cyanobacteria problem

[Fishguy]

I used to use Marycin for fresh water on my salt (fish only) to fight cyano.

 

worked amazingly..

but my tank was such a wreck that it was only a matter of time before it made a comeback.

[xeon]

Cyano is a bacteria, but it does share some charachteristics of an algae. The initial post by Fred is the best solution to cyano. I would add wrong spectrum bulbs or old lighting shifting spectrum to his list of things to look at and/or fix.

Reduce nutrient import (bad source water, bad salt mix, overfeeding), increase nutrient export (wet skimming with a good skimmer, carbon/resins, culling macroalgae from a refugium, more/frequent waterchanges with high quality water).

Although the treatments (antibiotics) can be effective, they do kill off the cyanobacteria... which could be a bad thing if you had tons of it. Massive amounts of anything dying in our tanks is bad news.

 

I have some friends new to the hobby who just paid some "specialist" $75/hr. to come out and "solve" their cyano problem. They had already done the Chemipure route, but they had obvious nutrient problems. Chemipure wasn't my suggestion either btw.

 

In spite of my telling them all of the above(Fred's comments + more), they wanted something immediate. Their $112.50, got them the same things I told them(actually less)... plus the lady told them they were overskimming, which is bunk.

 

The expert I found out was an ex-LFS owner whose saltwater livestock and corals were pretty pathetic. Ever seen a coral tank covered in hair algae with SPS/LPS skeletons for sale? I have... and this "expert" was running the show. I make pretty good money already, but if people are paying $75/hr. for shoddy aquarium advice... might have to explore that.

 

Cyano isn't always easily eradicated. The steps to eliminate it can be a slow process, but in the end it is worth it. Patience in this hobby goes a long way. That's my mantra at least.

[Perpetual98]

There's a LFS by me that sells coral skeletons for a LOT of money. They have several kinds of acros in their "coral" tanks that don't even show polyps out, and they're under 1 or 2 N.O. fluorescent bulbs. They had a brain there a few months back that I offered to take off their hands because they were obviously killing it and they said that they were going to sell it. They wanted $75 for it. Poor thing. I think they ended up tossing it. At least I HOPE someone didn't buy it.

[steelhealr]

My cyano is gone....PM me if you give up.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/showthread...&threadid=59205

 

SH