Things that eat cyanobacteria

[dgin]

I've got some cyano and wanted to get some critters that would eat it. I'm doing other things to combat it as well but wanted some additional help. I've heard that cerith snails and scarlet reef hermits would eat the stuff. Anyone have experience with these to confirm this.

Also, when I look for scarlet reef hermits, I'm getting them confused with red legged hermits which are much cheaper. What is the difference between them?

Is there anything else that eats cyano?

 

[toddius]

I've been looking at eTropicals "build your own" packages to deal with my own cyano problem, and they claim that Fighting Conchs, cerinth snails, scarlet hermits, and dwarf zebra hermits will eat it.

Now, I haven't ordered any of those yet, because I already have a half dozen of eTropicals scarlet reef hermits in my tank, and I've never seen them eat cyano.

 

[dgin]

toddius,
I've got a couple of fighting conchs myself and they don't seem to do much, if any, to the cyano.

 

[ChrisRD]

I've had Baja/Mexican Red Leg Hermits (Clibinarius digueti) and Cerith Snails (Cerithium stercusmuscarum) that would eat it.

How's your circulation and nutrient export in your system?

 

[dgin]

I export caulerpa every few weeks, do a 10% water change every 3 weeks, and skim 24/7.

I've got about 10x circulation right now but may add another powerhead to give it a 2x boost.

 

[ChrisRD]

Can you describe your system a bit more? What skimmer are you using. Do you use RO/DI for top-off and water changes?

 

[dgin]

Wolfman,
Its a 125 tank with 7 fish, 2 shrimp, 2 crabs, 6 hermit crabs, 30 strombus snails, 2 turbo snails, 2 tiger trochus snails, 12 nassarius snails, serpent star, soft corals and LPS.

I use an AquaC EV-120 skimmer and use RO water for top off and water changes.

 

[Anonymous]

I have a fighting conch in my 55 and he eats cyano, diatoms, or anything else that fits in his mouth.I had a cyano outbreak a while back and he devoured it all over a few days.

 

[dvmsn]

Have you considered using saltwater maracin to eliminate the problem? I have done it several times and have never had a bad result. You will still need to correct the core problem, but it will help to stem the tide.

 

[cvye]

Boyd's Chemi-Clean

 

[ChrisRD]

Dgin:

If it were me, I'd boost circulation, run carbon/poly-filter for a couple of weeks and lighten-up on the feedings for a while. IME cyano has reached problem levels in nutrient rich, low circulation tanks.

BTW, are you getting good flow around your rockwork? If enough gunk accumulates in the nooks and crannies, that's when I've had cyano problems in the past (a spraybar in or behind the rockwork can help with that). What substrate are you using (hopefully not crushed coral)? Do you have a refugium (great way to suck-up extra nutrients)?

A combination of some (or all) of these things (including the snails/crabs) is how I have beat cyano problems in the past.