The 125 process has begun... Pictures!

[melev]

Another option is to turn off the lights for "Three Days of Darkness". Keep the skimmer running, and turn on a light in the room when you want to feed your fish. The corals (softies and LPS) will be fine, but if you have SPS they may teeter on the brink of dying. I got away with it with my reef, losing only two or three 1" frags after doing so. My tank was crystal clear and my skimmer was pulling out a massive amount of skimmate on the third day, and the cyano was gone.

Clams, fish, anemones - everything was fine. No more cyano. I'm tempted to do it again just to see what happens.

[Micki]

Originally posted by melev

You definitely want to do a large water change before starting up the skimmer. Adjust the skimmer to its lowest setting, and be prepared to throw out a lot of watery skimmate. I just replace it with more saltwater as needed during the next 6 to 9 hours. On my system, that means about 12g of new saltwater to replace what is being 'wasted'.

Ok, my bad... In the past I was under the impression you turn the skimmer back on and then do a water change. My skimmer would go so crazy that I ended shutting it off and doing the large water change anyway. DUH!

[Micki]

Originally posted by melev
Another option is to turn off the lights for "Three Days of Darkness". Keep the skimmer running, and turn on a light in the room when you want to feed your fish. The corals (softies and LPS) will be fine, but if you have SPS they may teeter on the brink of dying. I got away with it with my reef, losing only two or three 1" frags after doing so. My tank was crystal clear and my skimmer was pulling out a massive amount of skimmate on the third day, and the cyano was gone.

Clams, fish, anemones - everything was fine. No more cyano. I'm tempted to do it again just to see what happens.

I might consider this option. Do I need to cover the tank with something to keep it completely dark? There is a window in that room and it would get some sun light.

[Micki]

Originally posted by gkarshens

Micki I think you will probably be safe in dosing your tank. However, I think you should realize that there is a risk even if it is very small. I may have been only 1 in 30,000 (not a number I made up by the way) but it still happened. I have always been of the opinion don't add anything to your tank you can't test for. The one time I went against that I got burned. Just my .02. I hope you have success getting rid of it no matter what course you choose.

Thanks Gabriel, I'll keep everyone posted on what option I use and how things go.

I'm just as curious as to why I suddenly got this. My only guess is that I recently re aquscaped the tank and that stirred the sand up?

[melev]

Originally posted by Micki
I might consider this option. Do I need to cover the tank with something to keep it completely dark? There is a window in that room and it would get some sun light.

Unless it gets direct sunlight, you don't need to cover it up. Perhaps this outbreak occurred because of the seasonal change. The sun comes in at a different angle now, and perhaps is shining on the sandbed.

[Micki]

The sun doesn't directly hit the tank at all, but it's located in an open area between 3 rooms so it's always light. I can try the lights out for 3 days and if all else fails do the chemi clean remover after that.

[jnarowe]

Micki,

IMO all tanks get cyano blooms from time-to-time. It points to a nutrient problem though, and NOT a flow problem as is assumed by so many. I would just vacuum it out and work on raising water quality.

SInce it is bacterial, I believe any product designed to kill it, will also take out other bacteria, and therefore could lead to more instability within the system.

[Aquarist007]

Originally posted by jnarowe
Micki,

IMO all tanks get cyano blooms from time-to-time. It points to a nutrient problem though, and NOT a flow problem as is assumed by so many. I would just vacuum it out and work on raising water quality.

SInce it is bacterial, I believe any product designed to kill it, will also take out other bacteria, and therefore could lead to more instability within the system.

I agree--only I wouldn't vacuum it--rather use a turkey baster to lightly baste the substrate and reef rock

[Micki]

WOW! Has it really been over 2 1/2 years since I posted to this thread??? I'll have to get some pictures taken and update things! Life and my battle with the mushrooms killed off most of my good coral but I am slowly building that back up! I had taken the 150 in wall down and recently started it back up. It is once again hooked into the main system, (after being seperated for a period of time). I went bare bottom on this tank this time. I moved all of my leather and most of the softies to this tank. My goal, is to at some point have LPS and softies in the 150 and SPS and zoas in the 125. Right now the only fish in the 150 is a Vlimingii tang (that came with a small system I purchased). Next week I will be adding several chromis, some Pj cardinals, a butterfly fish (lots of aptasia with the rock I got from the small system I recently purchased) and a lawn mower blenny. The lighting on the 150 tank is a T5 and LED set up.

Life will once again provide a hiccup next month when my son has yet another surgery...He had gall bladder surgery at OSU last December (just 6 days after my Father in law passed away very unexpectedly). He now has AVN (Avascular Necrosis) of the right hip and will have core decompression surgery August 22 at OSU. I'm now finding my tanks to be a nice diversion to the bumps in life!

Will work on those pics!

[sdf_beanhead]

Pics?

[Micki]

Sorry, the pics have to wait. My son had surgery on Monday and ended up in ICU by tuesday. Got out of ICU late Thursday night and finally came home late yesterdy afternoon. The time away did take a bit of a toll on my tanks. At least everyone is still alive. When I get to stay at my own house for more than 8 hours I'll see what I can do!