Just to be sure.... Cyano?

Thanks all. Any advice to rid of would be grand. Oh and both PO4 and NA are at 0...

 

put your hand in and stir up the sand!

 

Yeah, that works for about an hour.

 

I wouldn't stir up the sand, that could release a lot of nutrients and some of the cyano into the water column and cause you even more problems.

I had cyano on my sand once. I found it grows more easily on finer sand than granular. You need to remove it completely from the tank, no scrapping it off the top. What I did was take a container and sink it in the tank near the cyano. Then I would take a ladle shaped tool and scoop just the top layer off the sand where the cyano is, and put it into the container. Be careful when dropping it into the container since you want to minimize the amount of sand you kick up in the process. I would also turn off powerheads during the process.

Once you've picked it all up, you could even dry the sand out, wash it then add it again.

 

I replied in your original thread...but here goes again:

Syphon (with a turkey baster) every bit that you can, without disturbing the sandbed. After that is complete, stir up the sand a bit, and do a water change focusing your syphon on particles in the water column. Do this repeatedly until the problem ceases. Also, I think your MB7 dosing is related. Slowly ween your system down to a maintenance dose.

 

Hmmm, that's a pretty good idea!

 

And the rocks?

 

When I cyano in the rocks here is what I did:

I did a small water change, took out a few gallons and put it into a clean bucket. Then I would take the rock with cyano on it and place it into the bucket. Then just a simple tooth brush can scrap off any of the cyano. Wash the rock off with a cup a few times with the bucket water and then you can return it to the tank.

I know this won't work with any rocks that cannot be taken out, I didn't have to deal with that but I had some on the back wall. This was tricky but like FaceOfDeceit said I used a turkey baster on it. I would first use the baster to scrap the wall or rock in your case, then suck up as much as possible. Try to prevent any from floating around in the tank else it could just end up somewhere else.

Honestly these ways take care of the ugly cyano but it doesn't take care of the source. You probably have a lot of nitrates locked up in your tank. I solved my issue by getting a nitrate filter, I bought a Aquaripure filter and it has worked quite well (going on 9 months) and reduces the necessary water changes.

 

I can one up you... lol. Take a filter sock and place it in your sump, sort of wedged in somewhere so it doesn't come loose. Then, using a 1/2" or 3/4" tube, start a syphon from your DT to your sump, just like your overflow. Just syphon up the sand/gravel that has cyano on it, which will go down to the filter, where the water will return to the system, and the cyano/sand will be filtered out.

Just dont let your 18 month old pull the tube out of the sump...:

 

Pretty good idea as well. Minus the 18 month old pulling out the tube haha.