Bionic Cyano

I ran pellets for four months and the problem seems to get worse.

Dinoflagellates, might make sense as they will grow in cleaner water, but it doesn't really look like the stuff I've seen before. I've heard the only way to get rid of dino is to raise the nitrates. Correct?

 

I'm not an expert on IDing algae, and definitely not an expert on getting rid of dino, but it looks like that could be your problem.

 

This is what cyano looks like:



I don't think you have cyano, your stuff is to stringy.

 

I read a couple of other threads and it seems a black out is the way to go. I have switched off my timers and covered the tank. Did a 20% water change yesterday to get the Chemiclean out and fired my skimmer back up. I will get my reactors going again tomorrow.

My wife bought a couple of frags at Reefstock yesterday. If I kill them, I will be sleeping with the fishes.

 

I think that you will be just fine. I hope this works out for you.

 

I think you are on the right track with the black out. The other thing I would try is taking the bio pellet reactor you shut down and run a high quality carbon. That should make a near immediate impact. Also, have you tried running macro algae in a refuge? I had very similar algae issues (which are almost gone entirely now). I put some of the algae from the tank into the refuge and increase the photo period and nutrients going into the fuge. The algae in the fuge took off and it disappeared everywhere else. Last, many types of algae will stick around until the nutrients it is feeding off of disappear. Maybe try not cleaning the algae off of anything except your corals and let it consume what it is going to consume. Good luck!

 

I have some cheato in my fuge but it doesn't seem to grow well. Not really sure why as my small tank could be a cheato farm.

I will go get some carbon today.

My question is where did this stuff come from? I started the tank with dead sand and dead rock. Every time I put coral in the tank it was dipped in Coral RX. Fish were drip acclimated and transferred into the tank with a net.

 

Hi there--I'm certainly not an authority on cyano but I would advise you to try dosing Special Blend. This is a bacterial supplement that eradicated my own much smaller cyano problem and it sounds like you could really use it. I'm guessing your bacterial population is not at the right balance, especially after using Chemi Clean (I did the same thing and lost some coral as a result). Special Blend has a lot of success stories and ever since I started using it I've had. I cyano, thriving LPS corals and some softies. Plus I have a high bio load. It's cheap for a bottle, and it will last a couple months. Really recommend it.

 

I don't think that's cyano. I have never had dinoflagellates, but I have heard it looks like snot and has bubbles in it. Is it only growing on your corals or is it also growing on the rocks and sand bed? If you google "dinoflagellates tank" you will see some examples that look a little like your picture.

 

Yup, I am sure it's dino. I think everyone have made that perfectly clear. I went up to my LFS and they have heard about dino but they didn't really have other advice other than what has been put out here.

Honestly, I am just concerned about my acros not making it through the blackout.

The charcoal has been running for about 12 hours and the skimmer is still going crazy. I hope I can get the skimmer back on line and adjusted by this afternoon.