Cyno - Any Other Ideas For Getting Rid Of The Bloody Stuff?

[xxBarneyxx]

Still having issues with Cyno on my sand. Phosphate, nitrite and nitrate are all measuring zero on my test kits but there has to be something there for it to be growing.

I have added a skimmer which does seem to have slowed it down a bit and also added a 10g fuge (which Im trying to get some cheato for). I'm running an external canister filter as well with polyfilter in it (and nothing else). I have tried to increase the water flow over the sand as well.

At the moment Im waiting till it grows into a mat then removing it by hand. I think Im slowly winning and Im hoping the cheato will finish it off but just wondering if anyone has any other ideas I can try.

I dont have any other algae growing anywhere else in the tank. Even the dust algae/diatoms on the glass is taking a long time to grow since adding the skimmer (used to have to wipe it down every other day, now its maybe once a week).

 

[Crazy fishes]

Barney have you tried reducing the photoperiod? If I remember correctly Cyanobacteria also uses light so reduce photoperiod and see what happens. They are apparently responsible for oxygenating the worlds oceans. Look up Stromatolites interesting stuff....

Regards

 

[xxBarneyxx]

hmm actually thats one thing I havent tried yet! Will hold off on it for the moment as I want to try and kill the cause of it but if its not gone in the next couple of weeks I will definitely give that one a go (might actually be worth trying it now though I guess, if it kills it off with the other measures I have taken it might be enough to stop it coming back).

 

[Crazy fishes]

You have measured the nutrients and the important ones are coming back as negligible.However these are cofactors, the main food stuff is light!!! I would do it now as that is the only way to kill the damn stuff.

Regards

 

[ben1987]

i had a day of darkness in which i didnt feed the fish. Then lowered the amount of frozen i feed. Going to up the flow in my tank aswel.

 

[N1z]

The thing with cyno its just a normal stage in a tanks maturation. It comes to us all, i personally found in my previous tank turn down the lights and not doing water changes starved the bacteria.

 

[BigC]

What exactly is your photoperiod Barney at pres.
I'm only running an 8 hour one 2 till 10.
Sump is lit 24/7
Get that Cheato wacked in the sump.
Fleabay even if you have to.
Regards
BigC

 

[SkiFletch]

And when's the last time you checked the TDS of your RO water?

Also, what do you feed the tank?

My best advice would be that when you get your refugium, black out the display for 2 days while the refugium runs. This will kill the cyano and hopefully when you re-light the display, the chaeto will win the phosphate battle

 

[rabbut]

To clear the frequest Cyno outbreaks at work, I generaly push a fair amount of water up to the surface such that there is lots of surface agetation with one powerhead, and get a good strong current across the sand with the other. Couple this with wet skimming and Phosban and it usualy only lasts a week before vanishing. Then someone goes and makes the system skim dry, plays with the powerhead set-up and removes the phosban on my days off, and then wonder my it's all come back

It sounds like you have tryed most of those, so that might not have helped... Photoperiod might want attention as the others have said. How old are your lamps? 6 month old T5's or 1yr old T8's can apparently increase problem algea growth, as their outputs start to become suspect I'm not shure how long a halide is supposed to go before it needs replacement for the same problem, but the manufacturer of my lamp recons it will do 6,000 hours before output becomes suspect...

All the best
Rabbut

 

[xxBarneyxx]

Thanks all for the suggestions

The TDS on the RO is still 0 (I have my own RO/DI unit). I have been skimming wet (which does seem to have slowed it quite a bit) and tried to get more flow over the sand (though Im going to have a play around to see if I can increase this anymore).

I do feed frozen food on a daily basis but I always defrost it first in running tap water to remove any juices.

Think the black out is going to be the way to go, will get some cheato off ebay I think and give it a try. Its annoying because it looks so horrible but if this is the only issue I have then I should be thankful (rest of the tank is going great, coral growth has really taken off in this tank!).

The tubes are all brand new (about a month or two old). I do run on a 10 hour photo period as well so will try knocking that down to 8 hours until I get the cheato. Will try getting soem more phosban for my filter as well to run along side the polyfilter.

Thanks again all will let you know how the batlle progresses

 

[IIITYIII]

i have this stuff too all over my sand, it seemed to get worse after doing a water change so i havent done a water change yet in a week in a half and have cut the hours on my lights back an hour and it seems to be going away.

 

[karaim]

I have it too. The damn things grows FAST. I have 3 urchins that seem to be eating some daily, and yet it grows.

 

[piranha_trader]

Use Mycin.

I swear it worked like a charm.


You'll thank me.

 

[rabbut]

You need to be careful how you use meds in marine tanks though Piranha_trader. Some kill corals, liverock, mobile inverts and can do all sorts of untold damage to the livestock directly. I cannot think of ANY off the shelf meds that are reef safe... Fish only limits you to a select few, but most of those are ruled out if you keep mobile inverts...

 

[IIITYIII]

You need to be careful how you use meds in marine tanks though Piranha_trader. Some kill corals, liverock, mobile inverts and can do all sorts of untold damage to the livestock directly. I cannot think of ANY off the shelf meds that are reef safe... Fish only limits you to a select few, but most of those are ruled out if you keep mobile inverts...

especially if the med has copper in it.