A little background...had a FOWLR tank for about 19 years. Late last year I decided to try moving to a mixed reef tank, but testing revealed that I had high nitrates and phosphates. Like >400 NO3 and >2 PO4. I eventually started dosing NOPOX, increased water changes, improved cleaning, etc. I transitioned from NOPOX to vinegar for carbon dosing due to nasty bacterial blooms. Currently my NO3 is around 25 and my PO4 is around 0.5, so things seem to be improving as far as water quality goes.
When my nutrients were sky high, I didn't really have any major issues with nuisance algae. Maybe my numbers were too high for algae. IDK. Anyway, now that my numbers are coming down, I seem to have found the threshold that cyano likes. I've been doing the vacuuming, brushing, and turkey baster thing to try to get rid of it. I also changed out my powerheads a couple of weeks ago in hopes that increasing flow would eliminate it. No help so far. In fact, now I'm starting to see cyano in places that previously did not have any. And it seems to like growing on my zoa frags and causing them to close up. So I am contemplating using Chemiclean. I know efficient skimming is important while carbon dosing, but from what I understand you stop skimming (or at least remove the cup) for a couple of days when using Chemiclean. So my question is, should I continue dosing vinegar while (if) I treat the tank with Chemiclean? Or should I suspend carbon dosing until the skimmer starts functioning properly after treatment? Is there a reason not to use Chemiclean since I have been carbon dosing for a few months or so?
When my nutrients were sky high, I didn't really have any major issues with nuisance algae. Maybe my numbers were too high for algae. IDK. Anyway, now that my numbers are coming down, I seem to have found the threshold that cyano likes. I've been doing the vacuuming, brushing, and turkey baster thing to try to get rid of it. I also changed out my powerheads a couple of weeks ago in hopes that increasing flow would eliminate it. No help so far. In fact, now I'm starting to see cyano in places that previously did not have any. And it seems to like growing on my zoa frags and causing them to close up. So I am contemplating using Chemiclean. I know efficient skimming is important while carbon dosing, but from what I understand you stop skimming (or at least remove the cup) for a couple of days when using Chemiclean. So my question is, should I continue dosing vinegar while (if) I treat the tank with Chemiclean? Or should I suspend carbon dosing until the skimmer starts functioning properly after treatment? Is there a reason not to use Chemiclean since I have been carbon dosing for a few months or so?