Battling Cyano... Chemiclean?

[FireWater]

Most cyano and hair algae problems are there and run rampant because of underlying problems. Mainly it's a build up of phosphates and/or nitrates due to a myriad of things. Mainly the water is not exchanging or gettin rid of the phos/nit. This can be due to too little or too infrequent of water changes, over feeding, using less than pristine water for water changes, too little flow, too little light or wrong spectrum,and so on.

The first step is to figure out what is causing the issue. Chemiclean is fine to use as a treatment. Like Mike said, patience when dealing with it is key. It won't go away over night. I had a bad outbreak in my sand bed and it was combatted by changing the flow in the tank, upping the % of water each change, and stirring/siphoning my sand bed. I purposely run a shallow sand bed just so I can disturb it with no ill effect. Bill is spot on with his statement as well.

[1seahorse]

Most cyano and hair algae problems are there and run rampant because of underlying problems. Mainly it's a build up of phosphates and/or nitrates due to a myriad of things. Mainly the water is not exchanging or gettin rid of the phos/nit. This can be due to too little or too infrequent of water changes, over feeding, using less than pristine water for water changes, too little flow, too little light or wrong spectrum,and so on.

The first step is to figure out what is causing the issue. Chemiclean is fine to use as a treatment. Like Mike said, patience when dealing with it is key. It won't go away over night. I had a bad outbreak in my sand bed and it was combatted by changing the flow in the tank, upping the % of water each change, and stirring/siphoning my sand bed. I purposely run a shallow sand bed just so I can disturb it with no ill effect. Bill is spot on with his statement as well.

+1

[Texreefer]

Steady regular care and maintenance.. is all i needed.. took a couple months though. most people aren't that patient

[i3oosted]

Steady regular care and maintenance.. is all i needed.. took a couple months though. most people aren't that patient

Sometimes patients isn't the reason, expensive corals can quickly die from suffocating cyano.

[coralreefexplore]

I also had an outbreak but decided not to treat it with chemiclean. I didn't turn off or turn down my lights. Just kept cleaning and regular water changes and about 2 months later its all gone.

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[ramsey]

Most cyano and hair algae problems are there and run rampant because of underlying problems. Mainly it's a build up of phosphates and/or nitrates due to a myriad of things. Mainly the water is not exchanging or gettin rid of the phos/nit. This can be due to too little or too infrequent of water changes, over feeding, using less than pristine water for water changes, too little flow, too little light or wrong spectrum,and so on.

The first step is to figure out what is causing the issue. Chemiclean is fine to use as a treatment. Like Mike said, patience when dealing with it is key. It won't go away over night. I had a bad outbreak in my sand bed and it was combatted by changing the flow in the tank, upping the % of water each change, and stirring/siphoning my sand bed. I purposely run a shallow sand bed just so I can disturb it with no ill effect. Bill is spot on with his statement as well.

Great advice John. My experience has lead me to believe that a very shallow sandbed that you lightly vacuum and keep stirred is the way to go. With my 38g, I overdid the sand and ended up with about 2". I've been slowly removing some when I do water changes and now that it's at about an inch or less, it's looking much better. When I do water changes, I'll pick a section to vacuum. I also have ceriths and nassarius snails to keep the sand stirred.

In my 185 I'm going to get at least one, if not a few, sand stirring gobies. I battled cyano In that tank ( before I decided to rebuild) and it can be a real test of patience and very discouraging. In retrospect, I think a lot of my issues stemmed from too much sand and "old/used" live rock that had phosphates bound up in it.

Another thing I've noticed (could be coincidence) but cyano LOVES dying Xenia. I've had corals die, but melting Xenia also comes with a big cyano outbreak. On a side note, melting Xenia is my new speed metal band's name. JK

[rickrutland]

Where would you get chemiclean?

[coralreefexplore]

Tx tropical petco

CoralReefExplore

[clayton]

I've used chemi-clean In the past and it worked awesomely In my 75. Cleared it up and kept it clear. Strongly reccomend it. Just make sure to follow the directions on the back.

[i3oosted]

I've done a bit more research and I'm at a crossroads. I know that Chemiclean is some sort of algicide and it does work but takes out a portion of your good bacteria also.

I also have access to Dr. Tims Refresh/Waste Away combo which is all natural and works by introducing a competing good bacteria that will out compete the cyano bacteria eventually, but it takes longer, couple weeks to a month for cyano to be gone. The good thing is that if you keep dosing a small amount of Waste away a month, it keeps that good bacteria level up to par and the cyano will not return.

Why does everything have to be so confusing?