Cyano, chemiclean, skimmer

[IIDRYWATERII]

Hi treating cyano with chemiclean….. nearly all gone just doing a second dose….. I have a in tank tunzee skimmer and have took the cup off to help put O2 back in the tank…… This is putting a large amount of micro bubbles inside my tank, will this harm my fish? No corals at the min… Thanks in advance

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

micro bubbles won't harm your fish, no worries there. Good luck

 

[IIDRYWATERII]

Also I’ve took 2 bags of carbon out of filter which have only been in 4 days…. Will these be safe to re use in 2 days time? Will they be any die off on them which will cause a spike…. Thanks again

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

the instructions on carbon usually say to remove it after 1-2 weeks, personally, I remove it after 4-5 days, then toss it. It cannot be used again.

Carbon binds stuff to it, so if you use it too long, or try to reuse it, it will leach the stuff back into the water again. Each grain of carbon can only hold so much stuff, then it should be tossed out.

 

[Reef.]

Doesn’t Chemi clean say to do a water change after treatment?

You can replace the carbon, but me personally I would use new as no one can say for sure when carbon gets exhausted, some say within hours some after a few weeks.

With you adding a treatment, I would want to use the freshest carbon I have so I know for sure it’s doing it’s job and removing the residue from the treatment I’ve just used.

 

[IIDRYWATERII]

Ye I’ve done a 20% water change and replaced carbon after the first treatment …… tinge of red in small spot so removed carbon again and redosed….. ye will use fresh carbon for the chemi removal after 48 hours….. Cheers

 

[Tired]

When trying to treat cyano, you're much better off fixing the conditions that allowed it to surge than just trying to dose it away. Chemiclean may take it out, may harm some of your beneficial life, and won't fix whatever let it turn up in the first place. Cyano usually comes from an imbalance of nutrients, or an excess of organics. If you don't fix the problem, it's just going to keep coming back.

What are your nitrate and phosphate, and what water do you use? If it's a home RODI filter, does the carbon cartridge need changing?

 

[IIDRYWATERII]

It’s a new tank only beaning running 3 month max…. Nitrate is at 0.5….. don’t test for phosphate….. water is premix salt water at aquarium shop….1.26 salinity ….. I don’t have phosphate pads in filter ……

 

[IIDRYWATERII]

Sorry mean I do have phosphate pad in filter

 

[IIDRYWATERII]

Nitrate at 0.5-1 hard to tell

 

[Tired]

You don't want super low nutrients when trying to deal with any pest algae. You want slower-growing, well-behaved non-pest algae to get established on your rocks, and beneficial algae needs nutrients.

You should test phosphate. If it hits zero, you're at risk of dinoflagellates, and that'll damage your corals and beneficial algae.

 

[IIDRYWATERII]

Ok thanks going to pick phosphate test up shortly and test it, I’ll post results shortly

 

[IIDRYWATERII]

Phosphates at 0 will correct this tomorrow

 

[IIDRYWATERII]

0-0.03 hard to tell

 

[IIDRYWATERII]

Done a retest I’m going with 0.03

 

[Tired]

You might want to feed a bit more, or reduce water changes, to make sure you always have detectable phosphate.

 

[IIDRYWATERII]

doing a weekly 10% water change at the moment….. got 11 fish in tank and have increased feeds a couple of days ago so hopefully should see an improvement……. What’s the ideal phosphate lvl for a healthy tank?

 

[Tired]

You'll get varying opinions. A good rule of thumb for most tanks is that you don't want to go below 0.03ppm. More phosphate than that is often fine, in fact some people have reef tanks with up to 1ppm of phosphate. Though that's quite a lot of phosphate, and some corals will object. If you shoot for at least 0.03ppm phosphate, and no more than 0.1ppm, that should keep pretty much everything happy.

 

[IIDRYWATERII]

So did the 1st dose of chemi clean and there was a very small light red tint on sand bed….. I’ve done a second dose and again a very small tint of red….. Anyone have the same issue? Waited 48 hours and did 20% water change 1st dose….. due a 20% water change late today after 48 hours…… Would you give it another 24 hours or do a 20% water change and leave dosing for a bit? Thanks in advance

 

[Tired]

If it was me, I'd stick with trying to hit good parameters and not dosing, honestly. Cyano is really easy to deal with by fixing whatever caused it to surge in the first place. Which water changes will not, if the problem is low nutrients and no competition.

You have a new tank, so you should expect pest algae. If you try to poison out every pest algae (or, in this case, bacteria), you're never going to get a balanced, mature tank. Cyano is one of the first algae-likes to turn up in most new tanks, and is going to stick around until something else surges to replace it. Then that's going to stick around for awhile. The ugly stage is inevitable, and the best way to deal with it (aside from getting ocean rock to avoid it in the first place) is to maintain reasonable nutrient levels, stock an appropriate cleanup crew, and ride it out. Eventually, it'll all sort itself out.