Cyanobacteria Problems

[rictheredneck]

how long has the tank been setup? i had a lil problem in the first couple of months it just sorted itself in the end.

 

[DarrenUnwin]

Two quick questions, if you half dosed the red slime remover would that be enough to keep the slime in check but not harm the positive bacteria, just a thought

Second if you have slime on sand what would the effect be to siphon sand out the replace with carib, would it casue a mini cyle in the tank to occur.

 

[SkiFletch]

Two quick questions, if you half dosed the red slime remover would that be enough to keep the slime in check but not harm the positive bacteria, just a thought

Second if you have slime on sand what would the effect be to siphon sand out the replace with carib, would it casue a mini cyle in the tank to occur.

Never, ever, half-dose an antibiotic, the last thing you want to do is to promote antibiotic resistant bacteria.

Usually the slime on the surface of the sand only takes up a very thin layer when you vaccum. If you need to replace it, go ahead and add more sand

 

[gigmeyer]

The tank is coming up on 4 months now. The cyano started at around 3 months. The only change I made around that time was adding Rowaphos to try and keep green hair algae in check and lowering the temp a bit. I assume the Rowaphos is just coincidental, but have taken it out temporarily to see what happens. My plan for now is to do 2 partial water changes this weekend and stay off mysis for a week to see what happens. I'll probably skip skimming as the nano skimmer seems pretty useless from everything I've read.

 

[gigmeyer]

Bump...Still looking at options and for feedback. The cyano is not coming back quite as tenaciously as last week after 2 16% water changes and vacuuming the top layer of substrate. I have UltraLife Red Slime Remover and ChemiPure Elite coming today in preparation for this weekends maintenance. I'm also flushing the R/O unit one more time as my top-off water still reads high at 10 ppm.

Here is my list of possible choices for this weekend.

1. Replace Maxi-Jet 600 on Hydor-Flo with Maxi-Jet 1200 to increase water flow from 405 GPH to 600 GPH (~20x to ~30x for 24g Nano).
2. Replace Chemi-Pure (4 months old) in filter with Chemi-Pure Elite. I'm thinking 4-6 months on these products might be more like 3-4.
3. Put Rowaphos back in tank. The sock contains 2 TB of Rowaphos which is my estimate of the correct amount for a 24g Nano.
4. Dual water changes on consecutive days again.
5. Resort to Red Slime Remover. My gut tells me to wait at least another week before acting on this desperate measure.

I've considered reducing the light cycle of 9 hours with a 150 HQI, but most of my reading indicates that cyano is as much of a balance problem as anything else and while reducing the light cycle may help, a more permanent solution like cleaner water and more flow should be better.

Any thoughts on which steps to take?

 

[norite]

Many, many, many many moons ago, when I ran my first marine tank, (back then LR was unheard of, it was all undergravel filtration hehehehe...!) I got an infestation of red cyano. I got some sort of supplement from the LFS - it was a greenish liquid, with a dosage container - your squeezed the bottle and it pushed the liquid into the smaller container from a tube near the bottom of the bottle. I dosed the tank once per week. Soon after this, the red cyano disappeared, and was replaced by some nice green hair algae that my hermit crabs happily tucked into.

Sorry, but I have no idea what that supplement was called, it was so long ago..

 

[SkiFletch]

Your plan of action seems pretty good there Gig. I'd only do one thing different. I would do one LARGE water change, like 50% or more instead of smaller ones. You remove more problem nutrients/molecules that way and the livestock will be fine with it so long as the temp and sg match.

 

[gigmeyer]

Thanks, I'll do everything but the red slime remover and see what happens. I'm a little nervous about the maxi-jet, but it's certainly no more flow than on a real reef. Should I step up from a 600 to a 900 instead of going to a 1200? BTW, I picked the 600 originally because I read from one source that 1200's tend to wear out the Hydor-Flo units.

 

[SkiFletch]

Well, I have little experience with the Hydor flow units. I will say however that an OLD LFS near me has some hydor flows on maxijet 1200s. Been there for at least 3 years since I've been going there...