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Need help with ailing 60G cube!


siskiou

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So, the cyano is still thriving, despite lots of waterchanges, new MH bulb, more flow, more snails added, sucking it out every day, and trying a three day lights out.

After the no light period, my sps are really struggling and I'm going to lose some of them for sure, possibly all of them!

 

I have chemiclean now, but am afraid to use it, because some people apparently lost all their fish and inverts, along with the corals.

 

Should I take out the sps that still show some life, and transfer them to my 120G? I didn't really want to do that, just in case some of the monti nudis are still hanging around!

 

And should I go for the chemiclean or not?

 

I don't really know why the sps are having problems, since parameters are really pretty good.

No ammonia, nitrites and just a slight touch of nitrates.

No phosphates (as far as tests go), pH 8.1-8.3, Temp stable around 80, Alk 8, Calcium 400.

 

Any ideas what could be the culprit?

Tank was fine when I left for Germany.

My husband and daughter took care of it while I was gone, and I don't think they really messed up severely, but now the tank looks really sad! :(

 

I don't think I can replace the few nice sps I had purchased either!(sad)

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I have used Chem-Clean in the past with good results and it didn't effect any tank life. Fish, invert or corals.

 

When you were doing the WCs did you clean up the substrate? Did you blow off the LR?

 

There is something in the tank that is feeding the cyano. and until that is taking care of it will keep coming back.

 

When doing the next WC I'd suggest clean a portion of the substrate. Not alot of it maybe like a 1/3, so you do not really disturb the good bacteria population. And then another third on the next WC until all substrate has been vaccummed. But don't do it to close to each other.

 

Good Luck!

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Thanks for the chemiclean reassurance, Lowman and Micheal!

 

I'll probably do that tomorrow, so I can keep and eye on things and do a large waterchance, if things look bad. Did you run an airpump for the treatment?

 

And yes, I do blow off the rocks and I sucked out as much of the stuff as I could, but each day it is back with a vengeance.

The fish in that tank get fed a small portion of frozen once a day.

I noticed that with the advent of the cyano, the coralline I used to have tons of in this tank has all but disappeared and my stomatella snail population along with it.

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No GFO on that tank, currently.

 

I added the chemiclean on Saturday, but being a chicken, I only did about half the dose and ran 2 airstones.

 

It helped a bit, and nothing seems affected, but I'll have to do it again at the full dose.

Today, I'm doing the waterchange and then I'll turn on the skimmer and get stuff out, and this coming weekend I'll do another dose.

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Thanks! I could use some good luck right about now! :D

 

Everyone in the tank is accounted for, and parameters are essentially great!

I'm starting to wonder if something accidentally got into the tank, while I was on vacation.

 

One thing I started fairly recently (about 2 months ago) is dosing with Randy's 2 part. But I'm using the same stuff on my 120G and see no ill effects there.

 

I'm hoping the many waterchanges I'm doing will help, along with the chemiclean, to get on top of the cyano and get out whatever is messing with the water chemistry.

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Suzanne just dosing half the recommended dosage is inherently bad and will only make it tougher to battle the cyano. As you can see, half the dosage did not do anything to the cyano, and now it can build a little immunity to the chemiclean. I have a feeling you are going to need a higher dosage or multiple treatments now.

 

GFO really helped kick my cyano problem, i think it was the thing that put me over the top. I know what you are going thru, its a pain for sure.

 

 

Good luck.

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So, the stuff *is* an antibiotic?

 

It actually did help quite a bit, just not 100%.

 

I will dose again this coming weekend, if need be, and use the full dose that time.

Hopefully the cyano will still be susceptible to the treatment!

And I'll try and modify my coralife ozone reactor into a GFO reactor. I just need to find some sponge stuff to cut to the right size and plug the airhose somehow.

 

Thanks for the advice!

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Yah do a full treatment this time around. Your livestock will be fine. Chemiclean is an oxidizer, i can't really be sure if cyano can adjust to dosage levels but better to be safe than sorry IMO.

 

I do think if you hit it with a full dosage then follow that up with GFO and maintain WCs/syphoning you will kick this stuff. Just toss some GFO in a HOB filter. I was doing that for the last 18+ months with great success. Just recently switched to a reactor to save some space around my sump.

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