Mature tank, no chemicals, how did YOU beat Cyano?

[beesnreefs]

If you defeated Cyano in a mature mixed reef WITHOUT USING CHEMICALS (like Chemiclean), I’d like to hear from you! By “mature” I mean a system running successfully for at least two years

What did you do to win the battle? (Details please!)

How long did it take?

Did the Cyano stay away?

Did other issues (dinos, GHA, etc) pop up after?

 

[vetteguy53081]

If you defeated Cyano in a mature mixed reef WITHOUT USING CHEMICALS (like Chemiclean), I’d like to hear from you! By “mature” I mean a system running successfully for at least two years

What did you do to win the battle? (Details please!)

How long did it take?

Did the Cyano stay away?

Did other issues (dinos, GHA, etc) pop up after?

I recommend to reduce white light intensity or even turn them off for 3-5 days. Add liquid bacteria daily for a week during the day at 1.5ml per 10 gallons. Add Hydrogen peroxide at night at 1ml per 10 gallons. Add a pouch of chemipure Elite which will balance phos and nitrate and keep them in check. peroxide is an oxidizer and not chemical

After the 5 days, add a few snails such as cerith, margarita, astrea and nassarius plus 6-8 blue leg hermits to take control.
Inadequate water flow is often a chief cause of cyano blooms as slow moving water combined with excessive dissolved nutrients creates red slime algae development

 

[Koty]

Dose carbon while making sure that your phosphate and nitrate are away from zero. A real sand sifting gobby will turn the sand. Increase the flow and keep blowing the cyano away

 

[Spare time]

Dose carbon while making sure that your phosphate and nitrate are away from zero. A real sand sifting gobby will turn the sand. Increase the flow and keep blowing the cyano away

Are you saying they should carbon dose? That can easily fuel cyano.

 

[beesnreefs]

Just to be clear, while I appreciate the generalized advice, that’s not the purpose of this thread.

I’m looking for real-world examples from people who had Cyano in a mature tank and defeated it without chemical (eg, Chemiclean) intervention

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

If you defeated Cyano in a mature mixed reef WITHOUT USING CHEMICALS (like Chemiclean), I’d like to hear from you! By “mature” I mean a system running successfully for at least two years

What did you do to win the battle? (Details please!)

How long did it take?

Did the Cyano stay away?

Did other issues (dinos, GHA, etc) pop up after?

DIY coral snow with ZEOBAC worked for me.
I'm sure any other good bacterial additive would work.

 

[zoomonster]

Ok no chemicals how about pharmaceuticals? Cipro will kill it dead. I was using it for Euphyllia issues, but it killed a few patches of red cyano (likely from carbon dosing) dead. Cipro works well by itself and never tried any of the concoctions with chemiclean, cipro and other stuff. Cipro is pretty controversial in the aquarium world, but many shops run it full time in LPS tanks especially with Euphyllia. Plus, it's a lifesaver if you have a fortune invested in Euphyllia and have an outbreak of brown jelly disease.

 

[beesnreefs]

DIY coral snow with ZEOBAC worked for me.
I'm sure any other good bacterial additive would work.

Can you expand a bit on what you did?

How long did it take to win the battle?

 

[beesnreefs]

Ok no chemicals how about pharmaceuticals? Cipro will kill it dead. I was using it for Euphyllia issues, but it killed a few patches of red cyano (likely from carbon dosing) dead. Cipro works well by itself and never tried any of the concoctions with chemiclean, cipro and other stuff. Cipro is pretty controversial in the aquarium world, but many shops run it full time in LPS tanks especially with Euphyllia. Plus, it's a lifesaver if you have a fortune invested in Euphyllia and have an outbreak of brown jelly disease.

Sorry should have been clearer. I meant no pharmaceuticals. Curious how people beat Cyano without antibiotics

 

[Aquariumaddictuk]

Can you expand a bit on what you did?

How long did it take to win the battle?

I've not had severe cyano fortunately at any stage but occasionally it creeps in.
I use calcium carbonate at around 1/4 teaspoon with 20ml tank water & two drops of zeobak.
Shake up well, draw into a Syringe & shoot in front of a wave maker.
I do this 2-3 times a week without the bac as a simple flocculant & add bac if any little patches of cyano show up.it quickly deals with it

 

[rtparty]

Ammonia dosing.

I had patches of dinos pop up when my nitrates bottomed out so I started ammonia dosing. The dinos were quickly covered by cyano and then the cyano disappeared shortly after.

 

[Northern Flicker]

Ammonia dosing.

I had patches of dinos pop up when my nitrates bottomed out so I started ammonia dosing. The dinos were quickly covered by cyano and then the cyano disappeared shortly after.

I nitrate dose using calcium nitrate and it hasn’t affected Cyano sadly. Maybe the ammonia helps nitrifying bacteria out compete Cyano.

I’ve used the hydrogen peroxide + less white light gameplay in a mature reef but these days my tank is too happy to risk messing with those things when the cyano appears. I can vouch for that combo working, though.

 

[zoomonster]

Sorry should have been clearer. I meant no pharmaceuticals. Curious how people beat Cyano without antibiotics

Old fashioned way then... toothbrush, turkey baster or powerhead. Unless your tank is covered in it that actually works quite well with some patience. If you use ozone or UV it should kill anything in the water stream that's not filtered out by a sock.

 

[Koty]

Are you saying they should carbon dose? That can easily fuel cyano.

Yes, but together with the rest of my "recipe" other bacteria will take over (IME). In near-zero nitrate and phosphate cyano specifically has the advantage.

Just to be clear, while I appreciate the generalized advice, that’s not the purpose of this thread.

I’m looking for real-world examples from people who had Cyano in a mature tank and defeated it without chemical (eg, Chemiclean) intervention

I quote myself "IME". I now have a hair-algae problem, but that's a different, unrelated issue.

 

[Mark Goode]

A UV unit killed mine, but I had the easy dinos (ostreopsis).

 

[VintageReefer]

I introduced cyano by reducing powerhead power and creation areas of weak current. I intentionally lowered current to acclimate new things. And unintentionally got some cyano patches.

Increasing flow back to normal didn’t help. But I know it keeps it away.

I did use chemiclean because I’ve had good results with it before. And it did get rid of the cyano.

With my pumps back to normal speed it hasn’t returned.

Regardless how you choose to treat it, I would say a possible reason you got it would be too low of flow in those areas

 

[Huskereef]

Sorry should have been clearer. I meant no pharmaceuticals. Curious how people beat Cyano without antibiotics

Did you end up beating cyano? If so, how did you? I’m in the same boat I do not want to use any chemi clean or pharmaceuticals. Too many nice acros at stake.

 

[Koty]

My worst encounter with cyano was in my quarantine turned into Bengali cardinal nursery where phosphate and nitrate where 0 using Hanna checkers:

 

[Huskereef]

My worst encounter with cyano was in my quarantine turned into Bengali cardinal nursery where phosphate and nitrate where 0 using Hanna checkers:

Phosphate ranges from .1 to .05
Been dosing ammonia bicarbonate to keep nitrate above 5. Seems to be fueling the cyano more. Tank is over 1 year old and started with live rock. Plenty of flow with 2 mp40’s. This cyano definitely loves to grow in the high flow areas. Metal halides aren’t helping it but I have too many acropora to take out the halides. Suck the crap out and it’s back with a vengeance few days later

 

[Koty]

I use TM Elimi NP. I dose 8ml / 100g daily. That is 4 times the recommended amount. For me carbon dosing is to keep the microbiom thriving and nitrate reduction is a welcome side effect. My nitrates are near 0 but I do not care because I have many fish and I dose Amino acids. My phosphate are around 0.2 -0.4 and I have algae and a bit of cyano that I blow off occasionaly.