Cyano suggestions

[kien]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

I have used ChemiClean in the past, and it does work. Be sure to follow instructions exactly, though.

However, once it is gone, MB7 is a great preventative. It seeds your tank with bacteria that out competes cyano. Since I have been using MB7 with my bio pellets, never had any further cyano problems.

Ya, cyano is a tough bugger! Once it gets a foot hold it is a very tough uphill battle. Cyano when it gets a foot hold can out compete other bacteria and will become a nutrient sink. You can test all the nitrates and phosphates all you want but the cyano is probably sucking it all up!

I had a recent outbreak and although manual removal and tinkering with my flow and biopellets helped to keep it at bay I still had a couple of very stubborn patches that just kept coming back. I finally decided to give Chemiclean a shot and it was gone within 48 hours. Once knocked back considerably it then becomes a struggle for cyano to get back in if you keep up with maintenance and carbon dosing. At least that's been my experience.

The one thing I did differently from the instructions though was to keep my skimmer on, but I took the skimmer cup off to allow it to overflow into the sump. The instructions tell you to turn the skimmer off and to place an air stone in your tank/sump. I didn't want to do that so I just let my skimmer overflow for two days. After 48 hours I put in some new carbon and did a 20% water change, and another 20% water change the the following days for 3 days.

On Day 4 my skimmer was back to normal and my tank was spotless once again.