Yuck...Now What?

[fredly]

Greetings TRT,

I think I've created a new species of goo! To tell the truth, I wish I'd never seen it. About 2 or 3 months ago there was nothing but coralline encrusted rock and glimmering white substrate. Then the cyano came.... I've been doing weekly 10% changes for 4 weeks, replaced the lights (440 VHO) and closely monitoring water parameters. All looks good - no nitrates, trites, ammonia, phospates. Alk is good, calcium not so good (300ppm). Animals are doing great. My only complaint is this absolutely gross looking green/brown slop. It partially covers areas of rock not directly exposed to the lights. Under the rocks there's not a trace of it. Areas with good vertical exposure are clean too. I tried to siphon it off, but it needs to be "encouraged" a little more than that. I took a couple of the easier rocks out and it brushed/rinsed right off. Anybody ever see this type of stuff before? I'm open to suggestions on eradication....

Thanks,
Fred


http://home.earthlink.net/~cahaskells/Yuk.JPG

(Sorry 'bout the pic - still getting the digicam techniques down!)

[mojoreef]

Ahhh cyano, its a beautiful thing. I dont know how old your set up is but in the early days alot of people have to deal with it. From what I know it there are a few causes. The most likly is water parameters, phoshates and/or to many nutriuents. the othe is water flow, Cyano tends to form in dead spots where the water flow is poor. I would retest for nitrites, usually they will be ammounts in tanks that have cyano.

You have to export the nutrients in your tank, several water changes will help, do you have a ref. if so get some macroalgae they will compete for the nutrients. if not you have to increase your water flow on the areas affected and in the tank as a whole. you have to look at your bio load in the tank to . How many things do you have in thier.

its a start
mike

[reefguy]

also, a small amount of erythromycin added to the tank will erradicate the cyanobacteria. the dosage is usually very low, so low in fact that it won't affect anything else in the tank (even if you wanted it to). when i had a cyano problem, i dosed 200 mg in my 100 gallon tank, waited a day, then repeated the dosage. the cyano dissappeared overnight! the day after the second dosage, add some fresh carbon or a new poly-filter to remove residual erythromycin and do a water change to be on the safe side. it really works and i haven't seen any problems associated with the dosing. hope this helps...

[fredly]

Thanks reefguy and mojo,

My tank's a 110 gal setup about 15 months ago. I re-tested everything and found nothing. I do have a possible problem with nutrient export, called a Seaclone.... It's modified and produces fairly well, but alas it's cursed by every reef keeper I've encountered. I attached a pic of what I get in 3 days. I suppose it's possible that the cyano has started to die off, as I seem to be getting quite a bit if skimmate despite weekly 10% water changes.

I have a ton of extra power heads, so I'll throw a couple in right at the bottom. Water circ right now is 3XHagen 402's, a Rio 2500 return pump, and a maxi 1200 on the skimmer.

I'm hesitant to try the e-mycin, but if it's tried and true - why not. I'll go with the added flow for a week or so, take some pics to compare. Beside being ugly, there doesn't seem to be any need for drastic measures...

Again, Thanks!
Fred

[fredly]

OK - now with the PIC of "Super Seaclone 9000" in action....

Fred

URL, just in case I can't get a pic to post directly....
http://home.earthlink.net/~cahaskell...2_221355AA.JPG

[reefguy]

well, the erythromycin was suggested by a good and trusted friend of mine at a local fish store. he's been in the reef keeping hobby for over 20 years now and it worked for me.

[fredly]

Well then, I'll let you know how it goes. Overnight sounds better than another week of looking at this! 200mg/100 gallons, right? Suppose I can use the fresh water tablet variety, given proper packaging that indicates the mg per tablet?

Fred

[reefguy]

well, actually, the only difference between "freshwater" and "saltwater" is the dosage required. generally, saltwater applications require more antibiotic to be effective. 200mg/100 gallons is an adequate amount. if you don't feel comfortable with that, have the dosage and continue dosing until the problem goes away. seriously, the cyano was absolutely GONE within 24 hours and i can see absolutely NO bad side effects of the dosing. just remember that once the cyano is gone, remove the EM with carbon or like chemical filtration medium. if you read the package for the erythromycin tablets, they will probably tell you to dose 1 table per 10 or 20 gallons, so you can see how this is a SMALL dose. the erythromycin specifically targets the type of bacteria that cyanobacteria is. let me know how it works for you...i suspect it will amaze you!

[Alice]

Hey Fredly

Isn't cyano just a royal pain in the Kazoo? (sorry, couldn't resist that one )

I'm glad using the E. worked for reefguy and I know it's worked for others but I am so leery of adding things like that to my tank.

What I've done for cyano outbreaks was cut back on feeding (especially commercially prepared foods) bumped up the circulation, did water changes and turned off the lights for two-three days. It's not an overnight cure but a couple of rounds of that always cleared it up in my tanks.

"Nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank."

Alice

[fredly]

Hey all,

Just thought I'd add a conclusion to this thread - a happy ending in fact. The cyano is gone... !!

I bought a bubble pack of EM tabs for $2.75. Each one is 200mg. The package directions said to dose 200mg/10 gal, daily, for 4 days! So I put in ONE 200 mg tablet, cranked up the circulation with 2 more PHs and max out my return pump (overflow barely keeps up). Within a few hours the stuff had already started to fall apart. Had to shut down the skimmer though, as it was really going nuts - filled the cup with light green skimmate in a matter of 2-3 hours and filled the tank with fine bubbles. Waited 48 hours, did a 20% water change, added some carbon, and fired up the skimmer. Everybody is happy and the glass is even cleaner.

Thanks for the advice!

[reefguy]

well, i'm really glad that worked for you, too. i've had great success with it and it's always good to know that you have options.