Cyano Outbreak

crustytheclown

Bat Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
I am having a terrible time with red blanketing cyano right now. It's stringy, it's ugly, it's gross! Just changed my sediment filter in my ro/di unit, gonna increase my flow, and try some chemi clean cyano remover. Not sure what's up? Doing weekly water 25% water changes. Radion is only at 65%.
Does the green, yellow and red leds cause algae growth?
Any pointers guys?

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#2
Use this it really helps UltraLife Red Slime Stain Cyano Algae Remover. Yes those colors of led lights will cause algae growth, especially the red.
 

Fourthwind

Anthias
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
Yes the lights are in the spectrum for algae and coral, but that being said. Cyano is a bacteria growth spurred by excess nutrients. I have read recently that using the liquid vitamin supplements in frozen food is attributing to increased cyan break outs. I second the use of the Ultralife red slime remover. Has worked well for me. It will make your skimmer go nuts, so be prepared for that.
 

TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#4
I usually add an 8" airstone, on a good size air pump, to my sump when I do the red slime treatment. Increased aeration helps and is what the directions will usually state.
 

szavoda

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
I personally had very little luck using the Cyano chemical treatments. I just sucked out what I could and reduced nutrient introduction significantly...
 
#6
I have found that if you can increase the flow in the tank it will help also...don't create a sand storm but as high as you can until you get things under control will help.
 

Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#7
I'd change all the filters in the RO. Also, look at your feeding regiment. Do the fish quickly consume the food? Do you feed frozen? Is so rinse it. Flow is really important, clean pumps... As corals grow they block water movement. Chemiclean will get rid of cyano but not the reason you have it. How old is your sand bed? That can slowly be replaced over time as well. 25% water changes a week lead me to believe your RO is in need of maintenance more than the rest. Good luck.


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crustytheclown

Bat Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
Dr.DiSilicate;658619 said:
I'd change all the filters in the RO. Also, look at your feeding regiment. Do the fish quickly consume the food? Do you feed frozen? Is so rinse it. Flow is really important, clean pumps... As corals grow they block water movement. Chemiclean will get rid of cyano but not the reason you have it. How old is your sand bed? That can slowly be replaced over time as well. 25% water changes a week lead me to believe your RO is in need of maintenance more than the rest. Good luck.


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Thanks for the info! I changed the carbon block 6 months ago, should I change it again?

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Dr.DiSilicate

Great White Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#9
Yea change the carbon block. Do you have a tds meter? That'll help you determine when things need to be changed, also look at the pressure gage, has it gone down? That's a good indication of pre or post filters clogging. How long has it been since the membrane has been changed?


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crustytheclown

Bat Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
Dr.DiSilicate;658745 said:
Yea change the carbon block. Do you have a tds meter? That'll help you determine when things need to be changed, also look at the pressure gage, has it gone down? That's a good indication of pre or post filters clogging. How long has it been since the membrane has been changed?


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Ok. I'm gonna change the sediment, carbon block and DI cartridge. It's been a couple years since I changed the membrane. I have an in line tds meter on it. Pressure has went down a bit.
On a side note should I turn off the red, yellow and green leds on my radion?

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TheRealChrisBrown

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
ex-officio
#11
I have the AI Hydra52's, so not the same but similar and I have the reds at 16% and the greens also at 16%. They ramp up so that is their max value, they go all the way down to 0% at night......maybe just a point of reference. I wouldn't be surprised if people ran them even lower than that max of 16%, they are by far my lowest output LED %wise. I think I shut mine completely off for a while while I tried to figure these LED's out.
 

ReefCheif

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#12
If your dosing aminos, STOP! Theyre basically compound sugars that cyano thrives on. Increased flow, adgitate the surface of the sand to break it up in problems areas, turkey baste any off rocks, and keep at it, it will go away.

think about any products containing alcahols that may be getting used around the tank that could possibly be getting into it, this will also fuel a cyano bloom.

Lastly, carbon dosing. Organic carbons available in abundance will also fuel cyano, this generally happen when N03 and PO4 become low enough where the bacteria are no longer using so much carbon as a binder, therfor it builds up and BOOM, slimey red shit all over the place.

I am a firm believer that adding chemicals is not the answer. You need to find the source of the issue and correct that to properly fix the problem.
 
#13
While obviously getting nutrients and water parameters under control is crucial. That can take awhile. We struggled for a long time with cyano. Gave up with alternative and went with chemiclean. Although it drove our skimmer NUTTSS for like 3 weeks, all our cyano is gone and has not come back, over two months now. I ended up havign to scrub and clean the skimmer just to get it back working right though, be prepared for this. And DO NOT overdose the chemiclean. Take into account how much water volume your rock takes up. It can deplete your oxygen killing your fish and corals
 
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