Dried Live Rock No Ammonia

[bertoni]

I agree that the power outage might have damaged the denitrification microbes in your system. With some luck, the dinoflagellates will fade over time, although that's not always the case. I might start running a fair amount of fresh carbon to mop up any toxins from the dinoflagellates. ChemiPure is a good grade of carbon. I might run a bit of GFO, as well, to see whether that helps. Sometimes GFO works; sometimes it doesn't, though.

 

[skp]

I added two 5.5 ounce bags of chemipure blue and dosed Microbacter 7 every night around 2 am at the recommended dosage for a new tank. I've been squirting it into the liverock in hopes that it would populate the rock and not just stay in the water column. I've also stopped feeding Mysis and only feed a few pellets of new life spectrum. I think the dinoflagellates have totally disappeared leaving some red cyano. The cyano is also receding but at a very slow rate.

If it is indeed just cyano now should I stop dosing Microbacter 7? I suspect that it's just bacteria spores in vinegar (it smells just like vinegar).


thanks

 

[bertoni]

If it is vinegar, it is acting as carbon dosing, to some degree. You could stop adding it, and see what happens. If the bloom persists, dosing a bit of vinegar might be useful.

 

[skp]

If it is vinegar, it is acting as carbon dosing, to some degree. You could stop adding it, and see what happens. If the bloom persists, dosing a bit of vinegar might be useful.

Ok I haven't dosed the Microbacter7 for 5 days now and the cyano seems to be slowly coming back. My skimmate is also very frothy and white as opposed to dark and slimy. If dosing Microbacter7 is acting as a form of carbon dosing then wouldn't the cyano also benefit from the increased carbon? I've read mixed information regarding this. Is my tank doomed to be dependent on carbon dosing because I chose to start with dead rock?

tanks for all the help

 

[bertoni]

In some cases, carbon dosing seems to encourage cyanobacterias growth, especially at the start. I don't think the tank is doomed to be dependent on carbon dosing. That should be determined by the feeding rate, after the initial organic debris is gone.