast. Another factor i thought was because i was a little over-enthusiastic when feeding my damsel. Right now i don't feed as much since i added a little zoa frag last week. I have a 10 hour photo-period.

 

I'll try manually removing the cyano with the siphon on next water change

 

Any other recomendations?

 

Thanks

[TonyV]

Here's my contribution...

 

My tank is often referred to as sterile (read between the lines..."I stir") since I keep it in meticulous condition and I am religious on water changes and parameters testing. I have recently been battling my own fight with Cyano and I can only contribute it to my dosing of Elos Omega Amino Acids. I am using way less than recommended. 1 drop every Tuesday and Thursday as opposed to multiple drops per day based on the instructions. This is the only thing I have changed and now I have Cyano. Luckily it's controllable with siphoning it up. It goes away for a few days but returns. I have held off on resorting to chemical warefare (Chemi-Clean), while I increase my water capacity with a new sump and a better skimmer. FYI, I currently run Chemi-Pure Elite, Purigen, Filter Floss, Cheato, and GFO.

[divecj5]

Hey Tony. I have what you call a pretty sterile SPS tank as well; keep up religiously with cleaning and water changes and don't overfeed. I have been dosing CoralAmino again over the last month or so (just a drop or two a week) and I'm getting ready to throw the crap in the trash. After going back through my tank "diary," it is one of the few things that I've changed.

 

Originally I thought it was the RO membrane so I changed that. Then I knew my bulbs were getting a little long in the tooth so I changed those. Still kept getting periodic bouts of Cyano so I think it's the addition of Amino Acids that is having a negative effect.

 

I'm with you...I'm holding off on any real chemical warfare as I like to keep things natural and only use those as a last resort. After years of reefing, I find it's better to not freak out and change a bunch of things at once. Eventually, unless it's a serious problem, things tend to settle out and fall back into balance in the end.

 

Keep us posted how things look once you back off on the Aminos.

 

-Adam

[nor_cal_nano]

It seems like 29g or around that size have it the most. How many large tanks like 100g or more have cyano I have never seen one really....

 

heh. this one came to mind..

 

this is your tank on cyano

[systemtool]

wow, thats a mess

[TonyV]

Maybe that person wanted to add a touch of red color to their tank.

 

Yuck! I'd throw everything away and start over if mine ever got that out of hand. I have a small patch about 1 inch here and there, and I freak.

[nor_cal_nano]

Not his tank for the record

[Deadly-Teddly]

bleh, another case of cyano here. i have a nc12 that has enough live rock and has live sand for substrate. water changes slow it down and i notice that it starts where rocks meet like poor flow areas so im going to buy a power head....the k nano thing. but anyways, the other thing.....would 4 fish be to much for the 12 gallon cube? its a small 6 line wrasse, orange spot goby, candy cane goby, and a fire goby. i dont mind doing excessive water changes if that would help the excessive bio load. but if not i think i could be quick enough to net the wrasse maybe lol. so did i overstock my tank?

[5-O Reefer]

Just stating my quick experience with cyano. I had a battle of it in my BC14 just a couple months after setting it up. I had plenty of flow, numerous water changes, etc..... To no avail it kept coming back. So I did one last cleaning and made a trip to the LFS to get a few things. I wasnt expecting anything but began to talk to the owner about my problem. He offered a little mix of that red slime/cyano remover, not sure the name. I told him at the present time no fish in the tank only corals and he said thats fine. I guess no fish is better because the stuff may deplete the oxygen levels. Anyway I got home and put the water mixed with the red slime remover in and the cyano was gone!! Its been a couple weeks now and still cyano free. Gosh it looks so much better.

[Neya]

Maybe that person wanted to add a touch of red color to their tank.

 

Yuck! I'd throw everything away and start over if mine ever got that out of hand. I have a small patch about 1 inch here and there, and I freak.

 

 

I woke up this morning to find a 1x1 corner slightly red Hairs on the sand(I freaked). I cannot say for sure if it's cyano yet. But already debating what to do to prevent an outbreak, if at all possible.

 

After watching my friend battle a full on outbreak in his fowlr I'm very nervous

[hazmat]

Reviving this thread...

 

Why would I have some cyano growing in my sump/fuge but NONE in my tank? I'm thankful that it's not in my display but the only difference is my light (fuge vs. display). It's not growing on my chaeto either. Just a few spots on the glass and a small patch on the rock/sand in the fuge part. There is plenty of flow thru my sump. I change my filter sock religiously, and rinse my Eheim prefilter sponge. I even have some patches on the inside of my phosban reactor tubing! The one that has already gone thru the media and is returning the water into my sump.

 

Knock on wood that it's not heading towards my DT!

[Weetabix7]

Reviving this thread...

 

Why would I have some cyano growing in my sump/fuge but NONE in my tank? I'm thankful that it's not in my display but the only difference is my light (fuge vs. display). It's not growing on my chaeto either. Just a few spots on the glass and a small patch on the rock/sand in the fuge part. There is plenty of flow thru my sump. I change my filter sock religiously, and rinse my Eheim prefilter sponge. I even have some patches on the inside of my phosban reactor tubing! The one that has already gone thru the media and is returning the water into my sump.

 

Knock on wood that it's not heading towards my DT!

 

Could have something to do with the bulb you have over your fuge.

[amnestia]

One miracle product for ya all, API Marine Algaefix

 

I did have slight cyano (not crazy) both in my DT and frag tanks, this product got rid of all traces of it.

 

I did also have bits of the infamous red cotton algae (extremely hard to remove once it takes hold) I was blasting this stuff almost weekly with boiling water to kill it. Algaefix cleared up both problems within a week without harm to my corals. I keep predominantly sps with a few zoas/palys.

 

TRY IT

 

PS. the product has very little effect on macro algae from what i've seen, it did not hinder the growth of my chaeto, halimeda or grape algae at all. I've also suggested this same product to half a dozen people with success.

[hazmat]

Could have something to do with the bulb you have over your fuge.

 

That's what I was thinking/wondering. It's just a Home Depot 5000k bulb on a clip socket. Maybe getting old. I think I'm going to change it out and see what happens.

[IronSnake]

I just started my fight with cyano. It's early, but bubbles on the strands everywhere. I never had this issue ever since I switched to a barebottom tank and started to run carbon 24x7. However, recently I started to dose my tank with amino acids (Kent). Another coincidence is that I also read someone in this thread about cyano coinciding with temperature rising due to the furnace. It's around this time when spring is making my room warmer than usual as well. Finally, the place where cyano is taking over, is the place where has the most turbulent flow (return exit + MP10). The lowest flow area, nothing!

 

I'm going to follow the suggestion to siphon it out as much as I can before and after treating it with RSR, then run fresh carbon after multiple water changes. Lower the temp from 79F to 78F, and stopping amino acid supplements for now to see if that was the cause. Wish me luck.

[hazmat]

I just started my fight with cyano. It's early, but bubbles on the strands everywhere. I never had this issue ever since I switched to a barebottom tank and started to run carbon 24x7. However, recently I started to dose my tank with amino acids (Kent). Another coincidence is that I also read someone in this thread about cyano coinciding with temperature rising due to the furnace. It's around this time when spring is making my room warmer than usual as well. Finally, the place where cyano is taking over, is the place where has the most turbulent flow (return exit + MP10). The lowest flow area, nothing!

 

I'm going to follow the suggestion to siphon it out as much as I can before and after treating it with RSR, then run fresh carbon after multiple water changes. Lower the temp from 79F to 78F, and stopping amino acid supplements for now to see if that was the cause. Wish me luck.

 

Yep...I think it's interesting that people keep talking about flow when it forms on places where there is the most flow. Mine is growing on the sump baffles where the water flows over it. I don't think you can get any more flow than that! Or a power head. I changed my bulb and I can't say that did anything. I put a couple of red stripe turban snails in my sump and they have been doing a good job of cleaning up. But I still see some areas where there is a slight film. It almost looks like a smudge on the glass. And when I look closer it has a red tint to it. Very strange. And none on my chaeto at all.

[jm82792]

15 hours of work later on the request of not wanting to start over,

well I did in the end spend 6 hours ripping out the sand bed,

mucking out crap from where the UGF was and almost hurling a few times from the horrible stench.

Going to look even better soon,

So what do to kill of the little chunks of cynao ?

I thought because I have a Eshopps PSK100H that sucrose dosing might be helpful in keeping the tank very low in nutrients, along with killing the lights for a few days....

There were baseball sized chunks a few weeks ago not there are only a few tiny patches left,

but I don't want the monster to comeback.