Root of my frustration

[Pickupman66]

I stopped GFO about 2 weeks ago. it was testing below 10 ppb. I had just over two cups of it in my reactor for about 250 gallons of water. since I have not had much more show up, I have concluded that the pellets have colonized bacteria to be able to process it as well.

I never dosed any bacteria source for the pellets. just let it naturally do its thing. Pellet reactor was installed over christmas holiday.

 

[zef004]

Dang Lindsey. Didn't know you went throw this to. You think it had anything to do with your alk drop so low.
I really can't help. Every really had HA in my reef tank. I do in the seahorse tank. I just feed to much.

 

[Pickupman66]

Zef, it was so bad, I dont have a photo of it. I was completely disgusted with the tank.

 

[zef004]

I know what you mean. When I pick up my 34g sol tank. You could not see the rock work sand or the side and back glass. Covered in HA. Glad you stuck with it. We loss to many hobbyist to things like that.

 

[orthokardia]

did you notice any negative effects from the algae fix marine? shrimp?

 

[Pickupman66]

Nope. Just have the one shrimp and didn't see any ill effects.

Please excuse my brevity. This was sent from my Android via Tapatalk

 

[rcmike]

I picked up some yesterday to try on my cyanobacteria problem. After not doing anything to the tank for a long time I ended up with a lot of cyano. I figured what the heck, I'd give it a try. We used the FW version years ago on my wife's FW tank and it worked great and didn't harm the plants at all.

 

[Pickupman66]

MIke, not sure if it will work on Cyano as that is a bacteria and not an algae. I did notice that cyano did appear on top of the HA mat as it was dying.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Not sure on that?

Not sure on that?

I picked up some yesterday to try on my cyanobacteria problem. After not doing anything to the tank for a long time I ended up with a lot of cyano. I figured what the heck, I'd give it a try. We used the FW version years ago on my wife's FW tank and it worked great and didn't harm the plants at all.

Cyano is a Bacteria not an Algae, So I do not think it will be killed by Algae Fix But it can't hurt to try. Chemiclean will kill the Cyano but most don't like to use it, I did once with no Ill effects so don't quite get the concerns.
Bill

 

[GT_Jacket]

I also used Chemiclean once a couple of years ago. Worked great w/ no ill effects for me. If I recall a large water change after treatment is required.

If your cyno gets worse after a water change - check your source water for 0 TDS.

 

[rcmike]

I will say it does work on cyano. I have done 5 treatments and I just have a few patches here and there now. When I started using it, cyano was covering most everything. I had neglected the tank for over a year and have been trying to get it back into shape but the cyano was taking over. The tank is starting to look okay now, just way understocked with corals. I haven't noticed any problems with any of the livestock although I don't have much right now. I mostly just have the frags I got from the frag swap since most everything I used to have died. I did loose some of the frags from the swap because the tank wasn't in good shape yet. All of the frags from the swap that made it are growing well now.

I don't usually like to put unknown chemicals in the tank but I figured I had nothing to lose. I looked up the species of algae it is supposed to get rid of and one of them was a kind of cyanobacteria. I also noticed that my skimmer started working much better after dosing Algae Fix. I'm not sure exactly what it does but it seems to work pretty well.


Oh, also, my water isn't going to test 0 TDS. I am using well water. And before anyone starts on RO/DI ask anyone who saw my tank when I used to take care of it. My tank tests 0 phosphates and high in calcium since it is coming from limestone. I actually have an RO/DI but I had better results without it. Not doing a water change in probably a year could have something to do with my cyano problem. I am not saying all tap water will work but some will. BTW, I drilled it as well. It's the family business.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Cool Mike, Alway's good to know a well driller if you Buy Property in the Country and need water. That being said when your ready I can hook you up with some frags to get you started again. Just LMK and you can come pick some stuff out.
Bill

 

[rcmike]

If you ever do need a well, just let us know.

I might take you up on that sometime but I would be happy to pay for them. I pretty much gave up on reefing over the last few years and came close to selling the tanks several times. I got fed up with AEFWs, montipora neudibranches, etc. With the kids and all I just let the tanks go for a while. Them being in the basement made it easy to forget about water changes, etc. also. I've looked a old pictures and gotten pretty much disgusted at how much I lost by just not taking care of it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying get rid of your RO/DI and everything will be fine. RO/DI is the best way to ensure nothing nasty gets in from your water source. I just got lucky and have a very good well, both quality and quantity.

 

[Pickupman66]

MIke, thats very interesting to konw.. I will say this, my tank is completely free of HA! it is ALL GONE! COMPLETELY. the rocks look really good and I havent dosed any algaefix in several weeks. actually since this thread started almost. I am seeing some Cyano breaking out in some areas but not 100% sure on the cause. I cannot wait to get that club hana meter for a few weeks to hone in my phosphates. everything else is in line and most of my corals are now throwing out polyps with only a few frags still showing signs of a slow death.

I am getting what I think are two strains of it. one is really dark maroon to almost black. the other is a rusty colored. all blow off very easy with the turkey baster. it could be because my skimmer wasnt dialed in last week while I was gone and barely had any skimmate.

 

[aquaman67]

I had overstripped the phosphate with the GFO so I knew this could be the last ditch effort.

From the very first post, forgive my ignorance, but what exactly does this mean?

You can take out too much phosphate?

 

[Pickupman66]

Yes. Taking it down too much too fast is bad. Mine was at 8 parts per billion. Which is way bemow nsw. It should be .03 parts per million.

Please excuse my brevity. This was sent from my Android via Tapatalk

 

[aquaman67]

Thanks.

I may have done this.