How to beat Cyano for the new aquarist!

[benredford95]

To anyone currently battling cyano outbreaks and can't beat it read this post! I just finished a 3 month battle with cyano and i'll tell you exactly how I did it.

First, buy a tiny vacuum, the one I bought was Aqueon's 5 inch for 1-5 gallon tanks. This worked perfectly to get the cyano off the sand. Vacuum your clean, no cyano anywhere, you will suck sand out as well. Also take this time to use a turkey baster and clean all your rocks.I have found the smaller the siphon the more powerful it is and this vacuum that I bought was absolutely perfect. It clogged every once in a while but I would rather deal with clogs over cyano.

Second, 3 days without any light at all (don't worry your corals won't die). If you can, wrap your tank in black paper so no light gets in at all.

Third, after the three days give it another really good vacuum and turn your lights back on to half the intensity and half the time for a week or so.
If it continues to come back increase the flow or redirect the flow in your tank. Don't feed nearly as much as you are (reef roids is terrible for causing cyano, use in moderation) and check to make sure the water you are using is treated RO/DI.

In my battle I used all of the techniques above, read every single forum, learned everything about cyano and still could never beat it. My tank is less than a year old so it is immune to these types of outbreaks I understand. I also switched lights 3 times assuming that it was my light. Brought in a clean up crew and nothing worked at all. Once I bought this vacuum, sucked out the cyano and a bit of sand with it, blew off my rocks and let the tank sit with no light it was solved. Please give this a try and let me know how it worked for you.

[mcgyvr]

Yep.. Thats commonly recommended around here..
Siphon as much out as you can.. 3 day black out.. and siphon whatever is left..
Most of the time that works fairly well..

Ultralife Red Slime Remover usually works pretty well too if you don't mind the chemical route (I've used it with great results too when a lights out wasn't cutting it)..

Nothing is 100% guaranteed though so far..
For most those methods work.. some dont..
Some get it "seasonally" sort of..
Some get small patches and just leave it..

Cyano created this world... Its doing a good thing/serving a purpose.. Just unsightly and can cause some problems (covering corals,etc..)

[xCry0x]

Step 1) Buy Chemiclean
Step 2) Follow the instructions

[Crusinjimbo]

Nutrient control was the only solution for me. Battle cyano for years without persistent success until I incorporated an algae turf scrubber into my system. PO4/NO3 are "0" (Hanna URL and Red Sea Pro testing). I always overfeed and hate water changes and use no GFO.

[asting]

Review your water supply too. Make sure RODI or another clean source of water is being used.

[ALLIDOISREEF]

Originally Posted by xCry0x

Step 1) Buy Chemiclean
Step 2) Follow the instructions

+1 I have tried the natural way, I don't overfeed I tried to skim wet, dry tried everything. Finally broke down and did Chemiclean, haven't had a problem since.

[Pmj]

I bought chemiclean and before I used it, the cyano went away after the last water change. Went away in my last tank on its own too. Lasted maybe 2 months. It sucks because it can definitely kill some corals, but it does eventually go away assuming water isn't way out of wack.

[NS Mike D]

Cyano can pull N2 out often water so while zero nutrient will help, physical removal, no lights and Red Slime remover are often recommended in addition to reducing nutrients. IMO, target your nutrient level to what your corals need and use the other methods to deal with the cyano. Be patient

[joeybemate]

For me siphoning it out consistently has been the only thing that really worked.. I've had cyano for about four/five months and have tried everything. My nitrates and phosphates have both been almost zero for about three months whilst dosing with NoPox. My lights were only on for five hours a day for most of this time. I tried two different chemical methods (aqua medic red slime remover and blue life red cyano rx). Neither really worked for me. I tried lights out for three days and covered it with newspaper which didn't do much at all. For the past four weeks I've done a water change every week, and for each water change for the first time I started doing a large vacuum of my substrate. It's still there a tiny bit but this has probably been one of the best things I've ever done for my tank.

In conclusion though, I think different things are going to work for different people. Some techniques may work wonders and some won't. There are a few different decent methods out there - do your research and try them out. It's a bit of trial and error really.

[dweebiii]

What are the side effects of Chemiclean?

[Wyattray]

Will my fish be affected in a 3 day black out? What about light from the top, just house lights?

[2smokes]

Originally Posted by Wyattray

Will my fish be affected in a 3 day black out? What about light from the top, just house lights?

You cover the aquarium in newspapers and one hour a day you take it out so the fish wake up and you feed them.If the room light is verry dim then there is no reason to cover the aquarium to be completely dark.The cyano will die but it will reappear immediatly after you turn back the light .

[Wyattray]

Hmm, I think im going to just upgrade my tank to one with a sump and actually get some good equipment running on it, impossible to keep the Phosphate down with my current setup, gfo is not working in a canister filter.

[anthonys51]

can i ask if you gusy used dry or live rock when setting up your tank. i never had a cyrno breakout in 10 years of keeping reef, i set up 7 tanks, so i dont really fully understand what causes it and how to stop it. i normally use a lot of live rock thats been fully cured, will pick a few nice pieces from the dealer tank to go on top, put coral in after a week, and dont add fish for 2 -3 months. wont feed my tank for 2-3 months. was wondering what you guys do, i never had diatoms or cyrno or gha outbreak. wondering if its the live rock or not adding fish for 3 months . about to do a bbig build so i will be addding fish right away, so wondering if i will get it this time

[chefbill]

H2O2 1ml per 10g daily for 2 weeks completely rid my cyano

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk

[reddtiger88]

Cyano is a symptom of something wrong in your tank. It only develops when my media is spent or my skimmer stops working. You should try not to use the chemiclean. Vacuum it out manually, change water and change media. It will go away on its own. You should always be putting the cleanest water you can into the tank. Why start with dirty water.