As some of you know, I like to try different things. Some work great and then there are the others... Here is an oops that you can avoid.
In my infinite wisdom I thought that filter pads were just an area where detritus would build up causing an increase of NO3. I thought that they were unnecessary as I have a huge skimmer on the system and that the skimmer should be able to handle and remove all the solid waste. Now, realize that my home system never has had any appreciable NO3 so this wasn't the brightest idea on my part in the first place.
I think I just was trying to avoid cleaning the mangy pad on a weekly basis when I did my normal skimmer cleaning. I don't know why, as it is easy to get to and takes all of 5 minutes.
OK, so for about 3-4 months everything was going along well. I've almost always had a little cyno in the sump in with the cheato. Well a little turned into a fair amount and the next thing I know I've got a bloom and it is all over the sand and rocks in the tanks and the corals in the propagation section. This took about 2-3 weeks with the biggest change in the 3rd week. Evidently with the high bypass rate past the skimmer, lots of nutrients were staying in suspension and became available to the cyno. Oops... :mad:
Anyway, I hit the system with Chemiclean last week, did a 20% water change, skimmed the heck out of it and I'm going to follow with another 15% this week. Everything seems to be going back to normal (I hope) and most of the critters seem to be fine. The Chemiclean seems to have shocked the Xenia more than anything else, but the weeds seem to be rebounding nicely.
Anyway, I'm taking 2 things away from this.
1. Use and clean or change filter pads weekly. Keep it in a high flow area without a lot of turbulence where it can do the most good. It really is amazing how dirty mine gets in just a week, but with 600 gallons in system I guess it makes sense.
2. Chemiclean works at quickly knocking back cyno without doing too much damage to the inverts. Of course, you still need to fix the root problem. Oh, watch your skimmer after the treatment period. There was foam all over the place in the sump and the skimmer went nutzo for a couple days. I had to keep the skimmer output container in a bucket as it was foaming through the overflow check valve.
Anyway, learn from my mistakes...
Filter pad experiment led to Cyno bloom 
