How to eradicate cyanobacteria in a reef tank?

You don't mention if you have a protein skimmer. I know they can cause some issues with some of the nutrients that corals need, but not having one leads to a build up of organic matter in the water, which leads to the slime.

Phosphate absorbing media pads work. And reducing phosphates is a good thing.

Increased water circulation helps. It doesn't grow well in higher current areas and it needs CO2. Increasing the circulation will help on two fronts.

Reduce your photoperiod, but don't eliminate it. At least until the bacteria is under control.

Some snails and other inverts will eat it. Tiger sand conch is a good sand sifter. You'll want some that are able to move across harder surfaces as well. Every salt water tank needs a good clean up crew.

Most importantly, don't ever feed your fish. Cut back feedings until it's under control and go from there,

Cyanobacteria Reef Tank

Cyanobacteria Reef

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RE:

How to eradicate cyanobacteria in a reef tank?

I can't seem to stay ahead of the blooming cyanobacteria in my reef tank.

I've tried water changes, and physically removing it by scrubbing/siphoning.

Because I have a lot of soft corals, etc, I can't deprive the tank of a photosynthesis source, as some websites suggest.

And...

Large water changes, and leave your lights on for shorter lenghts of time, my 1 and a half year old reef tank still gets the odd cyano, I get rid of it by only turning on my lights for 5 hours at a time, the soft corals suvived, hard corals suffered a bit. If you have a sump and you're worried, put your corals in there assuming you have a strong light.

Another thing Idid was I removed the sites where cyano was very bad while the lights were off during the middle of the night, the cyano was less likely to grow back if i removed it like that.

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Increasing flow in your tank might help cure the problem. Getting some mexican turbo snails will cure the symptom. Zebra claw hermits are also said to eat it.