innate1 Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 I've done the chemical, run a phos reactor, got uber flow and still cyano. I've gone four days dark sand bed is clear and lights are back on today. Keeping fingers crossed that this does it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 The days of darkness I found was the most effective and also the most cost-effective. Good luck! Cyano is the pits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 It's crucial that you do a larger than normal water change after the days of darkness, otherwise you've left all the nutrients and cyano in the tank/water and it will come back. Make sure not to use tap water... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innate1 Posted January 14, 2010 Author Share Posted January 14, 2010 I've got water mixing and I get it from RCA. I'm really hoping this does it. I hate the red menace! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medi Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 Good Luck. That stuff can be a real PITA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KeeperOfTheZoo Posted January 14, 2010 Share Posted January 14, 2010 How does extended lights out help if nutrient build up is what feeds cyano (primarly po4 if I'm understanding correctly) ? I thought cyano was more like a bacteria than an algae (hence it being killed by the antibiotic red slime killer products) and wasn't directly photosynthetic but rather fed on the the byproducts of other photosynthetic organisms and po4. Clear as mud? I confuse myself on a regular basis so it's all good. It seems to me that unless the nutrient problem was fixed, the cyano would keep coming back and all other methods would be temprary fixes. I'm hoping I'm missing something important here because I'm battling cyano too thanks to high po4 levels (rocks and substrate leaching after years of neglect and build up before I got my tank, not the easiest problem to fix as I'm learning). The cyano mostly goes away at night then comes on in force during the photo period. Hate the stuff. Liz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rjohn Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Liz, have you tested for your phospate level? How high is it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innate1 Posted January 15, 2010 Author Share Posted January 15, 2010 you hit it in your post; the cyano goes away at night and comes back during the photo period. So an extended break from the photo period helps keep it away. I would have a clean sand bed at night and then a matt of the stuff during the day. I kept the lights off for four days and today was the first day with the lights back on (2 250w mh's) and much to my delight no red menace when I got home. I'm watching my corals sway in the current and drinking a glass of victory wine while I type this. Even if for some reason this is not the end of the war I'm celebrating winning this battle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddybluewater Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Cyano is a bacteria that is feed by the by products of waste in your tank. It does seem to have photo type properties about it.I don't know if that is due to it using Oxygen during the day and producing CO2 and then using CO2 at night or what the correlation is. It would seem that if you increase the amount of beneficial bacteria in you system to compete with the cyano for the nutrients you would lessen it's ability to thrive. This seems like it could easily be accomplished by using a product like Stability or by carbon dosing(vodka dosing). Vodka dosing creates an over abundance of one dominant type of bacteria that will choke out other types of good bacteria and requires the addition of other bacterial strains. It seems that it could have the same effect on cyano. Just one of those things running around in my head Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mFrame Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 I really see it as a two step process, the first treating the cyano currently in your tank and the second being working on reducing the factors that allow it to recur. Several days of darkness and then a significant water change will get quite a bit of it out of your tank, as will using something like a red-slime killer and water change. However, if you don't address the root cause (primarily overfeeding) then it will most likely recur. I keep reading about various members of clean up crews that supposedly eat cyano, but I know from previous outbreaks of mine that I've never seen anything actually eat it. Maybe someone else knows a sure-fire clean up crew guy that will eat this stuff? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonSequitur Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 I've noticed trochus snails eating it (or at least disturbing it so it isn't settled on the rocks) in my small tank, and had a fuzzy chiton that seemed to eat quite a bit of it off of a stubborn spot on the rocks in my big tank (had a k2 pointed directly at the spot and it wouldn't clear up). I haven't had the trochus snails for 24 hours yet, though, so I don't know how well they will do long term, and the chiton has a relatively small patrol area (I've only seen him on two of the rocks in the tank and never on the sand). This is just anecdotal, and I'm not suggesting either of these animals will totally control cyano, particularly a bad infestation of it, but it might be worth looking into a chiton to help with particularly stubborn spots. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KeeperOfTheZoo Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 (edited) Hmmm, So in the case of someone with a PO4 spike due to something short term then yea, I can see how this would work. I can't easily eliminate the source of my PO4 (substrate and maybe even live rock leaching) in one fell swoop so I think I'm doomed for this control method. Muddybluewater I'm gonna start another thread on vodka dosing because it's something that I've been pondering as well but I'm still not sure about doing. Liz Oh Ric... my PO4 is at .5 which is down from 5+ when I first got and reset my tank back up 3 months ago. It was an established and neglected tank. Lots of nutrient build up...little did I know what a hassle fixing it would be! Edited January 15, 2010 by KeeperOfTheZoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
innate1 Posted January 16, 2010 Author Share Posted January 16, 2010 Day two of full photo period and no red menace!!! JOY!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
offroadodge Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 hope all goes well, hate to hear it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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