After six weeks not so good

Reefist

Member
Well after I set my new 210 about 6 weeks ago I lost my 9YO Sohol Tang and now I'm getting a carpet of cyano. Sohol tang was at least 8" and at the current price I won't be getting another one of those. Bummer since I paid $25 from Fly fish express. But what bugs me just as much is the cyano. The tank is brand new sand was 200lbs of Aragalive but I've been cycling the tank with special blend since the beginning so I can't add more of that. Although the cyano didn't start until I added some frags from the MHReef swap I don't think that has anything to do with it. Pulled out the Sohal the instant it died can't be that. I really watch my feeding. Actually I think I starved my Sohal.Orp is way up there 460. Don't know what else to do. Any thoughts?
BTW All coral look good with close if not full polyp extension
Tom
 
Just wait it out. Suck out as much as you can and keep up the regular maintenance. Happens to every tank. Almost.
 
Oh boy did I have cyano! This tank has put me through more than it is worth. The days may be numbered.
 
Guess we could start a journal of disasters. Nah probably scare some new starters away. But I do remember a couple of 4ams with my wife in her pajama's saying I want this @#$%ing tank out of the house as I mopped up and that was before the 210 cracked.Feel better:lol:
 
I have never seen a NY tank pass month 3 without a cyano, diatom, or some type of algae breakout. It's normal and expected IMO. It'll pass. Just keep sucking it out. If it's any consolation, I had cyano, red turf, diatoms, gha, bryopsis, aptasia, and the dreaded colonial hydroids.
 
Vinny - John's talking about his tank. We may need to do an intervention otherwise he is going to wind up with a very large Cichlid tank.
 
I have a picture in my mind of what I want to achieve with my tank( like Chris's tank) and that's why I keep going. There was a guy name Iwan I think and after I saw his reef I swore I wouldn't stop till I got there. Problem is I don't get the chemistry I just have discipline. So I persist
Tom
 
Persistence is definitely the key. There will always be another battle to fight in your quest to produce your dream reef. Each battle won helps to increase our knowledge and sense of accomplishment. I know we all wish it were easier, but I'll bet if it was we wouldn't enjoy it as much because we would probably get bored and complacent. Believe me.....we ALL have our own battles that we are fighting along the way.

Tom - Sorry to hear about the Sohal. 9 years is quite an accomplishment to keep a fish like that. I always wanted one of those. Maybe it just died of old age? Some people claim to have success using Special Blend to help battle the Cyano. Supposedly, it could take a few months of that treatment to eradicate it. Lights out for 2-3 days is also supposed to help.
 
Sorry to hear about that tang. Also sorry to hear you're using SB and have cyano. I've never used it, but I hear good things about it.

What I do, if it's on the sand, is I siphon out the affected area (yep, the sand) and wash that with vinegar. After a few hours' soak, I give it a good rinse and dump it back. Never had any luck with the lights-out method, and once I could have sworn it made the cyano grow faster.

If you've got a carpet of cyano on aragonite, you can't use vinegar, but you could soak it in something else. Antibiotics or bleach would do it, and if it was that bad I would consider it. It would stink to lose the life in it, but if it kills the cyano...

If you don't have a huge area covered or if your bed is deep enough, the tank shouldn't even notice.
 
Never had any luck with the lights-out method, and once I could have sworn it made the cyano grow faster.

That's odd.....I thought that Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic. If that's the case, it wouldn't make sense that they could grow faster with no light. Just my 2 cents. I was also relying on numerous posts from other people who have had success with this method. Although many of them did say that it came back again later.
 
Me too, Chris, but it did appear to grow with the lights off for 3 days. Maybe there's something else, or maybe the different types of cyano react differently. I dunno. I just try to get rid of it when I see it. I agree with you, tho - there's a lot of people reporting success. I'll give it another try. Maybe it's more than just turning the lights off for a few days and I didn't read the details.
 
Actually in the morning sand is clean but by the time I come home its covered with cyano next day it dissappears by morning so it's appears to be light related. The sand is new. I wish I was able to save my sand when the tank broke but there was just to much to save out of a 210. I've been looking to see who sells real live sand just to put another 50lbs or so. Right now its lifeless

Chris thanks about the Sohal, real personality fish and an excellent grazer . Like to get another but $220 for a 5" ,not likely.

Tom
 
Back
Top