Ok Chemiclean…you win. :(

MichaelReefer · Nov 8, 2021

HeyLookItsCaps said:
Worked great for me, 1 initial dose, 1 secondary clean up dose, and have been clear of it since April

Same. I only use it if I absolutely have to.

LiveFreeAndReef · Nov 8, 2021

Started getting a cyano outbreak about a month ago, which wasn't really a bad thing as I think it helped out-compete the dinos I was dealing with recently. Did a small water change on the tank to siphon out the cyano, grew back with 2 days of sucking it all out. Decided to take the "meh I guess I'll just leave it be, at least it's not dinos" route and the cyano slowly receded and is virtually gone at this point. Only thing I've been doing is dosing live phyto every day. I'm not a fan of chemical treatments as I feel they're not really fixing the issues that caused the algae in the first place, I'd rather just sit back and let nature take care of itself. The only time I intervene is if the issue is causing coral/fish stress or death. If everyone in the tank is happy and healthy, I can deal with some red stuff on my substrate!

JoshH · Nov 8, 2021

I have used it twice, I left my skimmer running in both instances and just draining back into the sump. I also erred on the side of slightly less than the reccomended dose as it's always hard to guess exactly how much water is in your system. Worked great, No issues whatsoever, I also waited longer on the WC and didn't change quite as much.

MONTANTK · Nov 8, 2021

Miami Reef said:
My main concern is having my fish die. That’s the purpose of this thread. Because when I buy the product I want to double check everything here before I dose.

I plan to turn off skimmer and run my 1 micron filter socks. I also plan on pointing all my powerheads to the surface and opening the windows of my home.

I’ve used chemiclean quite a few times and never lost any fish. You can sim your power heads up towards the water surface and I think leaving the skimmer on and taking the cup off will work too. It’s definitely a safe product!

hhaase · Nov 8, 2021

I'm the same, I HATE adding chemicals, but I also couldn't get hold of my Cyano outbreak. I was manually pulling out a good pile of it every week and all my parameters were right where they should be. When it started smothering corals I knew I had to act. I eventually broke down and added the Chemiclean. 24 hours later I was starting to see the effects, and 72 hours later almost all the cyano was gone. I then did a big series of water changes at the 4-day mark and started running carbon again. I didn't have any negative effects on my livestock, though my fish list is pretty small for the size of the tank.

Like everybody else said, do NOT turn your skimmer off, you need every bit of aeration you can get as chemiclean will deplete oxygen in the water. If you've got a lot of fish I'd recommend supplemental air stones. Your skimmer is also going to go utterly nuts and will be overflowing almost instantly.

After the Cyano disappeared, I did have a phase of diatoms that came and went, so don't be surprised if something else comes in afterwards.

Aqua Man · Nov 8, 2021

nkyreef said:
I left my skimmer on and removed the cup allowing it to overflow. It allowed continued aeration while dosing.

Tamberav said:
Instead of turning the skimmer off... remove the cup and let it overflow.

@Miami Reef Good advice, more surface agitation the better. I’ve only used it once, a long time ago. No issues with deaths. The cyano did come back anyway though.
Cyano is photosynthetic, so if I get a bad outbreak I turn lights down/out for a few days. Then large water change to siphon the dead cyano out.

smartin · Nov 8, 2021

My personal experience was with a heavily neglected sumpless 75G. The tank had been up since 07 and pretty much left to it's own devices since 2013 or so. I started at the beginning of August to try to turn it back around. By the end of October, I was losing ground with the cyano, it was everywhere and I just couldnt take it anymore.

I followed the recommendations on the bottle. I didnt have a skimmer so I added an air stone. At 24 hours after the does, my water was turning pink. At 36 hours, it looked like someone broke open a pink highlighter in the tank. All the inhabitants looked fine. I decided to test ammonia for some reason and it was pretty high. This was on an API test so I don"t know how accurate it was. I did a 50% water change which brought the ammonia down a bit. I did another 50% 24 hours later. The water at that point was no longer pink and ammonia was .25. I didnt lose any inhabitants and havent seen cyano in about a 2 weeks. My tank looks better now than it has in years. Attached is what the water looked like and a pic from a couple of days ago.

Not an IT guy · Nov 8, 2021

Reading all these yes for chemi and no for chemi is making my head spin. Miami reef will you hold me hand ?? Lol jk. Just so afraid of chemical stuff

Miami Reef · Nov 8, 2021

Not an IT guy said:
Reading all these yes for chemi and no for chemi is making my head spin. Miami reef will you hold me hand ?? Lol jk. Just so afraid of chemical stuff

Haha. Same!

I’m holding off on that chemical. I actually see coralline algae starting to grow! I think the cyano is just about ready to leave on its own!

If you don’t want to use chemicals, may I suggest trying your best to remove organics? Using carbon, h202 (breaks down organics), and even dosing CACO3 powder (binds to organics).

I obviously still have cyano, but I’ve been doing all the above. It’s a bit known that cyano lives of organics (and other things). I read Randy post this one time.

I feel like I’m contradicting everything I wrote in the original post. I’m sure Chemiclean works great. I’m just afraid to use it.

LiveFreeAndReef · Nov 8, 2021

Not an IT guy said:
Reading all these yes for chemi and no for chemi is making my head spin. Miami reef will you hold me hand ?? Lol jk. Just so afraid of chemical stuff

Well, the good new is you don't have to use it lol If you're not sure about using it then don't, people kept beautiful reefs before Chemiclean and will keep beautiful reefs after Chemiclean is old news

chema · Nov 8, 2021

Miami Reef said:
And to anyone that suggests H202 for cyano…I tried it for a few days (slightly overdosed 2 times a day) with following @twilliard guide.

Then I did the cyano vs spirulina test and my results shows I have spirulina. Twilliard did testing and found that h202 kills cyano and Chemiclean kills Spirulina.

FYI: both spirulina and cyano and bacterias in the same family, but they respond to complete different treatments.

For taxonomy purpose: cyanobacteria is a phylum of bacteria which comprises around 150 genera. Spirulina is one of those genera

mackbamf · Nov 8, 2021

I have used it on two different occasions on two separate tanks, each fully stocked tank and had no problems at all. The main complaint was that my skimmer went crazy for about a week. I just removed the cup and allowed it to bubble. I used almost the full but slightly under the recommended dosage each time. On one of them I didn't even follow up with the recommended water change to be honest. I understand the hesitancy but just sharing my success. It successfully wiped out the cyano in both cases with one dose.

Tamberav · Nov 8, 2021

Miami Reef said:
Haha. Same!

I’m holding off on that chemical. I actually see coralline algae starting to grow! I think the cyano is just about ready to leave on its own!

If you don’t want to use chemicals, may I suggest trying your best to remove organics? Using carbon, h202 (breaks down organics), and even dosing CACO3 powder (binds to organics).

I obviously still have cyano, but I’ve been doing all the above. It’s a bit known that cyano lives of organics (and other things). I read Randy post this one time.

I feel like I’m contradicting everything I wrote in the original post. I’m sure Chemiclean works great. I’m just afraid to use it.

There are some forms of Cyanobacteria that produce palytoxin and this may be why some seem to have fish wipeouts when killing the cyano even though they have good surface agitation. Cyano dies… if enough bound toxins get released then fish die.

Miami Reef · Nov 8, 2021

Tamberav said:
There are some forms of Cyanobacteria that produce palytoxin and this may be why some seem to have fish wipeouts when killing the cyano even though they have good surface agitation. Cyano dies… if enough bound toxins get released then fish die.

Have you ever used Chemiclean? Would you personally recommend this route if my tank was yours?

SDK · Nov 8, 2021

I used Chemi clean successfully with the same caveats as others. Started with healthy fish, kept skimmer running, dosed carefully, etc...

My biggest worry would by YOU lol. You are so wound up and nervous about this that I'm afraid you are going to keel over from stress. If you do dose Chemiclean, you will need to check in hourly here so we don't feel the need to send the paramedics to your house...

Miami Reef · Nov 8, 2021

SDK said:
I used Chemi clean successfully with the same caveats as others. Started with healthy fish, kept skimmer running, dosed carefully, etc...

My biggest worry would by YOU lol. You are so wound up and nervous about this that I'm afraid you are going to keel over from stress. If you do dose Chemiclean, you will need to check in hourly here so we don't feel the need to send the paramedics to your house...

Haha. I’m sorry!! I’m a worrier!! I love my fishies.