# New tank - Cyanobacteria already?!



## piffy (Oct 2, 2010)

Hi Everyone!

I just started a new 20 gallon long, with 2x24w 6500k lighting, ADA aquasoil substrate and pressurized CO2 at 2bps. This is my first attempt at a relatively high tech tank. In my 1 year old 29 gallon low tech, I had been battling slime algae for a couple months before I started dosing nitrate and it hasn’t come back since.

So you can imagine my dread when I saw this stuff in my new 20 gallon! The tank is moderately planted now, but the slime is slowly but surely making its way across everything. I see little bits of cyanobacteria on substrate, hints of it on my plants, and now it is starting to grow on my HC.

The tank isn’t cycled yet, and ammonia is around 5-10 ppm because of the aquasoil, so I suspect it might have something to do with that. I dose ¼ tsp nitrates every other day to get the level around 20 ppm, and as for CO2 my drop checker is a light green. 

Do I use antibiotics? I could spray the stuff using a syringe with maracyn…though I doubt that will permanently rid me of this terrible problem. 

This is quite frustrating! :angryfire

Thank you for reading


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## TLE041 (Jan 16, 2010)

I've used this product recently and it completely cleared my tank (new set-up as well) of cyano. It only took two doses (spaced 48 hours apart).

They claim that it's not an antibiotic, so it won't harm your beneficial bacteria or disrupt the cycling process. I had fishes and crystal shrimps in the tank and they were fine.


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## CLASSIC (Feb 25, 2009)

WAIT! Dont put any remedies in just yet. IME, the addition of co2 rapidly causes kn03 loss due to plants eating it up. I was told by craigthor of these forums to add more kno3 and it worked once in my large tank, and once in my ada mini L. Adding Potassium Nitrate kno3 should clear it up, and even if it doesnt at least you know it isnt the usual cause of bga which is low kno3 levels and you can then add better water circulation and cleaner better filter/filters. Try all of the non tank harming stuff before you add chemicals, even if the chemicals cleared it up the problem that caused the bga is still there and cyano will just happen again. Fix it! 

EDIT>>>I forgot to add, i dont know what and how much you dose, but the recommended dosage of kno3 via the EI method should be plenty, if not add a bit more.


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## guerdonian (Jan 14, 2010)

OP, i had the same problem, new tank, spots showing up. 

I dosed additional KNO3, cleaned the filter, and added a bubbler, still no change. I ended up doing a 3 day blackout, and about 2/3 the recommended dose of the maracyn. 

If you have added o2 via bubbler, increased flow, upped your KNO3, and cleaned your filter, than it just might be heavily "rooted" like my stuff. After the "nukeing" it all disappeared, and not a spot sense.

I do agree with classic, that you might want to wait till your tank is done cycling prior to the "nuking". Maybe add a power head or air stone.

more info here: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/140915-cyanobacteria-aka-blue-green-algea-aka.html


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## m00se (Jan 8, 2011)

+1 for the Maracyn treatment. BGA will still be in the tank without it. Period. This is a bacteria, and Maracyn is erythromycin. If you follow directions it will completely eradicate the BGA and although it *might* unsettle your biochemistry a bit, it won't set you back that much. One thing I would do is disinfect all of your nets and utensils that you use on this tank, and try hard not to cross contaminate those items with the other tank. You might consider doing both tanks too.


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