About ready to throw in the towel..

[w16227]

Have you tested for ALK?

In my tank - one of the sure signs that the kalk reactor has run low is the appearance of cyano.

I do not believe that they are directly related (not like higher alk levels remove nitrates and prevent cyano_) - but there are definitely some multiple level affects going on in all of our tanks. For me - low ALK = bad coral health = the corals MIGHT not be filtering out what they used to = more available nitrates for the cyano and bad algae.

[salty55]

It sounds like you need a larger diversity of bacteria. The vodka will only feed the existing bacteria. This (monoculture) of bacteria is likely why you cannot get a drop in nitrates and phoshates.
i would suggest using a product like microbactor 7 or prodibio to geg the bacteria balance in check. Just think of like a septic tank on your house, it also needs bacteria to work and disolve waste, and the occasional use of a bacteria product like rid-ex makes sure the bacteria are numrous enough to get the job done!

[IridescentLily]

Don't throw in the towel. I have had a cyano problem for three months. Didn't have any for the first 10 months. THEN i changed out my bulb from a 12k coralvue 150w to a Phoenix 14k 150w. The light was MUCH brighter, and much bluer. So my trachyphyllia started bleaching.
So we added a screen cover to diffuse the light for the tracyphyllia.
My trachyphyllia stopped bleaching, and began growing larger.
Then shortly after came the cyano. It only appears (every day) on the two top rocks.
So as Sk8tr said, odd colored, diffused lighting, was what started it. And nutrients (building up my rocks) kept it going.
I had read about adding more water circulation so i moved the output nozzle about 2", pointing the flow at those two rocks.
Now i only have cyano on one rock.

Also, nutrient-wise, i read here about blowing the rocks off with a plastic turkey baster. The first time i did that i could-not-believe-the-amount-of-crap that came flying out all over the tank. The cyano got less and less each time i blew my rocks off. It took about three months, and now cyano remains only on the one rock, and the rest of the rocks are clean with coralline growth showing up now.

[jerseygurl]

OMG I would love to work on your tank, I love a good challenge!

Okay, lets get serious here, time to go nuclear. Set up a quick QT using NOTHING from your tank. Just Dr. Tims One and Only it. Move your livestock out and NUKE THAT TANK. Use some Red Slime Algae Killer and NUKE away! Run it until it's all dead. Get youself a GFO/Carbon Reactor, gotta get rid of those phosphates stored up in your rocks and sand. Turn the lights out and let it all die. Scrub your LR, clean your sand, everything then put in nice new water and keep that GFO/Carbon fresh and running.

Good luck I'm rooting for you!

[fishgate]

Originally Posted by jerseygurl

OMG I would love to work on your tank, I love a good challenge!

Okay, lets get serious here, time to go nuclear. Set up a quick QT using NOTHING from your tank. Just Dr. Tims One and Only it. Move your livestock out and NUKE THAT TANK. Use some Red Slime Algae Killer and NUKE away! Run it until it's all dead. Get youself a GFO/Carbon Reactor, gotta get rid of those phosphates stored up in your rocks and sand. Turn the lights out and let it all die. Scrub your LR, clean your sand, everything then put in nice new water and keep that GFO/Carbon fresh and running.

Good luck I'm rooting for you!

You read my mind! My 29g QT tank is being started tonight as a holding tank. I am hoping for a quick cycle. I do think as well that the ONLY way I am going to recover is to totally nuke the tank. As bad as the cyano is, it isn't 1/10 as bad as the algae.

However, I had hoped to just move the corals out and leave the fish in, but with as much algae as I have, just the dieoff alone could kill everything. But I am going to run my fluval canister in it for mechanical filtration to get rid of everything floating around. I think massive overfeeding for the first 4-5 months that I had the tank running has resulted in an enormous buildup of nitrates and phosphates. I was feeding 2-3x per day and probably feeding 5x as much as they needed at each feeding.

Once I move out the coral, I was going to start with the turkey baster and blast away and let my sump and the fluval pick up as much as possible.

btw: My frogspawn popped another head today. So the original 4 heads is down to one. I found 2 of the popped heads and they are in glasses in the tank and one is lost.

I am afraid to move the livestock out because I don't think I can keep the QT tank healthy for the month or so it is going to take to nuke everything and re-cycle and get it all back to usable unless it is fully cycled. So not sure - once I get the QT tank up and running I'll see how long it takes to get a cycle. I have plenty of rock in the sump to seed it with so I am hoping it can get going quickly.

[jerseygurl]

Just order some Dr. Tims (order it direct from them) and throw it in, along with the LR you sould be ready in no time.

Good luck!

[BigCountry74]

Originally Posted by jerseygurl

OMG I would love to work on your tank, I love a good challenge!

Okay, lets get serious here, time to go nuclear. Set up a quick QT using NOTHING from your tank. Just Dr. Tims One and Only it. Move your livestock out and NUKE THAT TANK. Use some Red Slime Algae Killer and NUKE away! Run it until it's all dead. Get youself a GFO/Carbon Reactor, gotta get rid of those phosphates stored up in your rocks and sand. Turn the lights out and let it all die. Scrub your LR, clean your sand, everything then put in nice new water and keep that GFO/Carbon fresh and running.

Good luck I'm rooting for you!

x2

When you set the tank back up, replace that chaeto with a good algae scrubber. They are cheap and easy to make and will work for you I think. Grow all that algae down in the sump/fuge and keep it out of the DT for next time

[Reeferz412]

Originally Posted by BigCountry74

x2

When you set the tank back up, replace that chaeto with a good algae scrubber. They are cheap and easy to make and will work for you I think. Grow all that algae down in the sump/fuge and keep it out of the DT for next time

+3 I helped build one for my buddy's 125, great learning experience and its working! Gonna ditch the skimmer in a month or so on his. I plan on building one for my next tank.