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Discouraged....

kevin

kevin

NJRC Member
Rant:

I've been battling cyano & hair algae for quite a few months now. The hair algae is not terrible, but the cyano is out of control. I've been getting less & less interested with the tank & even contemplated/ing selling it.

I have ZERO TDS water.
10-15 gallon a week water changes
running gfo & carbon
within the last month or so i've been using zeobak & coral snow.
I feed once a day. I use a baster to make sure my fish get all the food. PE mysis & pellets
skimmer pulls out stuff like a champ

Before using zeobak & coral snow I ran chemiclean & it didn't do anything. Trying out zeobak & coral snow.. but doesn't seem like it's helping. I believe it is helping my rocks get coraline on them... because I've never had it before. My corals are growing great & my fish/inverts are perfectly fine. I'll do a lights out for a day and it'll all go away.. once the lights go back on .. its back within 15mins. Running radions.. so my bulbs are fine, hah

Tonight I'm trying chemiclean again.

this is my rant.. it's just frustrating to see my tank like this. looks disgusting.
 
iTzJu

iTzJu

Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
cyano is a pita man. I know your pain. my cyano was gone in a couple of weeks when I tried MB7 but if you used zeobak and coral snow, maybe it wont work. I dont know. don't get discouraged man! keep battling!
 
Brando457

Brando457

FYI when I ran the radion with the red led I got NASTY cyano, Try tweaking the red on your fixture a bit and see if that helps.
 
kschweer

kschweer

Administrator
Staff member
Officer Emeritus
Moderator
Sorry for your troubles man. If it is really out of control it might not be a bad idea to go lights out for a little while to try and get the upper hand on it. Other than that I would keep doing what you are doing, it will pay off sooner or later. Tanks can be a real PIA sometimes but when you get things under control you will feel a sense of satisfaction that you beat the cyano and you will enjoy relaxing and looking at your tank even more. Good luck man!
 
lefkonj

lefkonj

Quick question about your GFO. Does it tumble or really move? There is definitely a science to that and it should tumble not bounce around. If it bounces around the GFO needs to be replaced more often as it breaks apart faster. I was having a similar issue and found that I could not live with the 'change your GFO every 6-8 weeks' I went to 4-6 weeks. After a few months of this and a proper tumble mine got under control.
 
ThatGuy

ThatGuy

Kill the lights for a couple of days. That will help. Also since it seems to be such a huge problem you could try a tigertail cucumber. Thats what worked for me.
 
AqOb

AqOb

Gfo can be fully saturated in 24 hours. I would check phosphate with a meter. Then check effluent of the reactor. Replace when equilibrium is met. Turning the lights off will not solve the problem unless you are removing the nutrients.
 
Daniel

Daniel

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
How often are you testing your phosphate? What are PO4 at? Your GFO might be exhausted in a day or two.
Next is what salt are you using?
What food are you using? There is some out there that are high in phosphate. Trust me I know. I found out the hard way.
Last is what Protein skimmer are you using?
 
Daniel

Daniel

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Jcurry@wesketch said:
and stop feeding the coral snow.
Click to expand...
Coral Snow should help in pulling crap out of the water and let the protein skimmer to pull it out. It should help in making the water clearer. The best time to use snow is 15 min before your lights go out.
This is from Jon Warner of Warner Marine on Snow.
Enhances protein skimming efficiency, increases water clarity and limits undesirable algae including cyanobacteria by capturing yellowing compounds and neutralizing organic acids. Warner Marine Ultimate Snow can be used with any organic or inorganic water additive to transport the additive directly to the coral.
Proprietary Blend of micro-Carbonate particles.
Clarifies water as a flocculent.
Transports nutrients to corals as “coral snow”.
Neutralizes organic acids.
Reduces Cyanobacteria growth.

Hope this helps
 
kevin

kevin

NJRC Member
How often are you testing your phosphate? Not too often. I have Hanna phosphate meter, but reads zero. I have chaeto in my tank too
Next is what salt are you using? reef crystals
What food are you using? Ocean Nutrition Form 1 Marine Pellet, PE mysis
Last is what Protein skimmer are you using? Reef Octopus NWB200 8” Pinwheel In Sump Protein Skimmer

75g w/ 40g sump
 
J

Jcurry@wesketch

Daniel said:
Transports nutrients to corals as “coral snow”.
Click to expand...

What happens to this "coral snow" when a coral doesn't consume it? I assume it falls to the substrate in lower flow areas where other organisms can consume it, i.e. cyanobacteria and algae. If your having a problem with excess nutrients I would stop adding them. But that's just my opinion.
 
NikkiT

NikkiT

Kevin, your tank is still relatively young. Hair Algae and Cyano are still pretty common at this stage in a tank's life.
To combat the hair algae: remove the rocks, one by one, and pull it out. Literally. It takes a while, I know, but that is how we beat it.

To address the cyano issue, I would do two things: as Jcurry said, stop adding the coral snow. I would also give yourself a couple of days of "lights out" and consider 2-3 days without feeding the tank (provided your fish can handle that).

This too shall pass. Hang in there, Kevin!
 
AqOb

AqOb

NikkiT said:
Kevin, your tank is still relatively young. Hair Algae and Cyano are still pretty common at this stage in a tank's life.
To combat the hair algae: remove the rocks, one by one, and pull it out. Literally. It takes a while, I know, but that is how we beat it.

To address the cyano issue, I would do two things: as Jcurry said, stop adding the coral snow. I would also give yourself a couple of days of "lights out" and consider 2-3 days without feeding the tank (provided your fish can handle that).

This too shall pass. Hang in there, Kevin!
Click to expand...

I hope you're typing with a pina colada in your other hand!
 
motortrendz

motortrendz

NJRC Member
I had issues with that before, if your running LEDs and it has a red or green and you can lower the intensity, do it, second have you ever tested the water out of the RO/DI? Not for TDS but phosphates? Or silica? High levels of silica can give you ciano. Also if you are using zeo products like amino or Extra back off thar causes explosions of hair if levels get too high.(untestable, just know from trial and error) if you run T-5 bulbs and they're worn out that can cause the issue too. Keep scooping and peeling as much out as you can. Add po4 remover to RO/DI after the DI resin and they also have silica removers as well.

Just some early morning thoughts.
Mike

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
motortrendz

motortrendz

NJRC Member
Also if you are using snow/bak Combo from zeo are you using it right? Take a small cup add tank water use the snow(double recommended dose) add 3-4 drops of the bak. Let sit 2 hours. Then add. Make sure your skimmer is running wet for abt 20-45 min after dosing tank. Also you can use zeozym and bio mate in the same way. But at normal doses. Hope that helps

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
 
G

greg 45

Try using seaklear phosphate remover it is for pool
I and many others have used it , hasnt harmed anything in tank
there are thred on this in other forums poss on here also
you caan purchase at pool supply stores
 
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