Is this Cyno?

[TXKev]

I have had cyno before and it was a dark red matt of slime on my sand bed. Now my sand is fine and the stuff is red and stringing and only on the top rocks in my tank. It is also filled with air bubbles which is making me think it is cyno. I am going to try to attach a photo. Not sure if it will work or if it will even show enough.

Thanks,
Kevin

[Ed]

Hard to tell from your photo, but the description you give is dead on for cyano.

[discuspro]

Yeah, sounds like cyanobacteria. I have seen it in different forms ranging from a slimy mat to hairy/stringy cyano all the way to cyano fibers that looked like crystals floating in the water.

[TXKev]

Thanks guys. Time to get some chemi-clean before it gets to bad. I just checked all my water params last Friday and everything was great.

Thanks,
Kevin

[discuspro]

Before you go get chemi clean I want to ask you a few things, the reason being is because I used to have some bad cyano about a month ago and I almost cleared it up in a week without chemiclean and my tank is much more healthier as well.

I hope I'm not asking stupid questions, first off.

Are you using RO/DI water, and if so do you need to replace any filters or media? Also, do you have a skimmer? Do you have a calcium reactor or are you using kalkwasser? What is your alkalinity at and are you doing something about phosphates and silicates?

The way I cleaned up my tank was kind of by mistake. I went and bought a calcium reactor and it raised my alkalinity up. Some reason my skimmer started pumping out more skimmate than I ever saw. My skimmer making more skimmate may have been from the calcium reactor or it may not have been. All I know is that is started being more efficient after installing the Ca reactor. Within about 3 days my cyano was gone!!! I was even using RO/DI and I have no fish. I just had a high dissolved organic problem mainly because I have so so so many coral for my 37 gallon tank.

[fgarner]

Cyano is very common in our hobby. While I would agree with the previous post that raising the alkalinity can be very helpful, sometimes a treatment will also become necessary. There is another product put oout by a company called Blue-Life. The product is called Blue Life Red Slime control. The bottle treats 400 gallons and actually costs less than chemi clean. In the DFW metroplex, I ordered several bottles to my store and we tested the product before actually selling it. Melev, the president of the DFWMAS was one of the testers and had nothing but praise for the product. At MACNA, I spoke with one of the chemist for the company and praised their products comparison against other cyano controllers including chemi-clean. This is some good stuff!

[discuspro]

By all means give it a try, but I've always read to really and truly treat cyano is to lower nutrients/dissolved organics and that's what my skimmer did. I'm not sure if raising alkalinity made my skimmer more efficient or not but it seems like it did.

[TXKev]

Discuspro,
I am using RO/DI water. I buy all my water from Austin Aquariums. I do not have my own RO/DI system yet. I keep thinking about it though. I have made some substantial upgrades to my tank over the last month and a half. First, I bought a new skimmer, Octopus NW150. It has been working great and pulling out way more crud than my old POS skimmer. I had to make a new sump for the skimmer to fit in and while I was at it, I re-plumed everything. I then added more flow to the system by using 2 0f the new Tunze Nanostream 6045's. Then I got the DIY bug and built a Kalkreactor to go with the new Auto-Top off system. This has been running about 2 weeks. Then I built a DIY phosban reactor (out of a gatorade bottle, sow this on Nano-reef.com) I have only been running it for a few days though.

I think I just figured out the cause. I had to go out of town for a week just before I put the kalk reactor on the system. My wife and daughter had to take care of the tank. I would bet they overfed the fish and that is just now causing the problem. At the time I was dosing purple up to the tank, one night while I was gone, I asked her about the tank. She told me she forgot to dose the purple up the day before, but it was OK, she doubled the dosage that day. I would not be surprised if she used the same loging in feeding. Plus she has always lived by the adage, If a little is good, a lot has to be way better. When I tested my water the other day, I only tested the nitrates, PH, ALK and Calcium. All of these were in check. I bet the tank was in a mini cycle and if I would have tested for Ampnia and Nitrite, I would have found something.

fgarner,
About a year and a half ago, I was having bad problems with Cyno and hair alge. During that time, I used Chemi-Clean and it would clear it up for a few days and then come right back. After a few times, I tried the Red Slime control you are talking about and it did about the same. I went to my LFS and asked the owner about it and the Chemi-clean and he was telling me that the Red Slime control was an anti-biotic and that is was also killing all the good bacteria in the tank. He said to stick with the Chemi-Clean. I do know if he was right or not though. If you have a better understanding of how these work, please share it with me. I would love to know. I do know who Melev is and respect his opinion, so this stuff can't be as bad as I was told. The thing that helped the most was dosing sugar (read about it on RC one day and said what the heck). I then added a fuge and that has kept it at bay until now.



Thanks,
Kevin

[fgarner]

TxKev,
I assure you that the RED SLIME CONTROL by BLUE-LIFE has nothing that will harm the good bacteria. It is an awesome product! I continue to sell chemi-clean and the RED SLIME REMOVER for customers who have reported some success with those products. But RED SLIME CONTROL by BLUE LIFE is now selling at least 15-1 to all other brands while, in my opinion ( and the opinions of so many others in this area ) eliminating cyano at a better price per package while doing 100 gallons more than other brands AND by keeping the problem GONE! The only disagreement that I had with BLUE LIFE chemists at MACNA was that they said there was no need to turn off the skimmer. ONLY If your skimmer has a drain, would they would be correct!
I assure you that I would never post anything based on my own guessing with no certainty. My store, my customers and DFWMAS members test many products and compare results before they are actually offered for sale in the store. The BLUE LIFE RED SLIME CONTROL is just one of them!

[caferacermike]

TXKev, ditch the Purple Oops for B Ionic. Purple up is snake oil.

I to am of the oldschool that says to correct the problem instead of treating the problem. I've had my few times were I swore I was going to get myself a bunch of chemi clean and dose my tank. Each time I was talked out of it and just reassured that large mupltiple water changes and a different feeding cycle wouold clear it up. It did.

[TXKev]

Well I cranked up the skimmer to run a little wetter and also dropped some sugar in there to try and eat up the excess nutrients. The Cyno does not look like it is spreading any further and may be receeding some. I will do a water change tomorrow and hopefully it will not be a problem.

fgarner,
I may try the red slime contol again if the tank gets much worse. It does not seem like the cyno is to bad at this point and I may be able to handle it without red slime or chemi-clean. I do appreciate your input.

Mike,
I finished the bottle of Purple-Up the first part of last week and am now dosing Kalk. I will see what this does for a while and may have to go to something like B Ionic later if it does not keep my calcium up high enough. I have never had a huge need for calciun in the past though. I would like to start getting into more SPS though and I have recently aquired 2 clams that are in there. I have been thinking of trying to make some of the 2-Part recipe that that is talked about on the Chemistry forum of RC. I am just not sure I could get a hold of Mag-Flake down here.

Thanks,
Kevin

[acrofreak]

One word.........FLOW