help...

[twon8]

whenever i disturb a balance in my tanks i get the cyano (turn off skimmer for a few weeks, lower flow, no wc in months, took chaeto tank offline for a few days)


i have never used chemiclean, never would in a reef

to beat it do one or a combination of the following:
run carbon
more flow
more skimming
water changes.
grow macro if not already doing it

 

[twon8]

just last week my frag tank had had it's skimmer turned off for a few weeks, and a few days after the mjmod got hung up and stopped working cyano showed up

i turned back on the skimmer and the mjmod, and today the tank is cyano free and it had a much worse case than your's

 

[Raptor]

I could be wrong, But i dont think marv runs a skimmer.

 

[MarvinsReef]

I could be wrong, But i dont think marv runs a skimmer.

yup.. no skimmer.. yikes!

but I do have ample flow I think.. mag 7 return; seio 620; and tunze nanostream 6025... you know I think it's because I don't run them all the time.. I only run them couple of hours at a time... I'll try turning them on the whole day and see what happens... also, I'm due for a water change anyway so I'll just do more than the 10%-15% I do every 10 days or so..

Thanks again guys..

 

[msman825]

I would dip it out with a net are suck it out also. I agree with twon8

 

[tibbs2]

Like everyone said. This is cyanobacteria. Nasty stuff. It can grow on your zoas and cause them to close up until it's been removed.

Increase nutrient export via skimming, refugium and possibly a phosban reactor.

I have fought this for a long time.

I wouldn't bother with Chemi-clean unless it has spread a lot. It is only a temporary solution.

I don't believe silicates play a part in this. This article by Randall Homes Farley is a good article about silicates in the aquarium. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/jan2003/feature.htm

Chris

 

[Azurel]

I should have typed that clearer.....I wasn't saying that the cyno use silicates, but the water stations don't keep up with maintenance and silicates from my reading is one of the hardest substances to get out of water through RO/DI filters. IF they have silicates in the water after filtering then most likely they aren't keeping up with maintenance and could also be other problems in the water as well.

 

[jandlms]

Boyd Enterprises (the makers of Chemi-clean) maintain that there is NO erythromycin in their product. Dosing with any antibiotic only temporarily treats the problem anyway. Try to isolate the sourse of the nutrients causing the cyano (I agree with the RO water or a dead something as the source). The nutrients have to come from somewhere. Just do your water changes and siphon the stuff of. I have also seen phosphate sponges do wonders for eliminating cyano and hair algae from tanks.
Be proactive on this problem but be wise. Your tank is too awesome to just throw some chemical or antibiotic in to it and hope for the best. Nobody out here wants to see it get worse.

 

[impur]

I have had cyano in the past. It is a pain thats for sure! I tried every single suggestion listed here. None worked. I also tried every single thing suggested over at RC. I battled it for 4 months and honestly i did try every single thing suggested.

In the end, Chemi-clean knocked it out overnight. I did not lose a single coral, it did not affect pods or worms, did not affect fish or algae. Only the cyano. I dosed it over a year ago and its been gone ever since. This stuff is one of the few products in this hobby that does exactly what it says and does not harm a thing. I recommend it over and over on these types of threads, because its really the only thing that works.

Good luck to you.

 

[Patwa]

Marvin, here's my approach to treating cyano:

- test the RO+DI water with a TDS meter...the shop you buy from should have one available for you to check before you buy....you need a TDS reading anywhere from 0 to 4 (FME)...any more and you should notify the staff to swap their filters, cuz you're not getting your money's worth, imo

FYI....RO+DI sold at water stores like that is primarily for HUMAN consumption..as such, it is common to have the raw RO+DI effluent (TDS at this stage would be, ideally, around 0 or 1) run through a final filter stage for 'taste' (this is usually crushed coconut shells)...this reintroduces some nutrients and minerals to the water (TDS at this stage can be around 10 or even more!)....you DO NOT want this....confirm with your water store.

- lots of flow ...but seeing your specs, i think you're OK

- phosban reactor.....if you don't run a skimmer, then I would REALLY, REALLY suggest you install one ASAP......I run two phosban reactors in each of my tanks...one is filled with Rowaphos and the other with carbon, with each daisy-chained to each other....fluidized filters are where it's at

- use chaetomorpha as your only macro algae, and blast it with piles of 5500K light...you should be pulling out handfulls of the stuff a week... if you ain't, get more light!....caulerpa is a p.o.s for nutrient export...don't even get me started

- water changes....i don't believe in stinking water changes......the water in your tank is golden..it's well aged and mature....what i do instead, is to test like a **** and supplement with minerals on an as needed basis.

and i know it's tough, being the frag master you are, but try and keep your hands out of the tank for a bit hahaha

good luck, mate!

Zach

 

[jandlms]

By introducing an antibiotic to the system you will knockout cyanobacteria. Or most of it. As you have been seeing in the news for several years now, the overuse of most antibiotics by some doctors has led to the development (evolution) of strains of bacteria that are resistant or immune to antibiotics. Please try and find the cause of the cyano (I would guess a spike in phosphate) BEFORE tossing a antibiotic like erythromycin in the tank.

 

[impur]

Flow does not affect cyano. It grew on the outlet nozzle of my Seio 820. This is a common misconception.

Also, chemiclean does not contain erythromycin as stated previously in this thread.

 

[MarvinsReef]

well.. last night I came home with a sandbed almost full of cyano...

turns out that I forgot to turn on the powerheads... turned on the powerheads for the rest of the night and woke up this morning with minimal cyano on the sand bed...

and I just did a 20%-25% water change before I went to work so hopefully that'll help.. I also added carbon in my sump and I plan on pulling it out either toinght or tomorrow am.. I don't have a good epxerience with using carbon...

I'll keep you guys posted tonight and the next coming days... wish me luck..

 

[twon8]

Flow does not affect cyano. It grew on the outlet nozzle of my Seio 820. This is a common misconception.

Also, chemiclean does not contain erythromycin as stated previously in this thread.

even if flow does not directly affect cyano (i think it does), increased flow will keep things suspended in the water column, and give the tank more of a chance to process said things before they become food for cyano. all imo.

turning a skimmer and a high flow pump on eliminated the cyano in a frag tank, nothing else has been added or changed.

 

[impur]

even if flow does not directly affect cyano (i think it does), increased flow will keep things suspended in the water column, and give the tank more of a chance to process said things before they become food for cyano. all imo.

turning a skimmer and a high flow pump on eliminated the cyano in a frag tank, nothing else has been added or changed.

Your right, it will keep it from attaching to some things. But it does not help get rid of the problem, ie, if you turn a pump off it will show right back up overnight.

 

[MarvinsReef]

will it get better?!?!??!?

ah, more junk... I don't know if the water change and the carbon is helping...

will decreasing my photoperiod help? currently, my lights are on for 10 hours... should I lower that?

Thanks...

 

[tibbs2]

I really don't think it will. I lowered my photoperiod from 12 hours to 10 and didn't notice a change. I believe the only way to defeat it permanently is increased nutrient export. Water changes will help but you will have to do them regularly.

Has anything changed in your system? Gotten more fish? Feeding more food or a different type of food? Try feeding the fish only every other day. That will lower the available amount of nutrients for the cyano.

More flow will limit where it can grow but it will still grow in low flow areas a la sandbed etc. If it grows on your plugs, you can just hold the plug in front of the powerhead and it will blow it off.

Chris

 

[twon8]

maybe try topping off with limewater?

 

[Hopkins]

Gotta drop down to the basics. Break out your test kits and post what the levels are.

 

[jandlms]

Marvin,
How old is that sand bed??? How deep is it? Might be the problem. I have heard of sand beds experiencing die-offs (for a variety of reasons) and increasing the amount of phosphate in the tank. As I recommended earlier, a phosphate sponge may help decrease the nutrients.
Good Luck!