cyno in SW

cyano is never a good thing. It denotes high phospates and nitrate levels, overfeeding and a lack of flow in the AQ.

Bad thing. Try to get rid of any dead spots in your tank, you can add another powerhead if you need to. At least maybe that can stop it from taking hold. HN and I recently used an Algone chemical media insert and that seemed to help a lot with our cyano.

Any chance you can show us a picture so we can confim either way for you

If this is a new or relatively new tank (within the last 6 – 9 months), and especially if regular tap water was used, there is great likelihood that you will get one or all of the following

• Hair algae
• Diatoms
• Cyanobacteria

I’d suggest you search each one and then treat the tank accordingly. In all cases it’s water quality…too much silicates, phosphates or nitrates.

thincat said:

cyano is never a good thing. It denotes high phospates and nitrate levels, overfeeding and a lack of flow in the AQ.

Click to expand...

It can mean this a lot of the time, but not always. It can also grow with a substrate-source of nutrients. If sand or rock has enough detritus on it or has absorbed enough phosphate, it will grow cyanobacteria regardless of concentrations of nutrients in the water column.

What color is it? It might be coraline. There are different colors of coraline algae other than purple too...I have green, red and pink in my tank...its thin and tough...like thin concrete. I guess if it's slimy, then yes it's cyano.

Chuck's Addiction
Go there and look at Hitch Hikers ..then to Algae section.
It will show you diatom,dino, and Cyano what they look like and stuff.

As for Cyano= BAD. It is one of the oldest forms of life in water. Its pretty amazing species but a pain in our azzes.

You want to siphon out the Cyano when you see it. Just keep it in control. And if a new tank just keep up on water changes and keep your Nitrates and Phosphates down.

Preventative measures for cyano is to keep lots of flow so that the detritus material stays in the water column and gets eaten or skimmed. Also keeping your feeding in check should keep you from adding more to the problem.

Now for those who dont click that link:
Cyano has a silky texture. It can be green to deep maroon colored. YOu will know its cyano when you can wave your hand over it and it sluffs. That stuff will have bubbles appear in its sheets and even have a spaghetti like strands stretching off of the main sheet.

In tanks that are established it is signs your system has a problem. Small outbreaks no biggy...but big ones means something is really wrong.

Seriously keep an eye on that stuff.

Also keep in mind Cyano looks much like Diatoms in early stages...so don't fret yet.

Warning: Do not scrub that cyano ...you will only spread it. And where ever you brush next only puts it in other spots. Siphon it out...the only way. Besides Nuking it ...

Still keep us informed on status. if cyano becomes rampant we will do our best to isolate the root problem.