Fighting Cyanobacteria Naturally

I had a pretty big cyanobacteria problem. It started in the fuge on some rock and crept into my display tank and started to grow on coral and live rock. I was afraid to use the medication type cures after hearing some horror stories about whole tanks getting wiped out. So i decided to do some research and see if there were any natural methods.

These products actually boost the production of good bacteria instead of killing the bad bacteria. The death of bad bacteria happens indirectly.

I removed all the chaeto in my 15 gal. fuge. I had trash bag full of it. A lot of cyano was growing on the chaeto. But in any case these are the products im using with excellent results.

In 48 hours i saw almost a 50% reduction in cyano. It was really hard for me to believe. My water was also sparkling like i've never seen before.

All this stuff was used @ 50% dosage twice a day. If the instructions said 10ml, i used 5ml in the morning and 5ml at night.

First one is

Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter7 - Complete Bioculture for Marine and FW Aquaria - $12



Brightwell Aquatics Reef BioFuel Supplement - $13 (replaces vodka dosing)






The only reason i used AZ-NO3 - $20 is because i removed all chaeto, and i was afraid that my nitrates would spike .



I will let you guys know about the nitrate readings. All these products require a protein skimmer. I know that this is an expensive way to solve the problem but i thought it was a better way. I did many water changes/manually siphoned cyano and reduced feeding to almost nothing and cyano still kept growing. Now almost overnigt it started dissapearing

 

I have heard great things about the AZNO3, one of the last TOTM in RC used that product and got people excited.
As far as Brightwell's stuff goes, they make good stuff, good instructions and good customer service. If you buy it and the place that sold it doesn't know much about it, Chris Brightwell offers you to call the company and ask them....
Sounds great but I can imagine waiting on the phone for 30 mins to find out the correct dosage for a product....

Glad it worked for you!!

 

FWIW, not to sound pesimistic, but unless you find out why you have a cyano outbreak, its going to come back. When it comes to cyano, the best way to battle it is to increase your flow and cut back on feeding. Otherwise the medication will help but its not going to take care of the root cause. Good luck though, hope everything works out good for you.

 

This was basically an experiment. I didn't know if the products would work. They are doing a great job.

 

Are these really natural cures or just liquid chemical filters added to remove the nutrients that cause the problem? Dunno, just asking

 

This is not medication.

This is not medication, its the alternative. That was the whole point of the thread. This solves (i hope) the root problems in cases like mine where the root cause cannot be determined. It helps the bio filtration to process whatever is causing the nutrient leak.

My flow is 50x pointed at live rock. I rearranged all my live rock to avoid dead spots. I spent a good week doing this. I feed Pellets soaked in garlic. I feed a tiny amount which are consumed by the fish. The rest is eaten by 3 shrimp. I turn pumps off when im feeding. All the food is gone in less than a minute.

 

Actually they're bacteria and enzymes. The Bio Fuel is just bio available carbon. I don't know if you can call this a cure, but it will definetly push your biological filtration to the max. AZ-NO3 and Bio Fuel will help remove excess nutrients. I only used this for a couple of days. I would have to see what the long term benefits are.

 

Also, how young is the tank? Ive never seen an established tank have cyano when the owner wasnt over feeding. Sometimes its just part of the process.

 

One more thing, Ive used Brightwell products before and currently still use them, I think they are great......Im just really curious to see what happens in the long run.

 

The tank is only 6 months old with 220Lbs uncured live rock added at the same time.

Ive seen 10 year old tank with cyano. You can have cyano without overfeeding. If something dies in your tank and you cant see it, this can cause cyano aswell.

I will definetly have to see what happens in the long run. I would like to talk with someone that has used these products for a while.