Hydrogen peroxide not killing cyano?

[vdubers]

Hi I am struggling to get rid of my cyano. Following twillard’s thread I starting dosing 3% hydrogen peroxide on 10.12.23 at 1ml per 10g (16 ml for my 160 gal). This was making no impact so upped it to 30ml on the 20th. Today there is still little impact. Some matts are lifting up but soon get filled in again.

Not sure if I should up the dose further?

Also I have 12% hydrogen peroxide is it ok to use this at 25% the dose? So 7.5ml?

My microscope only goes up to 1000x so not sure I would see anything to confirm it’s definitely cyano but 1ml hydrogen peroxide to 100ml tank water and the matt turns the water pink and the cyano goes green.
Tank inhabitants are fine, Zoa’s close up when dossed but soon open up again and are growing new heads.

Chemiclean is not something I am willing to try but open to other options. I did run two rounds of iquatics cyano remover which got rid of all the cyano 100% no trouble but as soon as I stopped dosing it came back the next day. It also bottomed out my nitrate and phosphate to 0 and corals were not happy with that so reluctant to try it again if it just comes right back.

Thanks for the help

 

[piranhaman00]

You need to get closer to 1mL/gal which is insane but necessary it appears from other posters. Do some more digging before attempting.

 

[I never finish anythi]

Try sunnyx method. I wouldn't do 1ml per gallon . It's 1 ml per 10 when lights go out and dose microbacter 7 when lights go on .

 

[Mikeltee]

Why no chemiclean? That's what 99% of us use and it works in a couple of days. The only bad part is the skimmer going nuts. If you wet skim for 3 days it will be back to normal. Or you can remove the cup for 10 days.

 

[I never finish anythi]

Extreme Water Clarity and Cyano Eradication, Made Easy!

@SunnyX is this something I can do in HOB tank? No over flow or skimmer? Also the one tank you posted with the t5 fixture makes me want to throw out my LED lights haha T5 just seems so “set it and forget it”

www.reef2reef.com

 

[I never finish anythi]

Also how much flow do you have in the tank? . I only see one gyre !!

 

[vdubers]

You need to get closer to 1mL/gal which is insane but necessary it appears from other posters. Do some more digging before attempting.

Thanks that seems like an awful lot but I will look into it. I don’t think I will go as far as 1ml/gal but potentially means I can up my dose safely.

Try sunnyx method. I wouldn't do 1ml per gallon . It's 1 ml per 10 when lights go out and dose microbacter 7 when lights go on .

Thanks I will check out the sunnyx method. Sounds reasonable from what I can see. Any reason why I can’t add the sunnyx method while continuing with hydrogen peroxide?

Why no chemiclean? That's what 99% of us use and it works in a couple of days. The only bad part is the skimmer going nuts. If you wet skim for 3 days it will be back to normal. Or you can remove the cup for 10 days.

A couple of reasons. From what I have read chemiclean only really works for the spirilina type of cyano. And if it was that type it shouldn’t make the water pink with the hydrogen peroxide test. Also the 20% water change after dosing in one go would be tricky for my system.

Also how much flow do you have in the tank? . I only see one gyre !!

Sorry isn’t the best picture I have two gyres one each end. The cyano also seems to be uniform throughout the low and high flow areas.

 

[I never finish anythi]

I did the sunnyx method and it worked wonders for me . Not saying it's gonna work, but his tanks are absolutely stunning so I'd deffo take there advice . Good luck hope you get it sorted asap .

 

[vdubers]

I did the sunnyx method and it worked wonders for me . Not saying it's gonna work, but his tanks are absolutely stunning so I'd deffo take there advice . Good luck hope you get it sorted asap .

Thanks yeah def worth a try!

 

[Troylee]

With that much cyano I think you’re gonna have problems if you do manage to kill it off with chemiclean or any other means.. I would siphon all that out with a huge water change then try peroxide or calcium carbonate with mb7 etc… are you carbon dosing? I’ve never seen a tank with so much before.

 

[vdubers]

With that much cyano I think you’re gonna have problems if you do manage to kill it off with chemiclean or any other means.. I would siphon all that out with a huge water change then try peroxide or calcium carbonate with mb7 etc… are you carbon dosing? I’ve never seen a tank with so much before.

I last siphoned it all out about 10 days ago. Tbh it gets to this point after 3 days max so I gave up syphoning it unless it’s a routine water change. I am dosing NP bacto balance but this was after the cyano started. I actually hoped it would improve the situation but it hasn’t made it better or worse. Will do another syphon and try the coral snow and microbactor method.

 

[Troylee]

I last siphoned it all out about 10 days ago. Tbh it gets to this point after 3 days max so I gave up syphoning it unless it’s a routine water change. I am dosing NP bacto balance but this was after the cyano started. I actually hoped it would improve the situation but it hasn’t made it better or worse. Will do another syphon and try the coral snow and microbactor method.

Sounds like a plan.. I’d back off the bacto balance as it might feed it just like vodka does.

 

[taricha]

With that much cyano I think you’re gonna have problems if you do manage to kill it off with chemiclean or any other means.. I would siphon all that out with a huge water change then try...

agreed.
Regardless of what else you do, you have big sheets of cyano that are an easy target for manual removal.
People complain after they vacuum it out "it comes right back" but if it comes back at 30% or 10% of the original strength, then that is in the direction of success with no harm to anything else. And it's also removing a lot of the bound up goodies that fuel the growth in the first place.

 

[LPS Bum]

Honestly, I would just use Chemiclean and be done with it. I've used it 4 or 5 times over the years and have had zero problems (other than the usual volcano skimmer). It's the only method I've ever found that truly works. You can export the Chemiclean easily using your protein skimmer and a drain hose (draining it into a bucket and replacing with new saltwater).

If you do change your mind, I'd definitely suggesting siphoning as much of the cyano out ahead of time as possible (before you treat). I think you'll be pleased with the results.

 

[exnisstech]

I did the sunnyx method and it worked wonders for me . Not saying it's gonna work, but his tanks are absolutely stunning so I'd deffo take there advice . Good luck hope you get it sorted asap .

I'm following it on my latest build. I'm 10 months in on a new build started with dry rock and bare bottom. I've not had any terrible nuisance algae / bacteria and its the cleanest tank I have out of 3. Now if my coral would grow like sunny's I'd be very happy lol

 

[vdubers]

Sounds like a plan.. I’d back off the bacto balance as it might feed it just like vodka does.

True I probably should back off the bacto balance. It’s doing a good job with my nutrient levels though.

agreed.
Regardless of what else you do, you have big sheets of cyano that are an easy target for manual removal.
People complain after they vacuum it out "it comes right back" but if it comes back at 30% or 10% of the original strength, then that is in the direction of success with no harm to anything else. And it's also removing a lot of the bound up goodies that fuel the growth in the first place.

My issue with siphoning it regularly is it either takes a bunch of sand with it to get it out or if I try and save the sand a lot of it gets left in there. Might just focus on the rocks more regularly and do the sand bed once a week.

Honestly, I would just use Chemiclean and be done with it. I've used it 4 or 5 times over the years and have had zero problems (other than the usual volcano skimmer). It's the only method I've ever found that truly works. You can export the Chemiclean easily using your protein skimmer and a drain hose (draining it into a bucket and replacing with new saltwater).

If you do change your mind, I'd definitely suggesting siphoning as much of the cyano out ahead of time as possible (before you treat). I think you'll be pleased with the results.

It’s not 100% out the question just would rather try everything else first.

I'm following it on my latest build. I'm 10 months in on a new build started with dry rock and bare bottom. I've not had any terrible nuisance algae / bacteria and it’s the cleanest tank I have out of 3. Now if my coral would grow like sunny's I'd be very happy lol

I have ordered the calcium carbonate and microbactor 7 so once that arrives will start giving it a go. Doesn’t sound like it can do any harm so happy to try it.

 

[taricha]

My issue with siphoning it regularly is it either takes a bunch of sand with it to get it out or if I try and save the sand a lot of it gets left in there.

cyano will entwine itself with particulates, likely to hold nutrient goodies as close as possible. So if something gets pulled up with the cyano - it might save you trouble to discard it. Think of it as removing the goodies driving the growth at the same time as removing cyano cells directly.

Might just focus on the rocks more regularly and do the sand bed once a week.

sure. once a week over the sand will be plenty helpful.

 

[klawson]

Hey, I'm curious - how's your tank? Were you able to get rid of the cyano? If so, what methods/combination of methods worked?

 

[vdubers]

Hey, I'm curious - how's your tank? Were you able to get rid of the cyano? If so, what methods/combination of methods worked?

Still battling it sadly however I am currently keeping it at bay. I increased hydrogen peroxide as much as I was comfortable but wasn’t making a dent. Combined this with the coral snow method and syphoning daily but again was just coming back. Did this for approximately 1 -2 months before going on holiday for a week and coming back to it looking like something out of the war of the worlds. Coral and fish were all fine though.

My method now is to continually dose the iquatics cyano remover at a low maintenance dose. At full dose it gets rid of all traces after a couple of weeks. I am now at half that and there is some returning. The issues with it are it sucks out all residual nutrient's in the tank and lowers my PH so I am trying to find a balance between no cyano and ok nutrients/PH. 90% of corals are looking great though and better than before so feel they must be eating the bacteria the cyano remover produces. I am also feeding heavy to make sure there is enough food available as well as running lower dkh. I also do a small daily water change and clean the sand once a week.

So in summary not there yet but making progress.

 

[Mickey]

Good luck with this. I feel your pain and have been battling this myself. Half of the reef is typical cyano and the other half is predominantly spirolina. How does this happen? All on rocks and overflow walls but not on sand. It's been a battle.