diagnosis - cyano

Chemiclean is safe. Skimmer goes nuts for several days so that will just be off.

 

If you have an internal skimmer I would suggest removing the skimmer cup and keep it running for the aeration.

 

Chemiclean is safe. Skimmer goes nuts for several days so that will just be off.

I forgot..That's what I do. Put a trash bag over it so it doesn't make a huge mess.

 

Good Luck Mindy.

And I agree that figuring out why the nitrates are detectable is the best start, then go from there.

Curious as to why you 'feed heavy'? To 'feed' the corals?

I work 12's several days a week, and on those days I don't feed anything at all. My coral still seems to grow though.

 

great points all - corailline, what else could it be? I have searched and searched and looked at a ton of pictures. Unfortunately, Dr. Tim's is not safe for inverts and I have quite a few in there....I know I could remove them but I'd rather use something that is safe for them. I have tried scrubbing, skimming wet, water changes, lights off and nothing seems to help over time, lights out for 3 days did help a bit - it actually looks like detritus but in long strings. Todd, I feed heavy because of my pipefish and fairly high fish bioload.

oh, and to guitarman - I just changed my T5 bulbs out 2 months ago, I run 1 coral plus, 2 blue plus and 1 purple plus. and to mike - it's definitely not lobo.

I really appreciate the feedback all. I will see if hubby can take a better pic maybe tonight...I know the pictures I posted are not real good at showing it.

Thanks for the luck Todd!

 

Glad it's not Lobo. I have it and it's nearly impossible to remove. Had to buy a Naso tang to deal with it.

Gotta get the trates under control or this will be an ongoing issue. I'd look into vinegar dosing if your skimmer is up to snuff. Another alternative is seachem matrix and or marine pures bio block to help with additional biological filtration. Both have denitrifying properties. I use all 3 of these methods BTW and I feed 3x for my anthias. My nitrates consistently read in at less than 0.5 via red sea test kit. If you do go any of those routes in happy to provide more detail.

 

I very much appreciate the offer! I am planning on carbon dosing with vinegar once I knock it out. I have never done a full dosing regimen of it and that will be my plan. I also know I need more flow (adding a powerhead), need to do more frequent water changes, and will try to reduce my feeding. I sure would love to see a <.5 nitrate reading!

 

What do you have for nitrate export besides skimmer, fuge ats chaeto ...? I have been reading up on carbon dosing and it should be able to reduce your Nitrates fairly quickly and from what i have read vinegar dosing seems to combat cyano. I have no experience with this myself.

When you did the lights out did you cover the tank as well?

I used Dr Tim's Waste Away a few months back and had absolutely no problems with my inverts but also absolutely no help with ridding the tank of cyano. At most it stunted its growth.

 

Dr. Tims recomendation is to cycle through Waste Away and Refresh at some rate I forget. I've had it vanish the cyano twice and once I had to resort to the other stuff and it worked great but getting my skimmer back to stable was a pain. While I don't have strong enough feelings to push one method over the other, I do want to point out neither ever harmed inverts. I believe Dr. Tims suggests you don't overdose or it may harm them, but following the recommendation should not. I'd ask on his thread here.

 

Randy just posted a great blog article about nitrates that you may find interesting or helpful.

It's in the R2R blog section. I'm not sure about forum rules about posting links to other forums.