Cyano

[andrew catling]

My tank has been running for 8 weeks now and i've noticed small patches of red slime algae in my tank (cyano) is this just part of the maturing process?
I have a turn over of x25 volume so I dont think its a flow issue and am quite strict on the feeding regime.
I only have 4 fish in the tank so I dont think its a nutrient issue either.
I'm running a mm system with no skimmer, would adding a skimmer help in reducing this or should i continue siphoning it out till it runs its course.
Im running rowaphos through an external filter plus a UV.
I have a zero reading on nitrates and phosphates but from what i've read this stuff needs this to grow, but isnt rowaphos supposed to combat this anyway?

Cheers.

 

[J-Money]

i've heard that the cyno stage happens to most everyone. I haven't gotten it. Have you tried to blow it off? I have deep red algae on a few of my LR, and when everyone started talkin' about the cyno and how easy it blows away. I tried but it wouldn't come off. luckily it's just a deep coraline algae

 

[The Reefer]

I'm going through the whole cyano deal now. The only thing I can tell you that works without dropping a bunch of meds into the tank, is syphon as much of it off as you can, and put more flow into the areas where the cyano is growing. A protein skimmer helps as well. I have just about beat my cyano problem after fighting with it for about 3 months.

 

[RamJet]

Kill the lights, stop feeding, syphon and put power heads on the area. RO water change can help also. Usually you can beat it in three or four days.

Skimmer is aways a good thing to have.

 

[andrew catling]

Thanks for the tips guys,
Some food for thought here!
I run A MM system fuge with Mangroves and various Macro algae with NO SKIMMER and had an outbreak of Cyano.
After continually syphoning it out on a daily basis redirecting flow etc etc it just kept coming back, I even had it growing in my fuge and even on the roots of my Mangroves
Fortunately as i've known the owner of my lfs for years he kindly loaned me a Deltec MCE 600 Skimmer after just a week of skimming the crap coming out is amazing and the cyano is dying of nicely.
The water clarity is so much better and the Macro in the fuge hasn't suffered at all.
Maybe it is possible to run this type of system without a skimmer but I for one will be departing with £180 at the weekend.

 

[amstar15]

as for what I did and it work with in 24 hours. I started to skim heavly. I used a phosphate filter pad (it lowered the phosphates which cause cyano) it also came with a sample of chemi clean (good stuff). i also up my water flow with a new powerhead and re-directed my other ones. this was all done in a reef tank. i to have a mm filter