Cyanobacteria treatment

[benmorrow1978]

I understand where cyano comes from, how to get rid of it, etc. I have tried all the suggestions. I may simply not have the time to put into it to get rid of this unsightly bacteria. My question is, has anyone ever used any of the chemical treatments to get rid of it? Slime Eraser, Chemi-Clean, Chem-Marin Stop Hair Algae, etc? If so, what's your experience been like?

I'm a conscious aquarist, my fish are healthy and my corals are beautiful. I just wanna get rid of the red stuff. I take good care of my aquarium. My phosphates aren't high and my nitrates are barely detectable. My lights are on 8.5 hours a day. I may overfeed but my parameters during testing are all good. I don't need some long winded answer from Lee about how I'm a dirt bag and not doing the right thing. I don't want to introduce chemicals into my system unless I have to, and right now, I don't have to. I just want to know what experiences you've had with any of the cyano removal treatments available. Help a brother out! Have a great Memorial Day weekend as well! Remember who we are memorializing!

[jimbodapimp]

I bought a blue dot seahare and the little bugger cleaned the cyano within hours. I had to find him a home within a few weeks as he ran out of algae to eat. I've seen products like Red Cyano Rx & Chemiclean Red Slime Remover. IMO I would try something natural first.

[chrisfont23]

Tiger Tail Sea Cucumber. BTW, this post is hysterical.

[Original Fin]

Ben,

You don't by chance dose carbon do you? Vodka, sugar, biopellets, etc...alot of folks report increased cyano with this method. I know I did until I stopped. Carbon dosing is meant to feed and stimulate growth of beneficial bacteria which in turn process organics before they can break down into nitrates and phosphates...keeps them low, that's the point. Unfortunately, cyano is also a bacteria, so it can in some cases outcompete the other more beneficial types. There are products such as MB7 that you could use to seed the tank with the good strains of BB, to outcompete the cyano. You just need to dose carbon too in order for it to be effective. The easiest and most controlled method would be with a biopellet reactor.

Also, how old is this tank? Anything under 9 months IMO is still in puberty, and things like cyano, diatoms and NHA will just have to run their course. You have to expect a certain amount of pimples and rebellion from a teenager.

Anyway, I'd give something like that a shot before trying any of those other risky miracle tonics.

And if that was too long winded, then you can go with what's behind door #2, which is where I infer that you are a dirtbag and point you to a bunch of stickys.

Just kidding!

[benmorrow1978]

Gentlemen,

I can't thank you enough for your responses. I have talked to my LFS about introducing a cyano predator and they could only think of a certain starfish, and it's known to be reckless and wreck rock setups. I'm definitely doing to persue one of the options mentioned.

Mr Fin, you've been help to me on more than one occasion. You provide concise information and are not condescending about it. Thank you! I will ask you this about the aquarium age. I set the aquarium up in November. It's my second run with saltwater, the first ended when I was deployed to the middle east. I have approximately 200-230# of dense live rock in it, some of which aged 8 or so years in a friend's tank. I'm not sure how I would rate the age of my tank. Going off the filter, I would say 7 months, with the rock in the mix, I dunno how that rates. I didn't get quite the diatoms problem that I remember from my first foray.

I quit using carbon about 4 months ago and my corals really came alive after that. I don't use sugar, vodka or anything else. I put in a little essentials mix from Kent, and I dose calcium, but that's it.

Thank you all for your input, honestly. I hated to sound so hateful, it just seems posts go in circles with certain people, reaffirming their beliefs. I think that person is EXTREMELY smart and thorough. I also think he doesn't get out much.

Thanks again!

[Original Fin]

FWIW, I think your system is still young enough for cyano to be "normal".

And, believe me, I've felt that other frustration too. Here, and on every other reef site out there. I've only been at this for a year or so, and prior to that, I had zero experience with any form of fish keeping, and more importantly, with online forums.

It took me a while to get past the personality issues. On the surface, some folks on the other end are a better match for me in terms of their dialogue style, and my tendency towards defensiveness. I see this played out all the time now with other newcomers.
I was butting heads with "the other guys" right away. It seemed like every time I'd reach out for help, half of the responses were like a personal attack...condescending, arrogant or just plain unwelcoming. However, buried somewhere in these "you're doing it all wrong" responses were some of the answers I sought, and sometimes I missed that. After a while, I realized that this is just their way, and alot of other folks actually appreciate them for it. Regardless, you can't deny that they are experts on the subject matter, and that's of more consequence here than their political prowess.

Fortunately for me, before I burned bridges with a couple of the mods over at RC, I had also connected with a lot of good, knowledgable people here, and within my local reef club.

I guess the point is, we'd be missing out on a lot of valuable insight if we were only to seek advice from those that seem the friendliest. I don't envy the moderators, but I am thankful for their services, even when it seems like they are just calling me a dumbass between the lines. Sometimes I am.

[benmorrow1978]

Again, you are helping me. Sometimes my ego gets in the way. The health of the fish is important. I meant it when I said, the man is an effin genius. I practice some of his teachings religiously. This cyano thing has been frustrating, obviously not his fault. I don't know you well, but you have helped me more than once. That says mountains since I've only been a member for 6 months? Thanks again Mr Fin!

[chrisfont23]

You can always siphon it off too. I was using the tubing I would do water changes with, but found I was sucking up too much sand. I gave up for a while, until I had a modest revelation. I could go thr DIY route. So after I got tired of looking at my cyano I built a small DIY Cyano Siphon out of some airline tubing, some plastic ties and a piece of bamboo. I used about 4 ft of half inch airline tubing. It will cost you about $10. Here is what I did:

- take the airline tubing and run it the length of the pole so that about 3-4 inches of it is curved slightly upward at one end ***
- attach to the pole with the plastic ties the length of the pole
- leave the remaining slack enough so that you can drain all the crap into a bucket but also enough that you can control with your thumb/finger to act as a "shut off" should you want to move it around w/o draining water...catch too much sand or clog it etc.

*** - IMO, leaving the curve is big so that you have a place to "rest" sand particles if you need to lift the entire thing out of the water for some reason, rather than leave it straight and have everything blow around each time you do this.

That's basically it. I do mine about once a week. Since I have started dosing vodka, I see it a bit more so this little invention helps.

Good luck dirtbag (ha ha)

[twisted]

im sure im gonna catch ell for this but its worked for me when i had exhausted my resources. a while back i added a bunch of dry rock and had a nasty cyano outbreak. i used chemi clean at half the recommended dose and after 48 hours did about a 30 % water change. it worked great and havent seen it since. i lost nothing in the treatment. hope this helps

[twisted]

i should add that ive been around for a while and am very caring for my tank. i have always been against using chems but just felt like i was running circles with the cyano. if you check somewhere around the end of my 75 gal thread you can see how well it worked

[yvr]

You can try and siphon out what you can to remove the algae in the short term and adding more flow via powerheads as suggested should help too. Cyano problems are usually caused by aquarium water with excess nutrients like phosphate, nitrates etc. In the long term you may have to examine how you care for your tank. There are some commercial dry foods also contain excess nutrients and other undesirable things like nitrates, phosphates etc so I strain/rinse my fresh/frozen foods before feeding my tank. You may want to consider feeding your fish less often. Also using RO/DI water and a high quality salt with little if any NO3, phosphates etc like Tropic Marin will really help too. Adding a phosphate remover, increasing flow in your tank, adjusting your tank's photo period or replacing old bulbs may help too.