Cyano battle, dosed chemiclean... when to redose?

Hi guys. Ive been battling cyano for a little over a month. I tried siphoning out during water changes, but it just breaks up and falls back on the sand bed. I tried a 4 day blackout, and ran phosphate sponge on the 3rd and 4th day and did a water change and it came back stronger!!!

I decided to give chemiclean a try. I underdosed, I dosed for 30 gallons in about 45 gallons water volume, cut off skimmer and added 4 air stones.

Im at about the 48 hour mark, cyano is thinning out on the sand bed, and it looks better, but I think i may need to redose. Should I redose after the 48 hour water change, skip the water change and redose, or do water change and wait a few days and redose? Im not really sure what to do at this point. All fish, coral and inverts are fine by the way.

 

I'm not a big fan, but if used, I would follow the instructions to the letter. Cyano is a bacteria and can become resistant to antibiotics, so, you would not want to underdose, as any surviving could potentially build up a tolerance. You may also want to turn the lights off for a few days, that would certainly help make sure none survives.

 

Chemiclean isnt an antibiotic, its an oxidizer. Im following the directions, but the directions dont say anything about redosing or how long to wait to redose, or do you a water change before redosing.

 

There has been a lot of debate about this. Most knowledgeable chemists seem to believe it is an antibiotic, the idea that it "oxidizes" cyano seems to be pure jibberish. Boyd does not actually claim it isn't an antiboitic, their wording is just very sneaky, but it seems to be very unlikely that it isn't at least in part. Also, people to find resistant strains of cyno to chemiclean after a while, whatever you prefer to call it.

 

Actually,after a lengthy conversation with Mathew Boyd on the phone,he did clearly state that chemiclean is not an antibiotic and does work by oxidation,however,it is still a very risky product that I will never use again.The reason I was on the phone with Mathew Boyd was discussing why his product killed my tank about a year ago.It did get rid of the cyano right along with everything else.

I would do your wc as directed and follow up with several more,there is still some chemiclean in the water and the residual leftovers of cyano will go away.I would not do another back to back dosing to finish it up.There are far too many safer methods for getting cyano under control.Lesson learned the hard way.

 

Wouldn't "blacking out" your work better?

 

Hey Stick,good to see ya!

But no,it may kill it back where you don't see it for a bit,but just like with chemiclean,if you don't solve the underlying nutrient issue that caused it to begin with,it will be right back.

 

yeah, ive already gone the black out route. I ran Kents phosphate sponge on the 3rd and 4th day of blackout, and did water change right after the blackout, and it came back worse than before the blackout. Doesnt make sense to me. Im about to change 20% of the water. Ill wait about a week and see where the tank is as far as the cyano goes and may or may not re dose. Its lifting up from the sand in thin sheets right now, so ill see if i can siphon that out during the WC. Its a HOB system right now, im about to add a sump and fuge with a couple of reactors for carbon and rowaphos to make things a little more efficient. But in the meantime I dont want the tank to look like a red velvet mess. I didnt have any problem with the fish or inverts. They are all fine.

 

Did Boyd offer to compensate you for your loss? I know kent has paid damages when they had the copper problem with the carbon.

 

Yes he did offer,but failed to follow through nor would return a phonecall/email.

And yes,adding a sump/fuge with better skimmer and a gfo reactor was the turning point on the overall well being of my tank.