I'm thinking Chemi-Clean weekend...

[stingythingy45]

I'm getting really tired of red slime on my sand bed.
To make a long story short I had to catch all my fish a few weeks ago.This required removing almost all my rock work to catch the blenny.Since that time I've had this ongoing cyanobacteria outbreak.
I've siphoned almost all of it out twice and it's returned.The tank has been set up since July and I beat cyano back when it first showed with more flow/siphoning.....or at least I thought I did.
Tank Parameters:

Nitrates: 0ppm
Phosphates: no test kit
Temp. 75
Ca: 450
Alk: 9DKH
Flow 2 Maxi-Jet 1200s
Light:Bulbs(5 months)
Actinics on at 9:30am-10:30pm
10,000 K on at 10:15am-9:30pm

I change at least 6 gallons of water every two weeks with ro/di.The tank is fallow and the feeding has only been very little(a few shavings) frozen cyclopeeze and mysis every other day.And silverside or shrimp for the anenome.Also target feed with Phyto-Feast for corals.
The last phosphate test was done at a meeting last month and was NO4 .07.
I skim 24/7,and since the tank has been fallow have seen almost all HA in the tank disappear.Skimmate has also diminished.
Anyways,any advice would be great,I'm seriously considering treating with Chemi-Clean red slime remover this weekend.

 

[APISTOBORELLI]

I just did a red slime remover treatment. I think it worked real well.

 

[stingythingy45]

Great Marc,
I know my tank isn't quite 6 months old but I want to give it a shot.
I've read some good things about it.
I will follow the directions to a tee.

 

[APISTOBORELLI]

Be sure and turn off the skimmer. It'll go nuts if you don't. Do a water change before turning it back on.

Keep in mind that a 6 month old tank is still in it's beginning stages too. You'll have ups and downs for a while befor the tank "balances" itself.

 

[stingythingy45]

Will do,
I realize that,just figured I would try and get rid of it while the tank is fallow anyways.I'm not one of these guys that dumps tons of food in the tank just to watch the fish/inverts eat.I just want to give it a shot as I've read some good things about it here and on RC.

 

[Cardiak]

Chemi-Clean is all you need, just make sure to get rid of as much of the cyano as you can before you use it. When my tank went though the cycle It was completely covered in the cyano and after about a month of trying to suck it out. I eventually broke down and went the chemi-clean route. Stuck it in and the next morning there was not a spot of cyano anywhere. Just be sure to do a very large water change and run a good amount of carbon after its run its course. *make sure to throw that carbon away after a few days* If that chemi clean didnt work for me, I'd have a heck of alot more money in my pockets as that cyano was pushing me to the brink.

BTW
I would look into modding or upgrading your powerheads for a wider flowing model. An unmodded maxi jet is a POS with its tiny directional flow. Im going to guess that you have both your mj1200 on both ends of your tank close to the top.. and that your cyano is all over your sandbed?

 

[stingythingy45]

"Im going to guess that you have both your mj1200 on both ends of your tank close to the top.. and that your cyano is all over your sandbed?"

They were,I moved them down about half way and pointed the directional downward.I have another MJ900 that I use for mixing that I thought about adding.

 

[Cardiak]

It doesnt help much. I was using the MJ when I had my cyano as well. Once you get it close enough to your sandbed to actually effect the cyano all of its power its directed at one spot with its tiny little spout. So it either blows your sand away or does little to nothing. You should really look into modding your MJ its very cheap. You will be able to keep them both at the top and the bottom of your tank and you will have plenty of natural flow as well.

 

[stingythingy45]

I'll look into doing that.
I did the sand drift thing once with my MJs.
I have a Koralia #1 that I use in a QT tank,but to tell you the truth I'm not fond of it.This is JME,but MJ's are tried and true and the Mod looks to work really nice.Do you have any modded?

 

[Cardiak]

I have 6 modded sureflow MJ in my 75 gallon they each put out 1600 ghp. I have them set up like this. 3 on the left side of the tank and 3 on the right all. 1 power head on each side of the tank is place directly in the upper middle pointing streight to the other end. The other 4 powerheads are placed alittle lower and all faced to shoot towards the surface. When they shoot up to the surface, they create the tumbling spiral of a wave going back down creating a TON of flow, but its not a heavy flow at all. Now I have all 6 powerheads connected to a wavemaker and set to a 6 hour timer to run at (3 left, 1 right) then after 6 hours (1 left, 3 right) The pump for the single running sides is always the one that points to the middle of the tank, not upwards. Ive got "according to the pumps", almost 10,000 gph with a 4-6 inch sandbed and non of it gets sprayed around.

 

[APISTOBORELLI]

IMO, modding a maxi jet is the way to go.

 

[ReeferMedic]

Just remember when using chemiclean or red slime remover, that it will lower oxygen levels in the water. Make sure you run some kind of airstone while your skimmer is off. I also do it over night because the fish are usually resting/hiding and breathing a bit slower with the lights off.

 

[stingythingy45]

Reefmedic,

The tank is running fallow at the moment,has been fo 2 weeks.
I have a CPR Bak Pak 2 skimmer on the 55 gallon.
Do you think removing the collection cup and running the venturi will be Ok for extra airation?

 

[smcnally]

Two other things to remember are to make sure you let it sit for the entire 48 hours before doing your water change and to change at least 20% of your water volume. If you change less, your skimmer will take a LOOOOONG time to start working like normal again.

 

[smcnally]

Do you think removing the collection cup and running the venturi will be Ok for extra airation?

Yes as long as it overflows back into the tank you'll be fine. IMO, if you have a sump, the air added to the water from the overflow seems to be enough.

 

[stingythingy45]

I'll do that,Steve.
If I go this route i'll post what happened and how well it worked.
I'm going to look into more flow/mods also.

 

[smcnally]

You'll be happy with it. I've never heard of anyone with a healthy tank having issues with chemi-clean.

 

[ReeferMedic]

This is the only problem I've ever heard of. IIRC, without reading through the thread again, it was because there was alot of cyano that wasn't siphoned out before the treatment. I've used it a number of times along with Red Slime Remover over the years without a single problem.

http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14235&highlight=chemi+clean

 

[stingythingy45]

I'll definitely do a 20% water change and run carbon after in an HOB,maybe even with a Poly pad.I was going to treat tonight but I want to hold off till I have all the ro/di water mixed/airated and ready first.The tank is also siphoned pretty clean right now.I'll do another clean up before the treatment.
Thanks for the thread,Reefermedic.

 

[stingythingy45]

48 Hrs later

I replaced the carbon and filter and cranked that up again.
Changed out 12 gallons of water also.
The sand bed is nice and white and everything seems to be ok.
The nepthea frag is closed up and the large toadstool isn't showing polyps yet but all is well.Funny thing is the devil's hand leather is showing some serious polyp extention.The skimmer is micro-bubbling like crazy right now.With the Hello light's 03 actinics it's.....Purple Haze...man.
Should I just keep it going throughout the night and let it run it's course?
I'll surely check the skimmer cup during one of my midnight strolls.lol