Cannot get rid of cyano!

[RedCoralEdmonton]

My guess would be diatoms, and that underlying problem that has yet to be figured out....

Steve

[MarkoD]

diatoms cause by silica?

how do i control it? i've changed over 150 gallons over the course of a few days and used RO/DI water

[Nate]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

diatoms cause by silica?

how do i control it? i've changed over 150 gallons over the course of a few days and used RO/DI water

Not sure if you have been doing a really good gravel wash yet but I would do that. Also, you are probably going through a mini cycle due to using an antibiotic and dips in your oxygen levels.

[gregzz4]

Originally Posted by Nate

you are probably going through a mini cycle due to using an antibiotic and dips in your oxygen levels.

This would be my thought

Are you aerating ?

[MarkoD]

I've got a sump. Orp reads between 405 and 420 like it always has.

But yeah mini cycle could be possible I suppose

[Cal_stir]

I had a small diatom bloom on my glass and substrate, nothing on my rocks. Your tank is going thru a mini cycle.
Are you dosing microbacter?
Are you dosing vodka?
I was dosing the ULN dosage of microbacter and biofuel.
I don't know what the dosage for vodka would be but there should be some info on this forum.
I did a 10% wc @ a week after to vacuum my sustrate, diatoms pretty much cleared up after that.
I also turkey basted my rocks.

[Finley]

Hey All,

I see you are on page 17 so I'm guessing you are still debating the cyano issue and since I don't have the time to read the entire post, here is what I used to do and it works without fail every time.

I would dose my tank with Erythromycin, specifically Aquarium Pharmaceuticals EM Erythromycin Fish Medicine Powder Packets.

Here a link so you can see what it looks like.

http://aquaterras.com/index.php?main...oducts_id=1006

I would buy it at Petland and dose 1 packet per 10g mixed with a little tank water then add to tank. I wouldn't dump the packets right in. TURN OFF YOUR SKIMMER! It works quickly and after a couple days it should be mostly gone. Have a filter sock or something on to catch what goes out your overflow.

I would keep my skimmer off for this time and then do a 25% water change after 2 days. Then another smaller one a few days later. Obviously when I turn my skimmer back on I would have to dial it back, but since I was doing water changes it didn't matter so much.

Once I figured this out I never worried about cyano. I think once its in your tank it never really goes away. I would probably to this once a year or so.

Now of course I'm sure the debate will start so I'll say this. It works and tank was just fine. I learned this trick from Colby at Elite before he rode off into the sunset. I haven't had to do this for awhile since I downsized my tank and have T5s instead of MH lighting so go figure.