Cyanobacteria in reef aquarium

[rock-n-reef]

I have been noticing few spots of red cyano in the tank. There is so much literature and hypothesis on what could cause Cyano outbreak (and sooooo many r2r threads with debate on this topic... such as this one ). I understand there is no broad consensus or conclusive reasoning for this in the hobby.

So wanted to get inputs on what were your observation if/when you had Cyano in your system. Just trying to see if there is a pattern. Also interested to understand what helped get rid of the cyano

 

[chadfish]

Other: who the f*uck knows!? It can’t be low nutrients because it eats nutrients, it can’t be high nutrients because I’m measuring low nutrients. It’s just a challenge that you need to get over and then accept that it will never go away 100%. I’m glad I’m over it and dinos too.

 

[SteveDola]

I usually see it when it comes to summer and the ACs are on...i think its something to do with the o2 and co2 levels

 

[MGolder]

I stater a new tank almost a year ago with live rock from a fellow reefer. The rock was full of life sponge, tube worms, bristle worms, and who know what else (slugs and jelly fish are just a couple of things found among the more common critters such as pods). I have had cyano since about month 3 or 4 and have not been able to get rid of it. It disappears every night but a UV sterilizer does nothing. I have relatively low nitrates but is has been suggested that the low nitrates reading is false because the cyano and algae is consuming the nitrate at a rate that causes the test to be missleading. My rock seems to be "dying off" there is constantly detritus on the ruck that I can blow off. However the sponge (after an initial die off/recession has grown back) has grown into what seems to be a balance with the nutrients. I haven't been able to get rid of my cyano in 9ver six months so I am also curious. I water change regular (which does seem to work better than when I do not do consistant wat3r changes). Varying feeding load as well as supplemental bacteria does not seem to have an effect. My bateria regiment has been speratic so maybe that had an effect. The one thing I have not tested/addressed yet is that I am in the city and I know the water is extremely hard. I do not have tds meter yet. Thought I was alight with a brand new rodi but next on my to test/do list is check out the ro water quality.

 

[chadfish]

Wow, I was under the impression that the use of 100% live rock kept dinos and cyano at bay for the most part. Sorry to hear about your struggles

 

[stingythingy45]

Part of the growing pains of a new system. Low flow and over feeding usually brings out a bloom in my experiences.

 

[ChrisV]

Pft with my hair algae and dinos, cyano does not stand a chance!

 

[rock-n-reef]

I usually see it when it comes to summer and the ACs are on...i think its something to do with the o2 and co2 levels

Interesting! and that was the reason for the "seasonal" option in the poll. It could be either the co2 levels, or "other" particulate matter that might be at increased levels in the air given that we open our windows and there is more fresh air flowing in. Who knows! sounds plausible!

 

[rock-n-reef]

I stater a new tank almost a year ago with live rock from a fellow reefer. The rock was full of life sponge, tube worms, bristle worms, and who know what else (slugs and jelly fish are just a couple of things found among the more common critters such as pods). I have had cyano since about month 3 or 4 and have not been able to get rid of it. It disappears every night but a UV sterilizer does nothing. I have relatively low nitrates but is has been suggested that the low nitrates reading is false because the cyano and algae is consuming the nitrate at a rate that causes the test to be missleading. My rock seems to be "dying off" there is constantly detritus on the ruck that I can blow off. However the sponge (after an initial die off/recession has grown back) has grown into what seems to be a balance with the nutrients. I haven't been able to get rid of my cyano in 9ver six months so I am also curious. I water change regular (which does seem to work better than when I do not do consistant wat3r changes). Varying feeding load as well as supplemental bacteria does not seem to have an effect. My bateria regiment has been speratic so maybe that had an effect. The one thing I have not tested/addressed yet is that I am in the city and I know the water is extremely hard. I do not have tds meter yet. Thought I was alight with a brand new rodi but next on my to test/do list is check out the ro water quality.

That is interesting. I always thought staring with live rock from an established system likely brings all the stability needed. But it looks like there is a possibility of certain strain of bacteria becoming dominant and causing the system to destabilize. And there are hundreds of sources for that certain negatively impacting strain to be introduced in our systems (from water, to substrate, to corals, to plenty of other things).

I have only seen two patches of cyano in my tank so far. During the day with light providing the needed energy the patch gets thicker, and then goes away as the lights go down. Phosphates have been between 0.01 and 0.03ppm and Nitrate is between 3 and 5 ppm. The tank does have quite a good flow. This is a 112 gallon tank and I run two MP40s with about 22 hours in a day running between 50 and 60% and 2 hours running at about 40% max. The locations on the rock work where the cyano is gathering get a decent amount of flow. So I think flow may not be the root-cause (but could be playing a part). I do plan on adding additional powerhead to the tank to increase the flow.

But before I increase the flow, I want to try out the nutrients direction to see if that makes any difference. Starting today I'm adding a small amount of Acropower and increasing feeding with the aim of bring up the PO4 slowly to 0.06 and Nitrate to about 8 ppm. I want to see if that does anything with the cyano. I will try to hold off on changes to the tank to avoid other variables.

Let us know what you find from your source water test.

 

[Chris A.]

Cyano is a bacteria , best action is to outcompete it with good bacteria. Siphoning and flow help as well. We do need to realize that cyano and dinos are normal on a reef and not a plague lol.

I usually see it when it comes to summer and the ACs are on...i think its something to do with the o2 and co2 levels

The O2 levels probably do have something to do with it since increasing flow in that area would bring in more oxygen to that area

 

[JeanR]

There are probably lots of reasons you get cyano. Definitely more common in newer systems, but established systems can get it to. Chemiclean works great to get rid of it (it's just the antibiotic erythromycin) and is perfectly reef safe.

 

[SteveDola]

Ive used chemiclean with great results in the past.

 

[rock-n-reef]

There are probably lots of reasons you get cyano. Definitely more common in newer systems, but established systems can get it to. Chemiclean works great to get rid of it (it's just the antibiotic erythromycin) and is perfectly reef safe.

Ive used chemiclean with great results in the past.

Where there any long-term impact that you have observed after using Chemiclean? How long it has been since you used it? What type of reef system was it on? Anyone with experience using it on SPS dominated system?

 

[SteveDola]

no issues.

 

[Terry Martin]

Where there any long-term impact that you have observed after using Chemiclean? How long it has been since you used it? What type of reef system was it on? Anyone with experience using it on SPS dominated system?

I've got a well-established (seven years) mixed reefs with lots of sponge and bacteria. I still get cyano every 3-4 months. It's pretty gradual and when it gets pretty noticeable I treat with chemiclean and it always works. I've done it, probably 15 times or so, and I've never had any ill effect on my acros, lps, softies or anything else. I have no idea what causes it but in my case, it's not low flow as it often grows on the powerheads and I have a ton of flow.

 

[chadfish]

I've got a well-established (seven years) mixed reefs with lots of sponge and bacteria. I still get cyano every 3-4 months. It's pretty gradual and when it gets pretty noticeable I treat with chemiclean and it always works. I've done it, probably 15 times or so, and I've never had any ill effect on my acros, lps, softies or anything else. I have no idea what causes it but in my case, it's not low flow as it often grows on the powerheads and I have a ton of flow.

Does it ever affect coralline algae growth?

 

[Terry Martin]

Does it ever affect coralline algae growth?

I wish! No, i've got more coraline than I want!

 

[PamBrent71]

We had cyano and tried carbon dosing to build more good bacteria, we siphoned it out of the tank 1-2 times a week (5-10 gal water change), we tried Vibrant instead of vodka dosing, and we added an awesome UV sterilizer.

And then we said Screw This! and we used chemiclean. It has been a couple months. No more cyano (it died and did not come back). GHA is still alive and well, but we got an adorable sea hare to chomp on it. I'm okay with GHA, seems to be the least awful of the problems and the strands catch any food particles, creates a buffet for the cleaner shrimp. Cyano drove me nuts, but GHA is more tolerable.

 

[highfive52]

I have gha on one rock. Love it. Its my your nutrients are going up.....get your s&;t together teller. Lol. If cyano rears up. Just hit it with doses of bacteria. Any kind will do. Build diversity. Fritz dr tims fluval.