Reeferguy365
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Get some API Erythromycin it will be gone within a week. But definitely do a big water change after 4 to 5 days
Last Call Before Tearing Down Tank
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Holy smoke. There is your problem.Here's my fish room. I'm thinking about running the Reefer independent with the sump it came with and just use all my equipment for water changes.
The RO/Di is in the grow lights. Move that thing. Your growing bacteria in the canisters than feeding it in your sump.
islandreef
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Yep that could well be it.
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incloud design
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N03 .5 N04 .04
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incloud design
Active Member
I leave it off when filling my mixing tank but I'm sure it could be affecting it, Thanks!
One of my tanks had cyano that would never go away until I started dosing nitrates. I do not understand how other people have such lovely high NO3 in their tanks without trying, I pour NO3 into mine and barely get detectable levels.
In any case, once I got stable 2 ppm NO3 my cyano went away and hasnt come back.
In any case, once I got stable 2 ppm NO3 my cyano went away and hasnt come back.
biophilia
Well-Known Member
Whether you have cyano or some species of dinoflagellate, they seem to thrive in environments of declining nutrients that allow them to get a foothold and out-compete other algaes. Before giving up and tearing down the tank, I'd recommend trying to let your phosphate and, especially, nitrate rise a bit. Whether by simply feeding more or by manually dosing something like sodium nitrate, try to get NO3 up closer to 5-10ppm and make sure PO4 stays at least where it is now if not a little higher.
From there, you could also experiment with dosing a potentially limiting nutrient like silica (Brightwell's SpongExcel works well for this) which will allow diatoms to out-compete the cyano. The silica approach is used with a lot of success by some environmental cleanup orgs to remove cyano from eutrophic freshwater lakes. I've used it with a lot of success in my own tank and it doesn't cause any major diatom issues at a regular maintenance dose either.
The key here is out-competing with a "good" algae species and having lots of herbivores in the tank to chow down on that algae rather than working relentlessly to strip the tank of all nutrients -- which just leads to stubborn opportunists taking hold.
From there, you could also experiment with dosing a potentially limiting nutrient like silica (Brightwell's SpongExcel works well for this) which will allow diatoms to out-compete the cyano. The silica approach is used with a lot of success by some environmental cleanup orgs to remove cyano from eutrophic freshwater lakes. I've used it with a lot of success in my own tank and it doesn't cause any major diatom issues at a regular maintenance dose either.
The key here is out-competing with a "good" algae species and having lots of herbivores in the tank to chow down on that algae rather than working relentlessly to strip the tank of all nutrients -- which just leads to stubborn opportunists taking hold.
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incloud design
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I was dosing nitrates for some time (stump remover) and saw a nice improvement in my coral but then they started climbing and I panicked so brought them back down with vigorous tank maintenance. I'm starting to think you are on the right track and I keep my system way too clean. I'm a fanatic about a spotless system and I'm likely killing off beneficial bacteria by combating the slightest imperfections in my system. For some reason every time I do a water change I get diatoms and I have set up my mixing station to double filter my salt water before pumping into my sump. Like savafish said above my lights may be a problem as they are beaming right in front of my sump as you can see in the picture below. I'm thinking about taking my basement sump out of the loop and running the stock Reefer sump and use my sump downstairs and all my plumbing to do water changes. My water change system I've designed only requires flicking a switch and turning a valve to do a 150 gallon water change so I don't want to give it up completely. And ericguy1 I have about 680 GPH turnover and have increased my surface agitation in both display and sump. Today I'm going to run out to Lowe's and grab a few things to relocate my filtration out from behind the lights. I'm itching to do a water change because I can't run my skimmer after the Chemi-Clean but am going to try and hold off, add some N03 and wait it out. I also put cardboard around my tank again and will give it a couple days of no light but ambient from my room. This morning is day 4 of the Chemi-Clean and there is no Cyano present. But last time I turned the lights back on and it came back twice as bad. I really appreciate all the thoughts here and love my tanks so the last thing I want is to take them down. I'm bummed because the Frag Farmers Market is in a couple weeks and I was so excited to go and stock my tank.
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incloud design
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I just added a teaspoon of Potassium Nitrate and will continually run tests for N03 over the coming days.
Crustaceon
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I had the same freakout moment when dosing nitrates and then overly carbon dosing in response to get my numbers down. I essentially stripped my tank of nutrients and got hit hard with cyano and dinos until the nitrates crept back up above 1ppm. They very noticeably started disappearing around 2.5ppm. I also had this happen when I initially started a 20 gallon frag tank and kept it too clean, so it seems to be a very consistent cause and effect.
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incloud design
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I agree entirely.
SaracensRugby
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I had a bad outbreak of a type of cyano that chemiclean didn't do a dent on for whatever reason. I did about 5-6 days straight of 30-40% water changes. That worked for me. Best of luck, the uglies suck.
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incloud design
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I'm hoping and I've already changed 300 gallons that's why tearing it down may be the only option if I can't get through it.
SaracensRugby
Active Member
I hear you on the frustration. I am now looking at dinos all over my sandbed. Tested my nitrate, less than 1. So started dosing the LoudWolf sodium nitrate literally two days ago. If I only knew how to get my phosphates up as well. I seem to always run near zero phosphates and nitrates, without trying. And I feed frozen a couple times a day.
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incloud design
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Tell me about it. It seems a lot of people have trouble keeping nutrients down and exporting, I've always had trouble having nutrients and hardly ever have a trace of nitrates without effort.
Alfrareef
Well-Known Member
Just my 2cents...
I’ve only started 3 tanks (all with sand) and with 2 months always gone thru that phase. I don’t know if it’s the secret but on all my tanks I always have a huge cleaning crew with lots of snails, very good circulation, UV 24x7 and Ozone. By month 3 all those pest are gone.
Good luck!
I’ve only started 3 tanks (all with sand) and with 2 months always gone thru that phase. I don’t know if it’s the secret but on all my tanks I always have a huge cleaning crew with lots of snails, very good circulation, UV 24x7 and Ozone. By month 3 all those pest are gone.
Good luck!
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incloud design
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Yeah, I keep a well stocked cleanup crew. Not only do they help clean but I like having critters around the tank. I'd like to ask here as I'm wondering how much of an effect the sump has on the display. I am leaving my lights on over the sump now and added an extra Mag 9 I had around to the sump to increase flow. I also added a canister filter and have been stirring up the sump and filtering out all the gunk from the dying Cyano. Every time I clean the sponges they are like rusty water. Do you feel oxygen exchange and light in the sump will help my cause?
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