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Cyno
- Thread starter ricwilli
- Start date
Check your Phosphate.
ricwilli said:jazzsam said:I used the red slime remover and never saw it again after that.
Do the LFS carry it? If so I will get it tomorrow morning.
Yes, most carry it. They are correct in the other posts though. It is just a bandaid. I think mine was due to a mini cycle from putting more rock in or not enough flow but it could be something just crazy out of wack. I remember you had something going on not that long ago that it very well may be the result of so maybe using this may kill it and keep it away if the dosing issues you had before don't happen again? Not totally sure just an idea.
Most tanks under a year old go through this phase, adding flow IMO is the best method to get rid of the stuff and keep it gone.
Here's a good read with just part of what he wrote
This is by Sk8r
T'is the season, and cyanobacterial sheets are in full bloom in new tanks...and probably old ones.
Why?
New tanks just go through it.
But beyond that, it's fall, the sun moves in its daily track, peeps into a window it didn't in the summer, and a stray beam hits your tank for 4 minutes a day. That's enough...you'll get a cyano outbreak in that spot. Watch your window curtains.
Old hands will tell you---watch your windows, increase flow, use a turkey baster to siphon out the crud. All these things are good ideas.
What is the stuff? Well, it's often mistaken for algae, but it isn't algae. It's bacteria---a nasty red slime of a bacterial sheet. At its worst, it can completely cover everything in your tank in a thick opaque red sheet with bubbles under it.
It's an extremophile: it was one of the things that helped re-oxygenate the earth after the Permian Extinction, for those of you fond of prehistory. But in your tank, it's a pain.
To reassure you, everything you own is still alive under there, and will recover...but it looks bad.
using Chemiclean or Red Slime Remover in a tank that's under a year old. They're good products, but FOR OLDER TANKS! Why? Remember what you 'cycled' in order to grow: the precious good bacteria in your sandbed and live rock! Well, these two products are ANTI-bacterial agents, ie, ANTI-biotics. They can't tell the difference between your good bacteria and the red stuff: they just kill bacteria. An older tank can spare some. Your new, delicate tank can't spare ANY.
[What happens when you've used a chemical treatment and it all goes wrong? First the antibiotic treatment kills off a huge sheet of slime AND some of the bacteria that is supposed to...yes,...BREAK DOWN WASTE and decay! So what happens to your tank? Tank suddenly has a lot of waste---and part of the waste is the dead pitiful corpses of half your good bacteria: tank NEEDs bacteria to break this all down, but the bacteria are dead, dead, dead...and the ammonia builds up from the dead stuff that's not digested, and the ammonia kills off more bacteria [and the fish and corals] and you have one very dead tank.]
Full thread here:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1240837
Here's a good read with just part of what he wrote
This is by Sk8r
T'is the season, and cyanobacterial sheets are in full bloom in new tanks...and probably old ones.
Why?
New tanks just go through it.
But beyond that, it's fall, the sun moves in its daily track, peeps into a window it didn't in the summer, and a stray beam hits your tank for 4 minutes a day. That's enough...you'll get a cyano outbreak in that spot. Watch your window curtains.
Old hands will tell you---watch your windows, increase flow, use a turkey baster to siphon out the crud. All these things are good ideas.
What is the stuff? Well, it's often mistaken for algae, but it isn't algae. It's bacteria---a nasty red slime of a bacterial sheet. At its worst, it can completely cover everything in your tank in a thick opaque red sheet with bubbles under it.
It's an extremophile: it was one of the things that helped re-oxygenate the earth after the Permian Extinction, for those of you fond of prehistory. But in your tank, it's a pain.
To reassure you, everything you own is still alive under there, and will recover...but it looks bad.
using Chemiclean or Red Slime Remover in a tank that's under a year old. They're good products, but FOR OLDER TANKS! Why? Remember what you 'cycled' in order to grow: the precious good bacteria in your sandbed and live rock! Well, these two products are ANTI-bacterial agents, ie, ANTI-biotics. They can't tell the difference between your good bacteria and the red stuff: they just kill bacteria. An older tank can spare some. Your new, delicate tank can't spare ANY.
[What happens when you've used a chemical treatment and it all goes wrong? First the antibiotic treatment kills off a huge sheet of slime AND some of the bacteria that is supposed to...yes,...BREAK DOWN WASTE and decay! So what happens to your tank? Tank suddenly has a lot of waste---and part of the waste is the dead pitiful corpses of half your good bacteria: tank NEEDs bacteria to break this all down, but the bacteria are dead, dead, dead...and the ammonia builds up from the dead stuff that's not digested, and the ammonia kills off more bacteria [and the fish and corals] and you have one very dead tank.]
Full thread here:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1240837
Tom,
That was some great reading.
My tank is under a year, and I, too, have a spot with some cyano as of recently. It is in the exact spot that the sun hits in the afternoon. I enjoy the added natural light, but now wonder whether I should put up a blind (because there are no window treatments on that window).
For the time being I've been blasting it off and sucking it out, and am not planning on adding any type of chemicals.
---
Wendy
That was some great reading.
My tank is under a year, and I, too, have a spot with some cyano as of recently. It is in the exact spot that the sun hits in the afternoon. I enjoy the added natural light, but now wonder whether I should put up a blind (because there are no window treatments on that window).
For the time being I've been blasting it off and sucking it out, and am not planning on adding any type of chemicals.
---
Wendy
Thanks everyone for the help. I've noticed that everyone is mentioning "flow". That is one thing that has changed in the tank. I had one big pump in there but had to change it after the frag swap. After putting in all of the corals that I purchased at the swap, the pump was to strong. I lowered the flow by removing the pump and adding two maxijets 1200. Two weeks after that is when I started getting the cyno. I never thought it could be the flow. My first thought was the lights, but they are only four months old. I'm currenlty running phosban and it has been running for four days now.
Another question...... Is cyno always present in the tank but "flow" prevents it from sticking to the rocks or surface? Just can't get a handle on flow being the culprit.
Another question...... Is cyno always present in the tank but "flow" prevents it from sticking to the rocks or surface? Just can't get a handle on flow being the culprit.
Cyano is almost allways present in a tank to some degree. It's natural. It's only when it gets out of control that it becomes a problem. It's caused by abundant nutrients in the system regardless of what any particular test kit says.
Low flow areas will usually be the first to show signs of cyano but flow in itself isn't the cause or cure, (same with lights) only reducing the nutrients levels.
It's kind of like getting a green yard in the summer only in reverse. You can water the grass till it's almost constantly soggy but if you don't have enough nitrates and phosphates the grass won't be nice and green. In our tanks, you can change flow and lights but it's only a bandaid as long as the nutrients are there it's going to grow. Remove the nitrates and phosphates and the cyano will go away. Simple as that.
Carlo
Low flow areas will usually be the first to show signs of cyano but flow in itself isn't the cause or cure, (same with lights) only reducing the nutrients levels.
It's kind of like getting a green yard in the summer only in reverse. You can water the grass till it's almost constantly soggy but if you don't have enough nitrates and phosphates the grass won't be nice and green. In our tanks, you can change flow and lights but it's only a bandaid as long as the nutrients are there it's going to grow. Remove the nitrates and phosphates and the cyano will go away. Simple as that.
Carlo