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austin93

Cyano Struggle Continues

Rating: 2 votes, 5.00 average.
8 Comments
by
austin93
, 05-04-2010 at 10:51 AM (5594 Views)
Well, after I set up my new tank I was feeling very pleased with myself, but reality would soon kick me in the testes once again as I have cyano covering all the sand and some rock. I attribute it to the stress of moving everything over to the new tank and the increased bioload of a couple new fishes. I think in addition to this, taking the system off of full zeo didn't help things much. I had a terrible time with getting the nutrients just right with zeo, mostly just starved the corals. I had t5 lights and very pale colors and no growth except for a maxima clam that just did great. I switched to MH 250w Radiums on HQI and have been very happy with the changes in colors (and shimmer). I have always wanted to try a refugium, but I feel that I am probably more comfortable with a bacterial driven system. My current plan is to go with MB7 and vodka. I think the mb7 would help to starve out the cyano and the vodka will bring back my once clear water.

On a positive note, with nitrates at 2.5, I am having great growth and improved coloration in all of my corals. It is very difficult to balance this chemistry thing, especially for a PE teacher.

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Comments

  1. ex-neo's Avatar
    turn your lights off for 2-3 days and you can control the cyano
  2. austin93's Avatar
    Thanks for the input, but that might be oversimplifying the situation. I have heard this offered many times in the different circles and think this can be successful, I just don't think its a long term solution as there is something that causes this to occur. I have already ordered the mb7 and believe in the science behind adding a bacterial boost to outcompete the cyano.
  3. melev's Avatar
    That's the trick, finding the perfect balance to avoid a bloom and promote a healthy bacterial population at the same time. I just talked to a friend of mine, and he swears that 3 days of darkness every month is the solution. He loves it. I told him that I'd down it myself three years ago and it worked well, but hadn't since. He agreed I have quite a bit of SPS so there question is whether I'm willing to risk it or not.

    I've not dosed anything other than Vodka for two years this July, and for the past couple of months cyano has been on my nerves. Not enough to panic, but it's just not pleasant to see. I've never tried MB7.
  4. austin93's Avatar
    I have heard a lot of positive feedback in it. I used it when I first started the bacterial driven system thing via a Neozeo system. I didn't have cyano for about 18 months while dosing that and ultimately zeovit. I hear you about risking the sps, I have tried lights out before and just don't think its a long term solution. Kind of like using chemi-clean, its just a band aid and whatever caused the original problem will just reoccur.
  5. melev's Avatar
    If you do some research on Cyano bacteria, you'll quickly find out that it is a normal part of our biological filtration in our systems, as it is in the oceans and streams. It usually is invisible so we never give it a second's thought. Once visible though, all bets are off. It isn't that we are doing a bad job; things have just lined up perfectly to the point that it has bloomed. I discuss this somewhat in this article:
    http://www.reefaddicts.com/content.p...-get-rid-of-it
  6. cfsindorf's Avatar
    Ok what is this MB7 and shareing me vodka with my reef? What does vodka do?
  7. austin93's Avatar
    MB7 is a bacterial product from Brightwell Aquatics. It adds another source of bacteria to the tank to theoretically, outcompete the cyano for nutrients. The vodka is a food for bacteria. It is basically a poor mans zeovit system.
  8. melev's Avatar
    Craig, you don't have to worry about vodka for a long time, but here's some light reading for you:
    http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php