Cyano

[Aquarius Lady]

Yep the dreaded C word,
me thinks I've got it (Kind of reddish algae that makes air bubbles all day long??)
Cures? Suggestions?? magic spells? (Cyano-Begone!) LOL. J/K!
Seriously any help would be GREAT. It is a reef w/ reef safe fish and inverts.
TIA.

[Troy182]

what kind of flow rate are we talking in what size tank. are there any dead spots(areas withlittle flow)? Are you feeding too often or too much? how many hours a day are your lights on?
Water Changes? how often? What percent? What source?
Tank Perameters? TEMP, ph, nitrates, amonia.

I think thats kinda a good start to finding your problem.
I think the only true majic cure is fix the source not the symptoms. Although others might have short term cures.

[skipm]

First off don't buy one of the magic "Red Slime Removers" or whatever they want to call them, they are simply antibiotics that kill the bacteria.........both the cyano and the good bacteria that is. I would think that the two largest contributors to cyano are too many organics on the tank and areas with little or no flow (i.e. deadspots). Cut back on feeding if possible and add/move your powerheads around a bit to try and prevent any dead spots. Also give your tank parameters like Troy asked about if you can. HTH, SKip

[dvmsn]

Treat the tank with saltwater maracyn. You will still need to fix whats causing it (I agee with Skip on the caues) Treat according to the dosage on the box and only treat one time.

[minfinger]

I've got it in my 55G, real bad now. I'm thinking of killing the light again until I can get the R unit up and running.

But I know it's from lack of water changes and nitrates in the water.

[Aquarius Lady]

The cyano is ONLY on two rocks that came to me from out of my own system. They have never spread beyond those two small rocks/frags. I have used a toothbrush to manually brush off the cyano (not IN the tank of course!) and that SEEMS to keep it at bay, As I said, it has never spread passed those two rocks that came from another system.
I have some hair algae that is growing, and yeah I probably have way more organic crap in my aquarium than necessary floating around (although I DO feed my corals only twice or 3 times a week)
What kind of critters are good for eating the hair algae that grows on rocks? (None of my hermits or snails are touching it. The snails just scoot either IN the sand or on the BACK eating some of the Diatom Algae. and the Hermits usually eat debris and or decaying small stuff I can't see. Same with my peppermint shrimp.
>>> "what kind of flow rate are we talking in what size tank. are there any dead spots(areas withlittle flow)? Are you feeding too often or too much? how many hours a day are your lights on?
Water Changes? how often? What percent? What source?
Tank Perameters? TEMP, ph, nitrates, amonia"
Tank size: 16 gallon bowfront (nano reef)
Flow Rate: Very high ( Penguin PH, 145 GPH and a Marineland Biowheel <Biowheel removed> filter 125 GPH Total Water volumed moved 270 GPH)
Dead Spots: only UNDER the live rock (where it touches the sand, etc) no dead spots in tank.
Temp: between 73-76 (No heater in tank, at night it drops to around 73-74) and when the light come on, by the end of the light cycle temp can be up to 76-78) No heater or chiller. Same temps all season.
Light Cycle: (VHO 20K & Actinic Blue) on between 8-9 hours per day.
Water changes: once every 2-3 weeks maybe 1-2 gallons per change. Water, either RO or Distilled. Filter has a PHOSGUARD bag inside which is replaced every 2-3 months.
Ph: 8.0
NO2: < 0.3 mg/l
Ammonia NH3/NH4: 0 mg/l
Salinity: 32ppt or < 1.24
Hope this helps! Any advice welcomed. Again, the cyano came into my system from another system, and is ONLY contained on the two rocks it came with (I used a toothbrush on it before puting it in my system and have been toothbrushing it every few days, but I cannot eliminate it entirely on those two rocks) :( However I am getting the green hair type algae (NOT severe) around the rocks that came in with mushrooms. I have the diatom type algae ONLY on the back wall (NOT covering) in some in the refugium which I leave alone, the 'Pods and snails seem to really like the Diatom Algae and are doing a fine job of eating it down to clean glass.

[oceanarus]

Originally posted by Aquarius Lady

What kind of critters are good for eating the hair algae that grows on rocks?

Emerald or other types of mythrax crabs are usually pretty good about eating it. Though some can be a little to exhuberant in the performance of their duties that they will flip over rocks, corals or whatever that is in their way to get at some morsel of algea.