Big Cyano Problem

lebloom said:
No direct sunlight use light 15 hrs day, use RO only, Nitrates -0, nitrites -0, no ammonia
To get rid of mine I did two or three massive water changes,scrubbed my live rock outside of the tank. increased flow in tank,and cut my light period to 4hrs until the algae was gone.

HTH
Mike
 
so you just about started all over. Did you damage your rock by doing this? Someone said to aim my powerheads towards the area, but I do this and all it does is blow my sand all over the tank. I have been trying to pick the cyano out but a day later its growing back. Is there a test kit that checks for phosphates?
 
yeah, you shouldnt have phosphates but i dont know how much of that contributes to cyano... it might? salifret makes phosphate kits.
 
richtpe said:
What are your phosphate levels? They could have something to do with your problem.

yeah that might have a lot to do with it alot of cyano can make there on nirtates anddon't need it in the water to grow
 
red slime,

I would NOT take the live rock out a scrub it. you will loose so much more than you know. Cut you lighting down to half like he said, do a water change sucking off the slime, slow the feeding down a bit and hit it with a red slime treatment. 48 hours later treat it again, make sure you shut off your protien skimmer if u have one. I guarantee your slime will be history. That red slime treatment you can get at your lfs, its a small tube of a powder. works like a champ and doesnt kill the good bacteria and alge. try it!
 
Just had my water checked today and they tell me my Nitrate level is 5.0 the Phosphates level is .25 all oters are normal or 0 for the nitrites and ammonia. Even with all I have been doing with 10 -15 gal water changes with strictly RO. Is this phosphate level high enough to cause my cyano problem? :(
 
Phosphate levels should be zero or as close to it as possible. Whether a level of .25 is enough to cause a cyano bloom, I'm not sure.

I battled a cyano problem for a couple of months. I increased water flow in the tank (especially to the areas where the cyano really seemed to be growing), decreased my photo period (I now have actinics on for 11 hours and white lights on for 8), bought a phos-ban reactor to get phosphates down to zero, and siphoned out as much cyano as I could during each water change).
 
I would definately say the light is the problem! I had the same issue last month. Red Slime Algae everywhere and it would reappear instantly almost when I would clear it away. I cut way back on the light and the problem is GONE!!! Good luck
 
just how high of a phosphate level would cause my cyano problem? I had my water checked and the recorded a .25 for my phosphates. and the nitrates were 5.0 but all others were normal. I did add another powerhead in my tank to make a total of 4 altogether now hoping this would help out some.
 
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