attack of the cyano

55, 3 months, every other day

 

yeah but how much? sometimes you can feed every other day but you might feed a little too much and that food that goes uneaten can give you problems.

the guideline is to feed the amount the fish will eat within 3 minutes and remove the rest. unless you have an exellent clean up crew.

someone correct me if im wrong:

i believe is best to feed everyday but smaller amounts.

 

No,you're correct,it's growing from abundant nutrients possibly along with a lack of flow.Nutrient reduction and increased flow are the remedy.

 

What do you have as for a clean up crew? i seen one poster mentioned it, but I didnt catch a reply with a quick skim over. CuC is a definite front line of defense in excess food/nutrients.

 

Your tank is new, so this is to be expected. Things to check for, some have already been mentioned:

- Nutrients. Test for nitrates and phosphates. These are what directly contribute to cyano. You might get a reading of 0, this is because the cyano is consuming the available nutrients. Weekly 5-10% water changes will lower both (could do more %-wise if they are high), and running GFO in a reactor will reduce/eliminate phosphates, provided your husbandry techniques are good.

- Husbandry. As mentioned, how much and how often are you feeding is very important. I personally feed as much as my fish can consume in 1 minute, once a day, plus a 2x2 inch peice of seaweed (there is a slight am snack for the anthias, but thats a different topic). How's your clean-up crew, as they are essential for consuming any uneaten food. How often do you perform water changes? Do you clean out any sponge filters/socks?

- Flow/light. Plenty of flow will inhibit cyano's ability to cling to surfaces. I'm assuming your lighting is new since your tank is only 3 months old. If your lighting is not new, how old are the bulbs? Shifts in spectral frequency due to old age can cause a bloom of cyano.

The key is to identify the root cause, and fix it. Sure, you might have high phosphates (just an example), and a GFO reactor will lower it, but until you figure out why your phosphates are high, you will struggle with this problem.

 

i feed half of a small cube to my fish every other day, and about every three days i feed my corals a whole small cube. I change out 5% weekly and 10% biweekly religiously. run protein skimmer and carbon and change carbon every two weeks. i have around 30 red and blue leg hermits. around 10 turbo snails. and two 1050 gph powerheads. am i feeding two much, not enough flow, or should i try gfo. Also ive heard gfo is bad for clams. Thanks guys

 

any time I had cyano it was a combination of low flow with old bulbs and excessive nutrients. Once you figure out the reason for the cyano, weather it is bulbs or flow..ect correct the problem, clean off your rock and sand like you mentioned before, do water change and leave you lights off for a day. No harm will come from 1 day of darkness and should help kick the cyano in the butt. I don't get the outbreaks anymore and this was my solution to fight it.

If your desperate you can try a product called Chemi clean that is reef safe and is basically an antibiotic that kills the cyano bacteria.