Houdini Cyano algae - thoughts

[Wheelman76]

I'm dealing with cyano right now on my new sand bed , and mine does the same thing , appears in the afternoon and disappears at night, which I'm pretty sure is totally normal as my previous tank did the same thing when I had cyano. Btw there is a big difference between 0 and .25 phosphates , so you might want to bring your water in to your LFS and have it tested or pick up a Hanna checker to get a more accurate reading.

[deeznutz]

That's not dinos, you'll see bubbles forming attached to a a slimy string but the evening hours.
Chemiclean works. I hated having to use it, but I up'ed my water changes and chemi cleaned it. Never came back, it s risk you have to weigh out.

[carriej]

I don't have an LFS, I live in the middle of nowhere.. lol

Basically, the test ranges from 0 - .025 (sorry, not .25.. that was a mistake on my part) and anyone who has ever messed with a test kit knows that it can be frustrating to try and decide which one is closest.

I want to say it says 0, but then theoretically I shouldn't have this algae.

[darkreef]

My opinion ... Don't use chemiclean ... It doesn't just kill cyano but all the bacteria in your aquarium . So if your dosing carbon you'd have to start all over.

Things to help prevent and rid it.

Get your rock off the sand bed raise it up
Add few more power heads
Vacuum the sand , pick up the rock and vacuum under it .
Goop in the back of the tank makes the cyano pop up in the front of your tank
Blow off your rocks while siphoning
Religiously do water changes up it to 15%
First few days 20% every 24 hours for three days
Buy another bag of sand ... Your going to loose a lot
Use GFO , buy a reactor water changes do nothing for phosphates I find
Get sand sifting critters

I did this and beat it naturally .
I used chemiclean last year and killed my pods and almost crashed my tank and broke my skimmer . Chemiclean is hard on skimmers I went threw two.

Just passing off my experience with it.

[The Guy]

Originally Posted by darkreef

My opinion ... Don't use chemiclean ... It doesn't just kill cyano but all the bacteria in your aquarium . So if your dosing carbon you'd have to start all over.

Things to help prevent and rid it.

Get your rock off the sand bed raise it up
Add few more power heads
Vacuum the sand , pick up the rock and vacuum under it .
Goop in the back of the tank makes the cyano pop up in the front of your tank
Blow off your rocks while siphoning
Religiously do water changes up it to 15%
First few days 20% every 24 hours for three days
Buy another bag of sand ... Your going to loose a lot
Use GFO , buy a reactor water changes do nothing for phosphates I find
Get sand sifting critters

I did this and beat it naturally .
I used chemiclean last year and killed my pods and almost crashed my tank and broke my skimmer . Chemiclean is hard on skimmers I went threw two.

Just passing off my experience with it.

Ya I agree Chemiclean is a band aid solution and put my skimmer in a bad mood for days after I used it. I use GFO and now using Brightwell's MB7 which seems help keep the cyano in check, oh ya if you got pod eaters kiss them goodbye if you use chemiclean.

I just ordered a Hanna Phosphate tester, no guessing involved using them according to reef-pilot another member.

[Cal_stir]

I've used chemiclean and never had any of those issues, I have 2 pod eaters and lots of pods, you have to turn your skimmer off for a few days and use air stones for O2, Dinos are more photosynthetic than cyano, thats why they appear and disappear with the light, if it's dinos the bubbles and strings will appear eventually, cyano mats hold nutrients and the cyano feeds itself and is less reliant on light.
You have dinos IMO, a tougher fight but winnable, it is important to ID exactly what you have.