Question in post use chemiclean

[Taxus812]

So I had a pump failure and it resulted in some pretty aggressive cyano growth. I already was a bit high on phosphates and nitrates (.12 and 15). I figured the two set the stage for a bloom.

I decided to try chemiclean. It worked well. After 48hrs I did the 30% water change. My corals and fish actually perked up). When I measured the phosphates and nitrates today (the next day), they were .22 phosphate and 20 nitrates. Much higher than I keep.

Since I just did a 30% water change,
my question is will chemiclean skew my testing? If so for how long?

Before

After

 

[Amboss72]

Yeah your test readings may temporarily be skewed. Your skimmer hasn’t been in operation to remove dissolved organics during the treatment. Hopefully you added fresh carbon at the time of your water change. Your tank looks great now. Don’t stress your present test reads. I’ve had the exact thing happen post Chemiclean on many tanks.

 

[Taxus812]

Yeah your test readings may temporarily be skewed. Your skimmer hasn’t been in operation to remove dissolved organics during the treatment. Hopefully you added fresh carbon at the time of your water change. Your tank looks great now. Don’t stress your present test reads. I’ve had the exact thing happen post Chemiclean on many tanks.

Thanks. I did change a new carbon and filter pads with the water change. I plan to change it again in a week. My skimmer and pad are getting filthy quick so I imagine the carbon will be spent pretty quickly.

 

[Taxus812]

Interesting thing I noticed but want to understand why, is the polyps seem to be opening much more than even before the cyano outbreak.

I would like to try and keep this type of behavior.

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

The test results aren't skewed, they really are that high. The cyanobacteria died and released all those nutrients back into the water. This is why so many people have it come back if they don't have a way to export those nutrients. GFO or Phosban to help with the phosphates. Don't over do it though. Bad things happen when you bottom out nutrients.

 

[Amboss72]

Hence the release of the nutrients maybe why your corals are more polyped out. The 30% water change is the method of exporting the released nutrients along with kicking your protein skimmer back on. Certainly there is a reason for taking gfo, carbon, uv and ozone all offline during the treatment. We know those reasons. Certainly it’s most important to figure out why you got Cyanobacteria in the first place. Phosphates, nitrates, poor water quality in general both pre salted and post salted, water flow etc. On another note make sure your not cross contaminating your tank from other tanks.

 

[Taxus812]

Geesh my measurements were taken post 30% water change. I would hate to see them pre.

I’m running my skimmer a bit wet and will measure again in the morning. It has been pulling out lots of nasty gook. I’m cleaning my filter pads daily as well. I have a chempure elite (GFO and carbon) bag ready if they are still high.

I do know why I had an outbreak. I was feeding pellet in the am trying to keep my phosphates off of zero. The pellets I found add a lot of phosphates and nitrates . I was measuring daily in the evening so I could work out a balance . Then one of my wave pumps had an issue while I was at work (plus it was a hot day) and did not get flow across the sandbed. The outbreak was VERY rapid so I was lazy and nuked it. (In the past I would just go lights out, adjust flow and vacuum the sand bed)

 

[Terry Mattson]

Cyno appears to be common. I just completed 48 hours. Sand was covered before treatment and some on rocks. I removed a bunch before treatment by hand. My phosphate was .031 and nitrates 0 (api), so likely 0 to 2.5 before treatment. Chemiclean really worked well. Will do water change tomorrow and get carbon, gfo, and skimmer back on line. Zoas are interesting and puzzling sometime. My issue after doing everything I knew was iodine was to low. Added a few drops and they all opened within 12 hours. I now test to make sure it is not below .05 ....

 

[Bret Brinkmann]

Water changes are not always the best approach to exporting. A 30% water change probably dropped nitrates 30% roughly.

 

[Hermie]

This is based on my understanding:

chemi clean doesn't make cyano just disappear, it breaks it down. So, the nutrients that used to constitute the cyanobacteria are now floating in your tank, which presumably get "processed" by non-cyano bacteria and turned into nitrates, which explains why you would see a nitrate/phosphate spike after using chemi-clean. I have to say that I also noticed my corals extended polyps after using it. I assume they want the nutrients.