lba4590
Active Member
I’m currently battling crysophytes and doing a lot of research, getting a lot of mixed information because it doesn’t seem this is a very common problem. I’d really like to avoid a blackout if at all possible. Would love to hear from people who have beat this nasty stuff.
Some background: 120g tank, about 6 months old, 55g sump (maybe 30g of water), chaeto and skimmer in sump and biomedia. Nitrates are around 0, maybe slightly higher (using Red Sea and there might be a slightly pink tinge.. but not really), and phosphates are 0.13ppm (just tested).
Currently, I’m scrubbing the rocks daily and letting a filter sock catch it (at night). Changing the filter sock every 2 days, pretty much until they clog up. Some parts of the rock I can’t really reach. Don’t know if dosing nitrate would help? Tried leaving my skimmer off for a few days and removing some chaeto, no change in nitrates. My refugium has also recently starting growing cyano in it so I added a small power head which I think has helped, but I do have a little cyano in dead spots in the DT. I’ve also been dosing Microbactor 7 and clean, and added some more pods. I haven’t done a water change in probably 4 months because my nitrates have always been sooo low. Seems crazy to me but my fish and corals seem happy. I’m afraid of adding more silicates to the water with a water change, was hoping the chryophytes would use it all up and start to go away but apparently that is not the case. I really want to avoid doing a blackout because it just seems so drastic and I don’t want to stress my fish/corals.
Please help!
Some background: 120g tank, about 6 months old, 55g sump (maybe 30g of water), chaeto and skimmer in sump and biomedia. Nitrates are around 0, maybe slightly higher (using Red Sea and there might be a slightly pink tinge.. but not really), and phosphates are 0.13ppm (just tested).
Currently, I’m scrubbing the rocks daily and letting a filter sock catch it (at night). Changing the filter sock every 2 days, pretty much until they clog up. Some parts of the rock I can’t really reach. Don’t know if dosing nitrate would help? Tried leaving my skimmer off for a few days and removing some chaeto, no change in nitrates. My refugium has also recently starting growing cyano in it so I added a small power head which I think has helped, but I do have a little cyano in dead spots in the DT. I’ve also been dosing Microbactor 7 and clean, and added some more pods. I haven’t done a water change in probably 4 months because my nitrates have always been sooo low. Seems crazy to me but my fish and corals seem happy. I’m afraid of adding more silicates to the water with a water change, was hoping the chryophytes would use it all up and start to go away but apparently that is not the case. I really want to avoid doing a blackout because it just seems so drastic and I don’t want to stress my fish/corals.
Please help!
