Fighting Cyanobacteria Naturally

That's interesting. What kind of time frame- how long did you have the cyano, and how long did you dose- twice a day for just one day, or over a period of time? And what kind of cost? I like the idea that it's not a "harsh chemical" type solution.

 

In my experience (though limited) I've seen cyano break out during the seasons. For example, from winter to spring I had a burst of it in my refugium that lasted the better part of a month. (Had to use some emergancy tap water to top off and phosphates spiked)

I'm sure you've already done this, but also check your phosphate level. Sometimes just having that action will aggrevate the cyano into comming out. Your tank is still pretty young too, do you use a natural means of nutrient export? Chaeto, ATS? Without the items that macro algae and DSB remove, the cyano cannot survive.

-Gavin

 

I've had the cyano for over 3 months. I did a lot of water changes and cut down the feeding to bare minimum but it kept coming back.

I used the products twice a day at 50% dosage for 2 days.

I don't think you need to use all these products to tell you the truth. It's just that i removed ALL the chaeto and i was afraid my nitrates were going to spike like crazy.

You can use the Brightwell Aquatics MicroBacter7 - $12
I think this alone could solve a lot of problems.

The Brightwell Aquatics Reef BioFuel - $13
this will help remove organics if u have a good protein skimmer

AZ-NO3 is $20 ..this one is expensive but not required unless you have nitrate problem

 

I had a ton of Chaeto. I have a 15g fuge. I removed all the chaeto. As far as water, i use a 8 stage custom made RO/DI + my tap water is 90 on TDS. Its not the water + the filters are fresh including the RO membrane.

I use H2Ocean Magnesium pro plus salt which is supposed to be one of the best. That could be causing my problem with phosphates. Never looked into the salt. But im almost out of it and will stop using that salt anyway.

 

If you had that much cheato in your fuge, how can you ensure that you had enough flow going through it? I could see that much chaeto blocking alot of flow through your sump. The reason I stopped using cheato was because of its uncanny ability to trap just about everything, detritus included.......just something else to think about.

 

I tried saving money and bought an RO/DI filter offa ebay, never had the water come through clean. Always has phosphates, changed filters twice... still have phosphate. Not saying yours does, just wanted to relate my experience

 

It all depends on the quality of your RO membrane, sediment and carbon filtration. + i have 2 stage DI. The membrane i use has an overage rejection rate of 98%.

You can try different brand filters and there will be no phosphates in your RO/DI water. Unless you are storing it in a plastic contrainer that is leaching phosphates.

I store my water in a 30 gallon fish tank.