Attacking Cyanobacteria

[KathyC]

That's wonderful to hear Teddy!
It's a great way to get a handle on the issue and gives you more time to get a grip on the underlying cause.

btw...I finally got a FTS last night for my after shot

 

[wimby]

Love that pink anenome well love all the pretty stuff you have I need to go shopping in your tank LOL

 

[masterswimmer]

I just like all that WHITE sand :party:

swimmer

 

[hijinks]

for me.. I agree with Dom.. my UV bulb died and I was a bit lazy to replace it.. 3 weeks later.. brown all over the sand bed and rock. Get a new bulb and in 4-5 days 90% of the sand bed is clean and I just vacuum the rest off the rock. 2 weeks later.. nothing anywhere.. thank you UV

 

[Euroreefer]

WOW, thats tank is nice, is the sand new? Looks crisp white.

 

[Bklynreefdude]

It worked

So about three weeks ago I had an outbreak of cyano and some other algae (I'm not even sure what it was so I'll have to check that thread). Some causes may have been:
1. sudden death of my favorite black blenny (couldn't find the body)
2. loss of hermit crabs and snails
3. UV bulb is old
4. RO/DI problems so I had to resort to the old Tap Water Filter.

I ordered more clean up crew, a new UV bulb, a booster pump and a new membrane (along with a bunch of other parts) for the RO/DI. In the meantime I tried liquid and powder remedies with only temporary success. I did some big water changes after getting the RO/DI working and I turned the lights off for 2 1/2 days and voila! The cyano is gone and the rest has subsided enough for the tangs and cleanup crew to do their work. I'm getting the UV bulb at the end of the week so hopefully the combo of all of this will keep the algae at bay. So, the lights off method might not be a single cure all but the corals didn't seem to mind and it certainly was easy (and the cheapest method ever) to do.

 

[ESSELO]

I Had The Same Problem And A Friend Told Me To Keep The Lights Off For Exactly Three Days. As You Know, That's All It Took. I Was Worried About Light Starvation, But It Worked Like A Charm.

 

[basiab]

Is there anything left over after the 3 days that needs to be cleaned up or is it all disolved.

Also ,can everyone who tried this, revisit this thread in about 4-6 weeks and let us know whether it returned and what if anything was done to prevent it from returning.

 

[Bklynreefdude]

There is no cyano to suck out but there was still a little bit of brown/green algae that the snails, hermits, and tangs are managing quite well. I went from about 90% brown/green coverage and 3 problem spots of cyano the size of silver dollars to no cyano and maybe 5% brown/green. The coraline is glowing purple again and I will be sure and post again in a couple of weeks.

 

[masterswimmer]

I've been turning my lights off for 3 consecutive days once a month, sometimes once every two or three months for a few years. I had a cyano outbreak about four years ago and tried this method. It worked back then. I never got the cyano back, but continued to go lights out for three days anyway. It was a prophylactic treatment because I didn't need to. It has been awhile (probably five or six months) since I last did this. I just got tired of not seeing my critters for three straight days.

Kathy, glad to hear this worked for you.

swimmer

 

[pjewett]

I'm going to try this for the next 2 days also...not going to push 3 days yet as I don't want to risk hurting the few SPS I have in my mostly LPS/Mushroom tank.

My tank is only 7 months old and I've never had what I would call a serious algae outbreak of any kind. However I recently (and recklessly) tried dosing vodka for the first time as part of more comprehensive plan (most involving better husbandry) to tackle a very high PO4 reading.

Maybe a day or two later I had a couple patches of cyno on my sand. I've also added more chaeto..upgraded my fuge lights and increased my WC percentages each week.

I'm also going to leave my fuge lights on during this 2 day blackout and while the tank is getting some weak ambient light I've pulled the shades and curtains in the room and turned off both my MH & actinics.

Interested to see what happens.

 

[Acerno]

I had cyanobacteria in my tanks and although by shutting off the lights it slowed their growth down, they do not completely disappear from the tank. The only effective remedy that I know is to use a product called "Red Slime Remover" from Chemiclean. It eliminates ALL the cyanobacteria in the tank. It will not affect any invertebrates, corals, macro algaes, nitrifying bacterias, fish, etc. The product is frequently sold on E bay and it is a must to have to treat live rocks before placing them in your reef tank.

 

[masterswimmer]

I had cyanobacteria in my tanks and although by shutting off the lights it slowed their growth down, they do not completely disappear from the tank. The only effective remedy that I know is to use a product called "Red Slime Remover" from Chemiclean. It eliminates ALL the cyanobacteria in the tank. It will not affect any invertebrates, corals, macro algaes, nitrifying bacterias, fish, etc. The product is frequently sold on E bay and it is a must to have to treat live rocks before placing them in your reef tank.

Excellent product.....I just want to point out it is manufactured by Ultralife Reef Products.

Russ

 

[UnknownWaters]

Russ do you carry this product or anything like it?

 

[nanchil]

Yes he does.
http://www.saltwatercritters.com/inc/sdetail/1157

Russ do you carry this product or anything like it?

 

[masterswimmer]

Yes he does.
http://www.saltwatercritters.com/inc/sdetail/1157

Thanks Sujin.

Russ

 

[pjewett]

I'm going to try this for the next 2 days also...not going to push 3 days yet as I don't want to risk hurting the few SPS I have in my mostly LPS/Mushroom tank.

My tank is only 7 months old and I've never had what I would call a serious algae outbreak of any kind. However I recently (and recklessly) tried dosing vodka for the first time as part of more comprehensive plan (most involving better husbandry) to tackle a very high PO4 reading.

Maybe a day or two later I had a couple patches of cyno on my sand. I've also added more chaeto..upgraded my fuge lights and increased my WC percentages each week.

I'm also going to leave my fuge lights on during this 2 day blackout and while the tank is getting some weak ambient light I've pulled the shades and curtains in the room and turned off both my MH & actinics.

Interested to see what happens.

Well it worked like a charm though I know it's till in there somewhere. In the future I'll use this as "part" of a strategy to battle this stuff...adding more flow too.

 

[aaron23]

this is my way of attacking cyanobacteria.

This way works for me and may not work for you and it may be very difficult to measure your parameters while doing this method so I believe it is slightly advanced meaning try it on your own risk.

I've always noticed that when cyanobacteria is growing usually my alkalinity is not high enough for some reason or other. I've noticed that when I increase alkalinity to upper alk levels of high 8 to 9 the cyanobacteria disappears. Without any effect to any of my SPS or LPS. I slowly increase alkalinity and I test alk CONSTANTLY and dose with a calcium reactor so it is easy for me to increase effluent or increase the bubble rate and control my parameters to where I want them to be consistently.

also. no flaming. :birthday:

 

[Jetsam]

scrape and suck

I've recently had a pretty bad bout of cyano. Water quality seems to be the deciding factor (no duh). Water changes are obviously really important. I've read that areas of low water flow are especially susceptible and I agree. Someone mentioned he wasn't sure if the blue-green variety grows in the reef tanks, well it does. Nice and dark colored. It's looks evil.
Also bought some of the red slime remover but haven't tried it as I've read it wreaks havoc on the skimmer and you have to constantly dump it (unconfirmed).
One thing I did is gently scrape the goo off the glass from the bottom of the tank up to the top and then used a turkey baster to suck the stuff out of the tank. It holds together fairly well if you do it slowly. After the scraping i stir up the water and let my canister filter do it's job before doing a good water change. Happy tank... for now....
-john

 

[Marteen]

I hate cyano. I've found though as my tank matures I get less and less. I do weekly water changes and feed less. I also run my fuge 24/7. I try to siphon off as much as I can and blast cyano off the rocks whenever I do a waterchange. So far I only have a stubborn patch in the center of the sandbed but over all it has been clearing up.