Cyano Advice

Does anyone have any advice on cyano? I've tried heavy water changes every week to no avail. Luckily, it's just effecting the sand and coral at this point. I'm replacing my UV bulb this week and hoping this will help.

The cyano showed up after my green hair algae problem went away, so it's obviously filling the nutrient absorption role. My nitrates have been in 5 range, alk 8.5-9, and phosphates .01 to .05.

I would prefer to avoid a chemiclean treatment, but open to it if it's the only option.

Up flow.

Manual removal and follow up with DIY coral snow. You can also add a little microbacter7 to the coral snow.
Here's the recipe.

i would consider an ICP test and truly see what the problem maybe. I have had great success with the Fauna Marin Red X. it was a slow process. It was a 10 day treatment and the following month it looked amazing and it reset it good. interesting thing about the Fauna Red X it does not have true medications and it is more an herbalisitic approach.

There are a few things you can do. None of them matter until you fix your nutrient issue. Until then the cyano will just be replaced with something else if you eradicate it. It is good to get things when they are small.

You can not water change your way out of cyano. It can double itself every 20 minutes. The only way to beat it with water changes would be 50% water changes every 19 minutes. It's an insanely resistant organism. It's survived for hundreds millions of years, and large extinction events. Don't be to discouraged it's surviving in your tank.

Personally, with cyano I always seem to find it in lower flow tanks. Not because cyano can't hold on in higher flow, but because lower flow tanks have more dead spots so food/waste can rot. If you increase the flow, and randomize it so there are no dead spots, this really helps with removing the nutrients before the cyano or algaes can become a problem.

The second very common thing is if you used dry dead rock for it to be leaching nutrients and phosphates back into the water. If this is the case I find that higher flow, in combination with more aggressive skimming, daily filter sock changes, and a daily low dose of lathium chloride works well. (two little fishies lathium chloride is great and this is the intended purpose)

If you have resolved the water movement issue, your nutrient issue is solved, it is time to attack the cyano. If you have a small tank and are not keeping acro's then I'd try a 50% or so water change, turn the tank lights off for a full 72 hours, and wrap the tank in a sheet or blanket so it gets NO light. The cyano will die. If you wrap it for 71 hours, or if you turn the lights on to feed, then the strongest cyano cells will live, and you will make your problem worse. 72 hours really is a magic number. Do another large water change after the 72 hours.

This can be problematic if you are keeping SPS and your pH drops down.

As a general note, cyano does not care what your nutrient levels are, it will exist at all levels. It's about out competing it with other life forms/bacteria. If it has a food source, it will thrive. I've been snorkeling on reefs where it's pristine and right next to a huge colony of acropora is a patch of algae and cyano. It's true that low flow areas or where stuff builds up will lead to possible cyano growth, but I have a pretty high flow system and yet cyano will come and go.
I usually remove cyano by siphoning it into a filter sock in my sump. Then I blast the rocks and sand with a turkey baster, then dose the tank with DIY coral snow. I usually set my skimmer for a wet skim and use Sera wool in my sump to catch all the crap (as I don't use filter socks). The next morning I usually follow up with a dose of PNS Probio (about 70% of the recommended dose). It will take a few times with this method before I see improvements, but I don't use chemicals or alter the parameters this way.
If you ask someone who's experiencing cyano what their nutrient levels are, you'll get a different answer for each one. Cyano is a bacteria, it doesn't care about nutrients. The truth is, no one really knows what the actual cause of cyano is, but organics, trace elements (the lack of) play a role in its existence.

Cyano is an indication that something is out of balance. It’s a balancer. Find out what’s out of balance and it will go away


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Just use red slime remover. I have never even changed water after RSR use.

I’ve used Chemiclean to rid of my cyano before and it worked for me.

Meds definitely work however sometimes they lead to other imbalances which sometimes takes you down rabbit holes you don’t want to go down


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