cyano

Well I myself have never had cyano in my tank but the 20g has had a cyano outbreak. All perameters are great, nitrates are at 20. We do regular water changes, have a skimmer, feed only ever other day and sparingly. We did a water change on thurs, syphoned out the cyano but it's back. We are doing another water change tonight. Are we doing what we should be doing?

 

What type of circulation do you have in thats tank ? I'd look at that first especially if it seems to be starting on the lower part of the tanks rocks and bottom sand ?
Cyano needs low oxygen areas to get a toe hold and lack of oxygenated water circulating in the lower half is usually the cause. If you have a 20 H then I'm 99% sure thats the cause.

 

What about phosphate levels? They contribute to cyano out breaks.

 

i figured cyano was just another stage of a new tanks break in period.i just left it alone unless it got real thick and eventually it went away.

 

Keep up with what you are doing, and it will pass.

 

When you are looking at Cyano 's the part you see is not the bacteria you only seeing the red fuzzy bubbly cocoon it builds to as a waste product of its feeding to create its on anaerobic area.

 

can you post a good pic?

 

we use the hydor koralia 400gph for flow, regular 20g not high or deep. The cyano is on the sand, we've been syphoning it out. Since the nitrates are 20ppm, we added kents nitrate sponge to help. We put it in the capartment with the carbon, in the skimmer.
I tested phos 2 wks ago..0 but when cyano is present in a tank you often will get a reading of 0 phos.. Well syphoning it out is the safest, most effective way of cyano removal. It's just a pain!

 

Cyano is not a pure algae.. Its a bacteria and it does not like oxygen aim the koralia more to-wards it.. Also old light bulbs can sprue its growth.. Its a slow long process to rid the stuff from the tank you can use some Tetracycline or Aureomycin antibiotic But you need to find the cause of it first..

 

What is your substrate?