Cyanobacteria erradication, HELP!

[Maria-Elena]

I have cyanobacteria in my tank and I don't know what else I can do. The parameters of the water are good. I have made water changes every four days. We also tried to keep the lights off for more time. My corals and fish are fine, but this bacteria is growing more and more. We have been cleaning the tank every day, we also put reef carbon in the filter, put other pump. I called petland today to ask if nassarious snails will help and they said that only temporarily and that the best product was chemiclean. Has anyone tried this product? Any other advice? Thanks.

[wvreef]

how much and how often you feeding....what r you feeding

[John]

I just dosed Chemiclean this weekend...amazing product...was going to wait and share my experience until the skimmer calms down again.

[wvreef]

I try to stay away from any chemicals in my tanks unless there is no other choice....I had a very bad outbreak in my 180 and 45 and got rid of mine with reduced lighting and smaller feedings and water changes....when I did my water changes I sucked out as much as I could get out each time and it slowly went away...took me several weeks but got rid of it....without any chemicals

[Maria-Elena]

I am feeding my fish twice a day with frozen shrimp (small amount, what they can eat in 3 minutes) , but the cyano was caused because I overfed them. I am so sorry about that, but now I don't know what else to do.

 

My tank is a JBJ 29 gallon tank. I have ceramic rings, activated carbon, reef carbon and a sponge in the filter. I have a skimmer too that is helping, but seems not to be enough. I siphoned off the sand and the next day the cyano is there again. The glass is also yellow/red.

 

How did you use Chemiclean? What do I need to do first? Do I have to turn off my skimmer? Should I put my corals and fish in another tank? Thanks

[wvreef]

Ok drop your feeding to once per day and only what they can eat in about 1-2 min. keep light reduced and do regular water changes...when u do the water changes suck as much of the cyno u can up while doing the water change...also make sure you are rinseing your shrimp before feeding this will help reduce the phosphates in the tank and help with the cyno as well....try this before going down the road with chemicals...IMO

[Maria-Elena]

Thanks. Before reading your post I was reading an article that said that the best thing to do to get rid of it completely was to turn off the lights for three days. Will the corals survive without light so many days? Should I turn only the blue light? This is the link:

 

http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.php/42-Cyanobacteria-what-is-it-and-how-can-I-get-rid-of-it

[zygote2k]

you can never get rid of cyanobacteria. it is always present in the tank. the best way to prevent it is to increase current in the areas where it grows and to avoid overfeeding. changing your bulbs on a yearly basis helps too. if your tank is new and you're just now experiencing this, then my best advice is to let things work themselves out.

[beatle]

Are you using RO/DI? If not, now is a good time to start. I've found that cyano eventually goes away. Flow helps and siphoning helps.

[wvreef]

I personally would not keep my lights off that long...you will be suprised at how quick it will go away if you lessen your feeding, less light, water changes and an ro/di you will win the battle....just remember never feed mor that they can eat in 1-2 min....

[Maria-Elena]

When you say ro/di, it means a system? I don't have a system. My tank is a 29 JBJ Nano tank, do I still need it? For how long should I lessen my light? How many hours of light (minimum) do my corals need not to die and to make the cyano bacteria gone faster? I started feeding my fish once a day and very small amount.

 

Should I make the water changes daily, every two days? How often? 10%, 20%?

 

What should I rinse my frozen shrimp with?

 

Thanks and I apologize for so many questiones, but I am new on this...

 

 

[Reefoholic]

RODI means Reverse Osmosis De-Ionized. It is a filtering unit that filters heavy metals and such from tap water so you can use this purified water to mix with salt to make saltwater for your water changes.

 

Here is a link to one by Air Water Ice : RODI

 

I usually make a 10% water change weekly.

 

Also, you can feed your fish every other day till you get your nutrients down in the water column. The fishes will be fine.

 

I rinse my frozen food with some RODI water, but I think tap water will do just fine. This is to get rid of excess PO4 that can possibly be on the frozen food.

 

Also, there is nothing wrong with asking questions. Please feel free to ask as many as you need to ask. When I first started this hobby I would read a lot and ask a lot. That's how we learn and could take best care of our beautiful animals...

[Novi]

Get a small Media Reactor, a small pump and run ROWAPhos. Youtube it to see what it can do. Give it 2 to 3 days and it will all be gone. But then you have to find out out why your getting it in the first place. SOunds like your getting high Phosphates from your water as well as maybe overfeeding. With such a small tank (29G) you have less room for error.

[Maria-Elena]

I have a SpectraPure CHP 2-stage 15gpd RO filter. I am going to post an ad to see if someone is selling a used reactor (I saw that they are expensive).

Hope I can get rid of this cyanobacteria soon. I will make the water changes weekly, I will rinse the food with water before and can someone tell me please how many hours of light I should give my corals and fish? the minimum per day?

 

[Hayden]

I'd also suggest to get an add on demonization canister for your RO filter. Air Water & Ice also carries one here. It'll get the effectiveness of your RO filter from 99% to 99.9%.

 

How long to run lights can be a bit relative. It all depends on the type of light (CF, HQI, or LED) and the type of corals and their placement in the tank. I had the HQI hood on my old JBJ nano and ran the lights for 5 1/2 hours a day and it was more than enough light for what I had in the tank (all soft, mostly zoa's). Any more light and I would get GHA spots. I switched to an LED hood and needed to up the hours to 7 hours before my corals were happy again. I also didn't need to run my chiller with the LED's.... Try cutting back on your lights by an hour per day for a week or two and see if you notice a change.

 

Have you looked into ditching the ceramic rings and adding cheto in the filter basket with a fuge light on the back?

 

If this is a new tank setup, don't worry about it too much. It's common in new tanks for a bit of a bloom like this.