Cyanobacteria Good or Bad?

[prow]

Originally Posted by FFrankie

Thats just the thing LYNN, I can not figure out why the cyano stays in the fuge and dosen't migrate to the display.

easy one. it stays where the flow of nutrients is most present. with surface over flow ie; surface skimming, the refugium is where all that dissolved organics from the surface ends up. the lighting also plays a part, might be more watts per gal in the refugium than the display. think of the old school algae/turf scrubbers. works the same.

[aquaticimports]

reefjitsu said Cyano is not a hybrid of plants and bacteria. They are only plant-like in the sense that they are photosynthetic. Cyano evolved hundreds of millions of years before any plants, even before algae. How could it be a hybrid?

Actualy it is a hybrid that why medications like erythromycin are effictive.If it was just a plant the med would have no effect. . I have used erythromycin to get rid of red slime for years and it works well. Cyanobacteria include unicellular, colonial, and filamentous forms. Some filamentous colonies show the ability to differentiate into three different cell types: vegetative cells are the normal, photosynthetic cells that are formed under favorable growing conditions; akinetes are the climate-resistant spores that may form when environmental conditions become harsh; and thick-walled heterocysts that contain the enzyme nitrogenase, vital for nitrogen fixation, that may also form under the appropriate environmental conditions wherever nitrogen is present.

[reefjitsu]

Erythromycin works because it is a bacteria. Cyano is hundred of millions of years older than plants. How could it be a hybrid, which is a cross between two species. The chloroplast in plants and algae are evolved from cyano. You might say cyano is like a hybrid between a plant and a bacteria because it is a bacteria with photosynthetic capabilities, but it is not a hybrid.

[sasquatch]

Chicken or egg?? Can or should it be used as an exporting media???are there benefits or consequences. Could it get out of hand?

[reefjitsu]

Well, I think it can be used, but not sure if it should be. I think it has definate potential as an export device. You could set up a fuge type tank with very low flow, and bulbs of the appropriate spectrum. Perhaps something for it to grow on, some kind of plastic mesh maybe. I'm thinking maybe a uv sterilizer and activated carbon on the return line to keep it and any byproducts out of the main tank.

[sasquatch]

Reefjitsu, thanks, except for the uv, going on line this weekend but still looking for ways to record events properly. Steve

[reefjitsu]

Not quite sure what you mean by record events properly. If it were me, I would take baseline measurements of phospates, nitrogen products, and other general parameters. Then I would start testing regularly and log the results. When you harvest the cyano, you might weigh it and log that too. Make daily observational type notes on your cyanarium and main tank too.

[sasquatch]

Yup thats the plan, wonder if skimmer production will change

[l3fty999]

Originally Posted by corallimorph

One of my systems is (inadvertently)set up like that....i siphon cyano out of the refugium about two times a week and the display just has too much flow for it to settle any were.-Dave

Same here, in my predator tank, I tried the "algae filter" system but got red cyano instead. I guess the relatively low flow on the screen allowed the cyano to grow, and therefore be easily harvested and removed from the tank. And the other algae has been slowed way down too, showing how well this works.

Aaron