Extreme Water Clarity and Cyano Eradication, Made Easy!

[Karliefish]

Can anyone recommend an alternative brand of Calcium Carbonate than the one the OP recommended? Thank you!

This is the one I have used from Amazon that seems to do the job well….

 

[Karliefish]

I've wondered about this question as well, but do not have any experience or information to share.

@Paul B still uses a diatom filter on his reef, if I am not mistaken.

Maybe a good option is to control the use of a diatom filter with a specific schedule or as-needed basis as a nutrient remover? I'm not sure how one would balance the removal precisely without removing too much, but I assume it would follow a similar procedure as other forms of dosing.

Anyone know where you can buy a diatom filter. Thought the original company wen out of business? Sure wish i had hung on to mine LOL

 

[Karliefish]

Oh, it’ll take some time before all the cyano is gone. We’re talking 2-4 weeks or longer depending on the severity of the cyano outbreak. The water clarity though is same day.

Over time, with weekly use you should not have cyano popping up anymore. That is, provided you’re staying on top of the rest of your maintenance. You will also need to siphon out as much cyano as possible before dosing this solution. The key here is that we want the solution to coat as much of the available surfaces as possible, giving no room for the cyano to take hold.

SunnyX
Your council is so appreciated. I have a 365G tank and have Cyno pop-uo about every 4-5 months and so Im going to go all in with your formula here. BTW….I do also agree that a good maintenance regime is also needed.

 

[Karliefish]

Does anyone here have leather corals and use this? I did my first dose yesterday and the water looks great but my leathers are slightly peeved. Still opened with polyp extension but only about 1/2 the size of yesterday. Actually better for me since they were getting too big just wondering if permanent or temporary?

Yes I have a couple and they haven’t responded negatively. Here is a pic of one a couple hours after doing CS.

 

[Karliefish]

SunnyX,

I began your coral snow dosing method and it has changed my life...at least my reefing life. I've been following your instructions for coral snow dosing with Microbacter 7, and after nearly 3 years of battling what appeared to be some sort of film algae, my tank has never looked better. I began dosing once a day for 2 weeks and have been amazed at the results. I will continue to dose the coral snow/Microbacter 7 slowly reducing the dosing frequency from every day to once weekly. The long term effectiveness in combating my problem remains to be seen, but for the first time, I feel like I'm getting ahead of this. I included a few pictures taken today. Thank you from a very grateful reefer for sharing your information!

For anyone interested in the evolution of this problem, I've included a brief summary.

My current SPS dominant system is a 180 gallon tank with an estimated total volume of 200 gallons and is 3 1/2 years old. A few months after cycling, I encountered what appeared to be classic-looking cyano. Eventually the cyano dissipated but shortly after, the tank started getting a film on the rocks, sand, and glass that was reddish brown in color. My first thought was diatoms so I tested for silica and my water tested 0. I use a Spectrapure RO/DI and change filter cartridges faithfully using only 0 TDS water. Over the three years I tried double dosing Chemiclean, raising nutrients, lowering nutrients, black-out periods (the film algae or whatever it was, is definitely photosynthetic), Vibrant, Microbacter 7, Microbacter Clean, hydrogen peroxide, daily glass cleaning and sand vacuuming. Some of these methods knocked the problem back for a short time, but none of them eliminated it. It did not appear as though the nuisance algae adversely affected any corals or fish. It did however, affect the tank's appearance and greatly increased my maintenance work load to keep it from getting out of hand. I'm interested to hear from anyone who may have had a similar experience.

You have done an outstanding job in describing the story of my 365G DT

 

[Karliefish]

New video today. This was created a couple hours after a Coral Snow treatment.

Crystal clear!

Wow - I’m bookmarking this video as my site to go to for inspiration! Thank you for sharing the video and some of your formulas for success!

 

[Karliefish]

Anyone using this daily?

Im currently running a test of daily dosing mixed with a small amount of PNS Probio (bacteria). This is after using a turkey baster on the rockwork.

Looking very promising so far in regards to cyano eradication. Nice water clarity and corals looking happy.

How Long have you been using the PNS Probio And what is your dosing ratio with coral snow?

 

[Karliefish]

Any reason not to mix the coral snow with the microbactor 7 and put it in a dosing container for auto dosing? I’ve been doing this dosing for the past two months and it’s amazing. Just would like to automate it.

Are you dosing 7X24 or only at night….seems that you would constantly have a milky look to your tank if dosing 7x24?

 

[ingchr1]

Anyone know where you can buy a diatom filter. Thought the original company wen out of business? Sure wish i had hung on to mine LOL

This filter can be charged with DE:

Marineland Polishing Filer

 

[Yehuda Dana]

@SunnyX - how often you dose this solution to keep the water such clear, please?

 

[spsick]

@SunnyX - how often you dose this solution to keep the water such clear, please?

He said after his weekly water change

 

[2Sunny]

I'm wondering how many long time reefers there are following this thread that could comment on it's impact on filter feeders. On the one hand I do find Sunny's water clarity and resulting photos to be most enviable, I also know that for myself I find coralline covered rock one of my favorite indications that I have developed a "natural" environment as close as can be expected in an aquarium. I take particular pride in the variety of sponges, copepods, and tube worms and other various critters that I did not intentionally put into my reef, but that are thriving.

Are there any longterm users of this method that have both coralline algae and numerous filter feeders?

Thanks!

 

[Karliefish]

This filter can be charged with DE:

Marineland Polishing Filer

Thank you. How large of a tank does this support?

 

[Broadfield]

Does anyone know if the MB7 can be mixed in at the time of making the large batch of snow?

 

[killer2001]

Does anyone know if the MB7 can be mixed in at the time of making the large batch of snow?

Now there's a name I haven't seen in awhile. I remember back in the day on Zilvia.net, haha. Still have any s-chassis in the garage?

 

[korallen-koch]

If you are using this with a bacterial solution to fight cyanos wouldn't it be better to mix the Calcium Powder with Aquarium water instead of RO/DI because of the huge difference in salinity?

 

[HomebroodExotics]

Does anyone know if the MB7 can be mixed in at the time of making the large batch of snow?

That would probably not be a good idea and would likely lead to a bacterial soup that may not be desirable.

 

[HomebroodExotics]

If you are using this with a bacterial solution to fight cyanos wouldn't it be better to mix the Calcium Powder with Aquarium water instead of RO/DI because of the huge difference in salinity?

I just suck up some tank water with a turkey baster to put in a shot glass and mix in the calcium. Easy day.

 

[ReefguyEric]

What are the differences between coral snow and microbacter clean or do they do the same thing.

 

[SunnyX]

I'm wondering how many long time reefers there are following this thread that could comment on it's impact on filter feeders. On the one hand I do find Sunny's water clarity and resulting photos to be most enviable, I also know that for myself I find coralline covered rock one of my favorite indications that I have developed a "natural" environment as close as can be expected in an aquarium. I take particular pride in the variety of sponges, copepods, and tube worms and other various critters that I did not intentionally put into my reef, but that are thriving.

Are there any longterm users of this method that have both coralline algae and numerous filter feeders?

Thanks!

Hello,

Mixing the coral snow with a coral food will in fact aid in feeding the filter feeders. Coral snow can do quite a number of things, from cleaning up the water and aid in the transport of nutrients; be it out of the system or into the corals themselves.

I will post a link here in a few minutes to a quick video I made showing my weekly process.

-Sonny