While I'm at it...help with cyano?

Yeah, I understand Dinoflagellates – I read the Randy Holmes article on photosynthetic and symbiotic photosynthetic dinoflagellates and elevated PH as a solution. Randy is the man ! He actually concluded that killing the lights would not be enough to solve the problem.

Edit: I found the link to the article: Problem Dinoflagellates and pH by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com good read for anyone interested

 

obviously nutrient control is also a key, but killing the lights helps speed eveything along. Well it works for me anyway.

 

I totally agree. I had an outbreak so bad, my clown was trying to host with it! (true story!) During the WC, I siphoned out all that I could get to, reduced the lighting cycle, and also used the RedSlime product, and voila! Gone in a week.
I now target feed the fish as not to have too much excessive waste to cause it to come back. This was last summer, and has not returned.

 

Thanks for all your responses.

As far as the question of removing fish from the tank, you very well may be right about removing them adding too much stress. I considered that. When I made that decision, I had lost 4 of 6 fish in 2 days. One of those I'd had for 4 years, 2 other's i'd had for a couple years. This all happened 2 months after the addition of the powder blue. At the rate I was going, I was going to likely lose everything anyway. Of my remaining 2 at the time (o. clown & wrasse) the o. clown looked aweful (which I'd also had 4 years.) It died soon after in the qt anyway. So I tried the qt tank for 2 reasons. To give my survivors a chance with copper treatment, and to allow the ich in my dt to cycle fishless for 6 weeks.

to answer a few questions...my ph fluctuates between 8.2-8.3, with an occasional 8.1. I have 3 Koralia's 3's for flow with good surface agitation. I've studied the O2/CO2 relationship for my tank in the past and found that with an hour or so a day of open back door, my O2 tests much higher, although it never drops below acceptable even when the doors/windows stay shut. I open things up for fresh air once daily anyway.

As for an update on the cyano...over the weekend I dismantled most everything I could for a good cleaning. Most importantly I found a blockage in the air intake of my skimmer. I did a full cleaning of my skimmer, chiller, skimmer pump, return pump, and koralias while I was at it. Thankfully, my skimmer is kicking butt again!! I left the lights off for 2 days, and have them set for 1/2 their normal time now (got a little worried about my corals). Also I manually removed as much cyano as possible. So far it looks like progress. The cyano is definitely not flourishing as before. It's still a little too early to say for sure, but I do have some positive signs.

It's great to get so many responses! Learning and discussing is one of the best parts of this hobby.

 

I wish I could justturn my liights off for a week, but regular cleanings are the only thing I have found that works,