Tropical Fish Forums

[FloridaBoy]

From my archives...

To my knowledge, snails won't eat cyano, crabs are not a silver bullet either. This material can and should be removed with elbow grease and a siphon, it's not that hard to do, and may be required until your tank cycles, stabilizes and the system come into balance. A small diameter rigid tube attached to a siphon hose works very well. Make sure you are REMOVING the material not just redistributing and spreading it throughout the tank.

These silicate-based blooms usually grow out and crash in a few weeks. Water changes can help, however make sure you're not adding dissolved organic compounds (DOC's) with these water changes, many cities have surprisingly high levels of nitrates and phosphates (cyano food) in the tap water. RO water helps, but some RO units will only remove 80 or 90 percent of the nitrates, please research.
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Keepin' marines happy for 25 years

[MarkLehr]

I have found careful monitoring of alkalinity levels, along with increased water flow, to be very effective. At the first sign of a cyno outbreak I would increase alkalinity to 12 to 14 dkh, and ensure that you have adequate water flow to eliminate pockets of detritus that tend to accumulate over time.

By the way, don't forget about the filter pads! This is one place that you can guarantee detritus accumulation to occur. If you are using filter pads, rinse them daily! Or better yet, remove them completely.