Red Cyano Bacteria

[Bobbofin]

Sadly I have Red Cyano Bacteria in my tank. Shortly after the four day power failure of Oct/Nov it started. I also got a Radion light in December too to add the the chaos. It's not really bad, just a faint dusting and it's not red but a rust color. I just blow it off the rocks. I've been riding it out, blowing off the rocks and letting the sand area do it's thing. At dusk and dawn you really cant see it. Only when the Radion light is at full brightness and at 14 & 12K and 50% does it becomes noticable.
I'm partiticipating in good husbandary as always and my water parameters are spot on but I think it's time to treat for it. I have Red Slime Remover from UltraLife and ChemiClean from Boyd. Not bragging but I have not had to deal with an algae issue in many, many years. Which one should I use and what has been the members experience with each product. I already know the drill... turn off skimmer and carbon reactors for 48 hours, good airation (air stone in sump or will falling of water through rr overflow, plumbing and filter sock and suface aggitation be enough?) and 20% water change after the treatment. Should I take the bio-pellet reactor off-line also?

 

[wilfx]

I did not take my reactor off line. And either one will do the job. They both have worked well for me.

 

[Andy V]

I used Chemiclean before and followed the directions to a T. A lot of the corals closed up and looked like they were going to die. I ended up doing a 50% water change followed by a 25% change the next day. Everything ended up being fine but I don't trust the stuff.

I also tried Excital which some people swear by. It never caused any problems at all, but it also did absolutely nothing either. The people that recommended it were shocked.

 

[niftyjosh]

With the way your describing it, are you sure it's not diatoms? Can you remove whole patches at once?

I get diatoms every now and then cause I'll go overboard on water changes.

 

[SteveDola]

Cyano seems to pop up every couple years for me and Ive used redslime remover on a few different tanks with positive results. I run an airstone and do a waterchange afterwards with a vaccum tube to suck anything left clinging on. Redslime remover will give you super clear water after too. great stuff.

 

[DreamReefer]

With the way your describing it, are you sure it's not diatoms? Can you remove whole patches at once?

I get diatoms every now and then cause I'll go overboard on water changes.

if you can remove whole patches then it is cyano right?

 

[pesto]

Cyano seems to pop up every couple years for me and Ive used redslime remover on a few different tanks with positive results. I run an airstone and do a waterchange afterwards with a vaccum tube to suck anything left clinging on. Redslime remover will give you super clear water after too. great stuff.

+1 ...

 

[niftyjosh]

if you can remove whole patches then it is cyano right?

Correct

 

[MikeG]

I had an outbreak after adding biopellets. I tried sucking it out and water changes for about 4 months with no change. Used chemiclean and it was 100% gone in about 3 days. It took me about a week and about 300g of water changes before I could even turn my skimmer on without overflowing at the lowest setting (system has about 250 gallons of water). It worked great but was a ton of work to get my skimmer working again.

 

[Bobbofin]

Overboard on water changes?

With the way your describing it, are you sure it's not diatoms? Can you remove whole patches at once?

I get diatoms every now and then cause I'll go overboard on water changes.

Can you do too many water changes? I change 10% or 6 allons a week. Could this actually be harmful? I've been in the hobby for 20 years and I've never heard of this.

 

[niftyjosh]

I was doing like 30-40% a week out of shear boredom.

Several wiser people than myself have attributed my 2-3 short but ugly diatom blooms to the fact I am adding silicates at such a level, they cannot be absorbed by normal means causing the diatoms to bloom.

I now do 5 gallons every other night for a week then take a few days off.

 

[Bobbofin]

I was doing like 30-40% a week out of shear boredom.

Several wiser people than myself have attributed my 2-3 short but ugly diatom blooms to the fact I am adding silicates at such a level, they cannot be absorbed by normal means causing the diatoms to bloom.

I now do 5 gallons every other night for a week then take a few days off.

I came to the conclusion that it is diatoms. It's like a rust dusting not maroon stringy, sheet stuff. I just changed my RODI filters because the output of the DI was 1 to 2 TDS. How much silicates could really be putting in my tank at 1-2 TDS? I sucked out the diatoms when I did my weekly water change. I really don't think a weekly 10% water change is accessive.
I hate to say it but in 22 years I have not stuggle too much with hair algae, cyano or diatoms too often. I always participated in good husbandary and issues with these things have happened but not been a continual issue. I hope I just didn't jinx myself!

 

[niftyjosh]

Just wait it out. It will go away on its own.

 

[Kman2010]

I just throw a teaspoon or less of sugar into my sump whenever I see it forming. This works incredible for me. I maybe put a teaspoon in once every week to two weeks. Never trusted the commercial stuff

 

[banshee1]

Is this treatment for cyno or diatoms?

 

[stingythingy45]

When is the last time you changed your DI on you ro/di system?
Silicates are the first to leach through the di and cause diatoms.
You are basically fueling the diatoms with every water change.

BTW,it might be a curse for being a New York fan.