125 Gallon Office Tank

[Gumbies R Us]

Good luck on tackling the Cyano outbreak!

 

[bluecheese]

Good luck on tackling the Cyano outbreak!

Thanks.

This morning it looks like there is a good bit less cyano than there was yesterday. Fingers crossed.

 

[bluecheese]

Rock Day 23

Full Tank Day 23

 

[bluecheese]

Cyano is getting really bad. I'm blowing off the rocks and the sand daily, but it's always coming back. Its getting to the point where its starting to smother some corals. I really don't want to go the ChemiClean route if I can avoid it.

So I'll be using the method in this thread that was suggested to me earlier of using Coral Snow mixed with Microbacter7.

Reef2Reef

I picked up some Microbacter7 from my LFS yesterday evening. I ordered Coral Snow from BRS last week, but its taking its sweet time getting here. Should arrive today.

The plan is to blow off all the cyano I can, turn off the main pump, dose the Coral Snow/Microbacter solution, and let it flow around the tank with the powerheads for an hour or so. After an hour the main pump is turned back on to allow the filter socks and protein skimmer to do its work.

I really hope this works. If I don't see a significant reduction in the cyano after the first week, I may have to pull the trigger on the Chemi Clean. Its worked well for me in the past, but that was before I had any corals in the tank.

 

[bluecheese]

Just got the Coral Snow in. I added Microbacter7 to the Coral Snow in 250ml of tank water. I blew the cyano off the rocks and sand as much as I could. Main pump has been turned off while the powerheads move the Snow around the tank.

Fish seem to not like it too much

 

[bluecheese]

Swung by the office this morning, since I wasn't doing anything better, to syphon the cyano off the sand and blow it off the rocks.

Added 8ml of Coral Snow mixed with Microbacter7.

I probably won't be able to do anything with the tank tomorrow. But, Monday is water change day, so I'll do the same then. I will also dose the Coral Snow Microbacter7 mixture every day this week after blowing off the rocks.

Hopefully this will make a dent in the outbreak so I don't have to break out the Chemi Clean.

 

[Huskereef]

I ran into the same issue with dosing razor product to knock back bubble algae. Something in that product creates a prime environment for cyano after dosing. Must be the algicide in it that kills off much of the biome. Stay patient because I am on month 5 or 6 of still battling cyano! Coral snow temporarily knocks it back for me. PNSB didn’t help either for me.

Finally got desperate and added a fresh batch of cured Aussie live rock in hopes to reboot the biome! Just added yesterday fingers crossed.

 

[bluecheese]

I ran into the same issue with dosing razor product to knock back bubble algae. Something in that product creates a prime environment for cyano after dosing. Must be the algicide in it that kills off much of the biome. Stay patient because I am on month 5 or 6 of still battling cyano! Coral snow temporarily knocks it back for me. PNSB didn’t help either for me.

Finally got desperate and added a fresh batch of cured Aussie live rock in hopes to reboot the biome! Just added yesterday fingers crossed.

To be fair, the cyano outbreak started before I started using Razor and Clean.

Are you dosing the Coral Snow with bacteria?

 

[Huskereef]

To be fair, the cyano outbreak started before I started using Razor and Clean.

Are you dosing the Coral Snow with bacteria?

Hmm for me it started after dosing. I have been using homemade coral snow with 1/4 teaspoon of calcium carbonate mixed with a spoon of AquaForest lifesource mud. Also tried mixing the snow with Probio, and a variety of other bacteria sources, after water changes. It’s a tedious battle.

 

[bluecheese]

Cyano is a pain

I had it once before, when the tank was fairly new.

I used Chemi Clean, and it did a fantastic job.

But I only had a few fish and a single frag of zoas.

 

[Huskereef]

Cyano is a pain

I had it once before, when the tank was fairly new.

I used Chemi Clean, and it did a fantastic job.

But I only had a few fish and a single frag of zoas.

It is tempting to use, but also will kill all bacteria good and bad. I have so much money in Acropora in there growing well. I’ve seen chemiclean make acro’s RTN before… Keep updating how it goes for you.

 

[lubeck]

Hmm for me it started after dosing. I have been using homemade coral snow with 1/4 teaspoon of calcium carbonate mixed with a spoon of AquaForest lifesource mud. Also tried mixing the snow with Probio, and a variety of other bacteria sources, after water changes. It’s a tedious battle.

When I mix my snow I actually put in 2-3 tsp of calcium carbonate per 250 gal. Not sure how big your tank is.

Try mixing PNS with fresh clean sand ( let soak for a couple hours) and add throughout the tank after you have thoroughly cleaned the tank. Then add coral snow.

I’m mixing a batch of snow overnight to dose after my water change tomorrow.


Adding more live rock and live sand couldn’t hurt

 

[bluecheese]

Did the weekly water change and maintenance this morning.

Protein skimmer still going a little crazy.

Noticeably less cyano on the rocks. Sand was still cover in mats of it though.

Blew off the rocks with a turkey baster
Syphoned the substrate while doing the weekly 10% water change
Scraped the algae off the glass - there wasn't much which I believe is from the Razor and Clean regimen I did a couple of weeks ago. Though there was cyano climbing up the glass from the sand
Dosed 10ml of Coral Snow with two cap fulls of Microbacter7.
Let the Snow cycle around the tank with the main pump off for 30 minutes or so.

It took a few hours for the Snow to clear up. So, of course everyone in the office kept asking "Why does the tank look that way."

Immediately after dosing the Coral Snow

One hour later

Two Hours Later

Three Hours Later

The plan will be to dose the Coral Snow with Microbacter7 every day this week.

 

[lubeck]

Did the weekly water change and maintenance this morning.

Protein skimmer still going a little crazy.

Noticeably less cyano on the rocks. Sand was still cover in mats of it though.

Blew off the rocks with a turkey baster
Syphoned the substrate while doing the weekly 10% water change
Scraped the algae off the glass - there wasn't much which I believe is from the Razor and Clean regimen I did a couple of weeks ago. Though there was cyano climbing up the glass from the sand
Dosed 10ml of Coral Snow with two cap fulls of Microbacter7.
Let the Snow cycle around the tank with the main pump off for 30 minutes or so.

It took a few hours for the Snow to clear up. So, of course everyone in the office kept asking "Why does the tank look that way."

Immediately after dosing the Coral Snow

One hour later

Two Hours Later

Three Hours Later

The plan will be to dose the Coral Snow with Microbacter7 every day this week.

One thing that helped me when I had cyano was I siphoned the entire sand bed in socks into the sump. I went thru 4 socks and it ensured I got it all opposed to during regular water change. Never turned off my return pump. Then I did the water change.

 

[bluecheese]

One thing that helped me when I had cyano was I siphoned the entire sand bed in socks into the sump. I went thru 4 socks and it ensured I got it all opposed to during regular water change. Never turned off my return pump. Then I did the water change.

Syphoning the sand daily is the plan. I’ll blow off the rocks, syphon the sand, then add the Snow and Microbacter mixture.

 

[bluecheese]

The water is super clear today, which is one of the benefits of dosing Coral Snow.

Cyano is somewhat less on the sand.

This afternoon I'll once again blow off the rocks, syphon the sand and dose Coral Snow and the Microbacter

Once I get this outbreak under control, I plan on adding more fish and coral.

As was foretold when I first started this tank, the Chromis have been picking each other off to where the original 8 are now only 3. I may get more Chromis because I really like the look and behavior of them. I may also get some sort of Cardinal and a Royal Gramma for some LSU Purple and Gold flair in the tank.

As far as corals, I was interested in getting a Toadstool. I've read that Clownfish may host them, which I think would be an interesting touch to the tank.

I'm also thinking about getting some more Pipe Organ Coral. The fist frag I got didn't make it, but I think the placement was wrong. I may get 3-4 frags and place them in different areas of the tank to see which one takes off.

Also Clove Polyps have caught my eye. I have a rock I can place them on to separate them from the rest of the rockwork to keep them from taking over.

And lastly I was thinking about getting one or two ricordea mushrooms. I think they would look good on the slope of the big rock on the right side of the picture above.

If anyone has any suggestions for fish or coral, feel free to chime in.

 

[bluecheese]

Coral Snow Day 3

Cyano was covering some of the zoas, which I wasn't happy about.

 

[_chiefxr33f]

Man, I thought my boss was cool letting me have 6 cichlid breeding tanks at The office.

Your boss is exponentially cooler hahahahaha

 

[bluecheese]

Man, I thought my boss was cool letting me have 6 cichlid breeding tanks at The office.

Your boss is exponentially cooler hahahahaha

Shhhhh don't let him hear that. If I make him think he's a giant ****** he allows me to buy more fish stuff.

 

[_chiefxr33f]

Shhhhh don't let him hear that. If I make him think he's a giant ****** he allows me to buy more fish stuff.

Oh screw him. We hate that guy.