Does the dark kill cyano?

What I did which was a pain, but was effective was to; siphon the cyanobacteria out about every other day which led to me having having to do a small water change to replace that water, reduced about 1 hour of lighting and feeding. I took about 2 - 2 1/2 weeks but it was effective.

 

People are forever trying to find something to eat it, wipe it out with no lights, red slime remover, increase flow...I've tried them all. You need to get the water quality under control or it will just come back with all of the above.. and it's better for the fish.
Get some sort of nutrient export system going like a refugium.
I set up an algae scrubber and my cyano was gone for good in 2 weeks. I would say you could almost just put a light in the sump and it would leave the display. <--now don't quote me on this but I would try it... just a normal CFL bulb 3-6K spectrum.

Also pods don't eat cyano.

 

i agree completly,but like KCBRAD,my water is testing near perfect,do water changes,nitrates barely detctable,0 nitrites,0 ammonia,ph 8.1 to 8.2,sg at 1.023 to 1.024,temp 78-81,i do not test for phosphates but am running fluval phos remover in my hob aquaclear filter,could it just be part of the new tank syndrome?My reef has been going for nearly 8 months,how ever i did change tanks around 3 months ago,and had a small cycle after i moved everything,but was back in check within a few days,and has maintained ever since.I also change atleast 10% to 20% of the water every 2 weeks(now with ro water,started originally with tap)

 

I have had a refugium with a huge ball of chaeto from the start up of my new tank, and I am having issues with cyano.

I got a CUC from reefcleaners to add to my crew from my 90g. I added a good amount of dwarf ceriths, several chitons, nerites, planaxis, and some other stuff and added 2 more macroalgae, and a nice big mangrove to the fuge. I have not seen any dent form the new or old CUC to eat this cyano. I have 2 bristletooth tangs and I have heard those will eat cyano, but neither my kole or blue eye will eat that stuff.Phosphates, nitrites, nitrates, and all that are all in check at zero, with Ca and alk at over 400 and dkh of 10.

I added flow right at the area, suck up the synao ina turkey baster, all to no avail. I think in reality, this is a time will fix situation, but I will add chemi clean and do a bigger water change even though I know the nutrients are really not the issue.

 

i heard cyano and problem algea doesn't like high alk around 12-14 dKH, ssshhhh, don't tell anyone.

 

Let me know how the chemi clean works. I've thought about using that but I'm kinda nervous about it.

Hope it works for you. Good luck!!

 

you mentioned in a n earlier post your phosphates were testing low, this makes sense because the phosphates are locked up in the cyano,cyano isnt really an algae its a bacteria and the dark yucky stuff you're seeing is actually the dead cells,you seem to be doing all the right things but i would caution you not to start dosing stuff yet, its totally normal to get a cyano bloom in a newer tank and overtime it will go away if you're doing things properly, just stick with what you are doing and be patient and if you aren't already? start removing as much of it as you can that will remove the phosphate and or silcates that are being locked up in the dead cells, what are you using for a substrate?

 

I used fluval clearmax-just added it this past week,supposed to remove phosphates and nitrates,and i have seen no ill effects,but on the other hand i haven't seen any improvements. Maybe it will just take some time.I'm doing the lights out this weekend,so we'll see if that helps(also did another 15% water change.

 

I'm going to just keep doing what I'm doing. I'm not ready to dose with chemicals yet because it seems to be getting better, and it's definitely not spreading. It's been the same amount for about a month.

I started using Purigen filter media and maybe that's helped. I don't know if it's that, or if it's just starting to clear up on it's own. But about 5 days after I started using the Purigen I noticed less cyano. But the lights have also been off a lot, so that could be it too.

My substrate is a mixture of 2/3 live sand and 1/3 sand. Does the substrate make a difference with cyano?

 

your lights could be the cause of the cyano period actually, when bulbs get weak and the spectrum is off all kinds of weird stuff starts growing, might just be a sign that it is time for new bulbs or ballasts