cyano bacteria on nearly 2 year old tank

[balajeek15]

My RedSea Reefer 71 gal been running for nearly 2 years, all parameters are in range, few weeks ago noticed purple slime on the sand bed in dead flow areas, i cleared it out, then slowly coming back at the spot and few other places on the rocks, in and around corals and I do siphon out couple times a week.

There are some places with purple algae, same color as the cyano but its hard not slime like and even light brush wouldn't go off, wonder if its some good algae.

What can i do to control this cyano without using any chemicals?
Why at this stage i get this bacteria bloom?

My routines are same as before and nothing really changed.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

In this pic below, see the center spot a dark purple patch, it does not go off with light brush, is this cyano too?

This pic sand bed with purple slime which comes of by siphon

 

[waleedreef]

is it purple color with bubbles on top of it?

 

[Dan_P]

My RedSea Reefer 71 gal been running for nearly 2 years, all parameters are in range, few weeks ago noticed purple slime on the sand bed in dead flow areas, i cleared it out, then slowly coming back at the spot and few other places on the rocks, in and around corals and I do siphon out couple times a week.

There are some places with purple algae, same color as the cyano but its hard not slime like and even light brush wouldn't go off, wonder if its some good algae.

What can i do to control this cyano without using any chemicals?
Why at this stage i get this bacteria bloom?

My routines are same as before and nothing really changed.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

In this pic below, see the center spot a dark purple patch, it does not go off with light brush, is this cyano too?

This pic sand bed with purple slime which comes of by siphon

I can share some thoughts and observations on cyanobacteria based on work that @taricha and I have performed over the past year. We have been examining ideas on why cyanobacteria grow so vigorously.

Many species of cyanobacteria are living in every aquarium. There seems to be only a small number of filamentous species that form the annoying films or mats. One observation that we consistently made is that culturing heavy growth of these cyanobacteria requires plentiful food. The amounts needed exceed the concentration of nitrate and phosphate in the typical aquarium. Coupled with the fact that cyanobacteria blooms are typically “located“ somewhere in the aquarium, means these patches you see could be indications of high concentrations of waste. This neat explanation doesn’t work so well when all aquarium surfaces are covered with cyanobacteria.

Vacuuming up the visible films is cosmetically effective, but probably leaves the waste and many cyanobacteria in the substrate to grow back another day. Cyanobacteria like many microorganism are not so easily removed by this relatively gentle treatment. The waste to some extent will be removed but maybe not enough to eliminate the growth. It is worth a try though and may speed up the end of the bloom.

For larger and more widespread blooms, ChemiClean might be an acceptable option. For small systems ”rip cleaning” (dismantling the tank, cleaning the rocks and substrate) also seems to be successful.

 

[balajeek15]

is it purple color with bubbles on top of it?

its purple but no bubbles in sand bed or rocks

 

[balajeek15]

I can share some thoughts and observations on cyanobacteria based on work that @taricha and I have performed over the past year. We have been examining ideas on why cyanobacteria grow so vigorously.

Many species of cyanobacteria are living in every aquarium. There seems to be only a small number of filamentous species that form the annoying films or mats. One observation that we consistently made is that culturing heavy growth of these cyanobacteria requires plentiful food. The amounts needed exceed the concentration of nitrate and phosphate in the typical aquarium. Coupled with the fact that cyanobacteria blooms are typically “located“ somewhere in the aquarium, means these patches you see could be indications of high concentrations of waste. This neat explanation doesn’t work so well when all aquarium surfaces are covered with cyanobacteria.

Vacuuming up the visible films is cosmetically effective, but probably leaves the waste and many cyanobacteria in the substrate to grow back another day. Cyanobacteria like many microorganism are not so easily removed by this relatively gentle treatment. The waste to some extent will be removed but maybe not enough to eliminate the growth. It is worth a try though and may speed up the end of the bloom.

For larger and more widespread blooms, ChemiClean might be an acceptable option. For small systems ”rip cleaning” (dismantling the tank, cleaning the rocks and substrate) also seems to be successful.

thanks for the in-depth analysis, in two years i may have changed water one or two times. primarily rely on dosing, also i don't have sock and do not collect waste except form the protien skimmer, I can see my sump is full of debris in bottom. I was thinking of cleaning the debris, again debates should I do or not. Now may be i should think about cleaning. since the cyano i started stirring sand bed every time i siphon out cyano.

 

[Omar Marambio]

i got a similar problem on my 4 year old tank, cyano keeps appearing the day after I spot feed my coral, I have been treating the tank with zeovits cyano treatment but the bacteria keeps coming back