Best Cyano eater?

[purplereef]

Hello all,
Just wondering if there is a good Cyanobacteria eater out there? I have heard that Blue legged hermits will eat it. What do you guy's think? Thanks, Dan.

[Rockitmakr]

Nothing.....You need to remove it by getting to the root of the problem. Phosphates, organics (fish poo), too long of photoperiod, not enough flow in your main display and a poor skimmer...Those are normally the main causes of the dreaded Cyano.....Also, do not use any meds to remove Cyano as it will eventually come back.
My 2 Centz.....

[hahnmeister]

Tuxedo Urchins will mow through that stuff like shop-vacs. Cyano is often caused by old light bulbs as well, as there are many species of cyano that can exist on IR light... so they can live in areas where other algaes cant compete. How old are your bulbs?

Poor flow can contribute to certain types, but unlike hair algae or other types, I dont think water quality plays so much a role.

[purplereef]

Thanks guys, I am on top of my water quality. I have another Tunze 6100 to put in my tank. My bulbs are 4 months old. Hopefully the extra water movement will help. Dan.

[illal]

Best Cyano eater?

a fuge no but really check yur phos thats usually the problem

[GOLDMAROON]

DAN,

I used to have a huge cyano problem. After pulling my hair out I found the best way to deal with it was to cut the lite cycle down. If your running 10 hour cycles cut it down to 8 or 6 hour cycles. I also added a seio for more flow so the tunze will definately help. Cutting the light cycle and adding the tunze will definately clear up you problem in about 2 weeks time. Also my Astrae snails would eat some of it.

[boxfishpooalot]

My personal belief is there are too many dissolved organics/pariculate organics. I cant prove this though.

[rustybucket145]

I'm with boxfishpoo on this, get your water clean by kicking up your skimming and/or water changes with RO/DI water and the problem will subside.

Also manual removal of the stuff is much like having a fuge and pruning your chaeto. When you remove the cyano, you also remove the nutrients it used to grow, this would be a form of nutrient export.

[purplereef]

Wow, thanks everyone. I hope I can help someone out like you guys helped me. Happy reefing, Dan.

[illal]

if its on your rocks try using a clean toothbrush then cyphining it out usually wurk

[mike89t]

Great thread on getting rid of cyano. Dispells all the myths about it:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=725686

As for cyano eaters, I've read that Koran Angels have a taste for the stuff:

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...cfm?pCatId=412

[HHN]

Does anyone have any experience with copepods (tisbe) eating Cyanobacteria? I recently introduced a pouch of tisbe copepods about month ago. They have taken off. I also see them swarming the cyanobacteria in my sump. cant really tell if they are eating it, as I don's see much reduction. But they definately congregate on it.

[mcgyvr]

They do seem to eat it...but you will never be able to sustain enough to be of any use against the cyano

[nycman]

i know this is an ancient thread. i have recently eradicated completely a terrible cyano outbreak. in all my research on various forums, including this one the most, it is amazing how many divergent opinions there are on the topic of getting rid of cyano. i do understand that every tank/situation is different, and with so many varying parameters it is difficult to assess what works and does not work.

For me...and it may be coincident...it was changing RO/DI filters and media, adding low micron filter pads (50,100 and 200 changed daily) and stopping GFO.

I siphoned it off sand, but this is imperfect process. It was all over my rocks and disappeared completely from them, so this makes me believe brushing and siphoning are not primary eradicators.

My phosphates are zero to 0.03ppm since stopping GFO. So there is clearly a trace of phosphate in the water column.

I went blue/royal blue exclusively on the lighting (21,000K) - no help.

I slowed feeding - no help.

I did massive regular water changes - no help.

I added chemipure, carbon, and purigen - no help.

Continued fuge and algae scrubber - no help, although i did increase flow rate thru fuge at the same time as the eradication was taking place.