Cant get rid of it!!! Please help

[Sahin]

Please see the attached pics of this ugly brown algae that covers the rocks, sand and even some corals.
It looks like tiny hairs but at the same time form large mats and cover the sand bed.

I have been battling this alage for about 4 months now.

My tank is a 24G shallow tank, lit by T5's and NO flouros. I am using Arcadia T5 tubes and Marine White NO tube.

All lamps are less than 2 months old.

Water parameters:
Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Cal: 400ppm
Phos: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

I carry out weekly 10% water changes. And now have lots of Macro Algae in the tank to help fight the bad algae, however things are not working out.

All corals are growing nicely, but this algae is unsightly.

I am running a Prizm skimmer that I maintain in good condition. I also have two Maxi Jet MP600 powerheads which give more than enough flow for this tank.

I am running the lights for 8 hours per day. I have tried running phosphate remover but to no success.

I may run the tank dark for a week? What do you think?

Any ideas suggestions helpful. Thanks.

 

[t gallo]

loooks like the dreaded cyano, brown version. 8O

 

[Sahin]

Any idea why its brown?

Anyway, I gathered that its cyano. Just cant get rid of it.

I may go ahead with the dark period.

 

[klingsa]

Cyanos can be a rainbow of colors, because of their large number of accesory pigments. I agree that you're looking at a cyano here, but I would advise against a dark period. If you do indeed have macros in there, it will hurt them. And Cyanos can switch from photosynthetic growth to absorbing nutrients from the water, so I don't think darkness will help. In my experience, you most likely have a bloom that will go away soon. I just got done with a 6-month bloom of hairy green algae, and within a week, it was completely gone. Surprising, but very common. I looked at the pics again, and it looks reddish to me, which is a more common cyano color. Hope it goes away soon!
Sara

 

[Sahin]

Thanks for the reply Sara. I will keep up the water changes and see what happens.

 

[tuftsreef]

my friend had the same problem. he never did water changes and the only way he got rid of it was by turning off al the lights for a couple days at a time. but, once the lights were back on, the algae came back

 

[CAT]

How old are your lights? I had cyano in my fuge but not in the display so I got suspicious and changed the (older) bulbs in the fuge - The stuff died almost overnight, I was netting slimy floating stuff for about 3 days. :roll:

 

[das75]

Had been getting a cyano bloom on the sand. Was sucking it up and doing frequent water changes but kept coming back. Eventually left the lights off for 3 days and was gone. Had no problem with the macro. It's been little over two months and now only starting to see small traces on the back glass.

 

[Anonymous]

How long has your tank been running?

 

[bandit8051]

hey people im a new member to this site and just reading about this cyno problem i was wondering can you treat this with synomox or will that affect corals and your nitrifing bacteria? I know that its fine to use it in a fresh water environment when you have a cyno infestation and its fast and effective but is that the case in a marine environment?\ :?:

 

[robertpower3]

Hey guys. Just joined the group. My online reef club was down for the night switching servers so I thoght i would check you out. If that is cyno which it looks to be add a product called chemi-clean. It is reef safe and works every time. It is around $14 a bottle and it for me it took two treatments in a 48 hour time period but it will kill cyno bacteria. I have used it in my tank. I have some softies and lps and sps corals.

 

[danmhippo]

Cyno has always been a part of my tank. In my tanks, they are most abundant in stagnant area. This is the primary reason some suggested keeping the flow rate up and periodically flush out the detritus accumulated in the back of the rockwork to keep nutrient level down. I would also further suggest you siphon as much off the rock and caulerpa as possible when you make water changes.

I find cyno problem severity coincide with water quality of my tank as well. Specifically, the phosphate level. Watch your PO4 level. Don't let it rise. Less frozen feed will definetly help.

 

[robertpower3]

F.Y.I. prizm skimmer really does not skim a 30 gallon in my opinion. I think it is better for a 5-10 gallon. I know it says it is rated for a 90 gallon but I think if you got a better skimmer this would also help with the cyano problem. But It would also reduce the caulerpa growth as well.

 

[Leopardshark]

I think you should buy a really big skimmer that would take all the nutrients out of your tank before the cyano can feed on them.
Agressive feeding works like a charm for bad algae problems

 

[Anonymous]

Try some nassarius snails. They do quite a good job on cyano. All-natural approach for cyano control.

 

[klingsa]

Just my opinion, but I hate adding any chemical at all to my tank. If it kills something the size of a cyano (which is a bacterium), then it can kill lots of other beneficial organisms in the tank. I would rather have ugly algae for a few months than interrupt the food chain and nitrogen cycle. But, a lot of people use chems, so this is just my opinion.

Sara

 

[SCIronMike]

I had stuff like that until I upgraded to a Aqua C Remora on my 29 gallon.

 

[EmilyB]

The big skimmer, the water changes, etc is so key. However, what you might miss is the contaminants coming from your RO/DI. Or whatever source water you use.

For a period I used refillable DI resin (non color change). Also the worst time of year here with our tap water is spring. I switched back to color changeable DI, the cyano started to disappear. (I do use a TDS, but TDS only measures solids ?) Siphon the crap out before you water change with better water.

 

[ChaoticReefer]

I would like to make a point or two about water changes and vacuuming. Its about timing and many people over look this.

Cyano dies off during off lighting hours meaning it nutrients goes back into the water column. The point where cyano maximiumly has nutrients in itself is right before lights go out for the night.

So taking this information into consideration. If you are going to do a big water change, it is best to do it right before the lights comes on. This way you will remove nutrients when its at it's peak in the water column, meaning you will be removing more nutrients.

Now vacuuming, it is the opposite of a water change. You want to vacuum when the nutrients peaks within the cyano. The time that is best to vacuum is right before lights go out.

I hope my points helps you. But you still have to find the source of your problem. Vacuuming and big water changes (beside regular water changes) are only short term fix.

 

[JohnH]

I recommend a Queen or Fighting Conch. They both eat cyano. I had two persistent patches of cyano in my 75 until I added a small (1.5") Queen Conch -- it went through them like a little vacuum cleaner! The cyano has not come back, and the now conch eats other algae/detritus off the substrate and glass.