jimbonds Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Good luck with the Cyano, I hope it clears up easily for you! Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 Thanks, I hope it clears up quickly without issue. Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 Cyano is a pain in the butt! 1 Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 New tank problems, just keep at it, it will balance out. 1 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 how do you tell cyano vs diatom? i always thought you can blow cyano off but diatom is more sticky. Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 how do you tell cyano vs diatom? i always thought you can blow cyano off but diatom is more sticky. red vs. brown... bubbles vs no bubbles. etc i had in in my ten gal in college within the first few months. not too concerned, just mildly annoyed haha Quote Link to comment
gena Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 red vs. brown... bubbles vs no bubbles. etc i had in in my ten gal in college within the first few months. not too concerned, just mildly annoyed haha I think every new tank goes through this. It's tough to see it though. I'm so glad your fish are fine now! They must be very healthy fish . 1 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 Did a 12 gal water change- siphoned what little remained of the cyano (looked more like diatoms in places) and thoroughly stirred things up. replaced carbon, floss. waiting for things to clear. 4 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Did a 12 gal water change- siphoned what little remained of the cyano (looked more like diatoms in places) and thoroughly stirred things up. replaced carbon, floss. waiting for things to clear. Sounds like a good plan of attack. I agree with Kat, I think if you keep on keeping on with faithful husbandry that you will be just fine and this will be just a temporary phase. 1 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted January 9, 2016 Share Posted January 9, 2016 Did a 12 gal water change- siphoned what little remained of the cyano (looked more like diatoms in places) and thoroughly stirred things up. replaced carbon, floss. waiting for things to clear. great minds think a lot. just done installing media reactor in mine, replaced all the filter floss, cleaned up sump. 1 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 some small patches of brown are on my sand this morning- very minimal. they look like diatoms, but then, the cyano i had before did too. ill keep and eye on it and if necessary, re-dose chemiclean in a day or two. i don't want to throw anything else off balance in the tank by doing too many water changes too quickly. Params: Ca: 430 Mg: 1290 Alk: 9.9 Nitrate/Nitrite: 0 Ammonia: 0 SpG: 1.026 2 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 10, 2016 Author Share Posted January 10, 2016 ok- going to raise the Ca and slightly lower the alk. see if that helps encourage coral growth. 1 Quote Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Your cal/alk are right near their balance as it is. Adding more calcium alone will do nothing for growth. 1 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Your cal/alk are right near their balance as it is. Adding more calcium alone will do nothing for growth. good to know. i boosted by 3 mls, so it wasn't much of a bump, but i may just leave it as is.... I've read a bunch of conflicting information. i think maybe I'm not seeing the growth i was seeing in the 20 just because its a new tank i transferred into. 1 Quote Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 good to know. i boosted by 3 mls, so it wasn't much of a bump, but i may just leave it as is.... I've read a bunch of conflicting information. i think maybe I'm not seeing the growth i was seeing in the 20 just because its a new tank i transferred into. IMHO, give it time. Even moving every piece of live rock and every bit of sand into a new tank doesn't bring it over 100% just like it was, takes quite a bit of time for everything to stabilize, usually starts around 6-8 months and then around a year to 18 months stuff will really settle in and take off 3 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 IMHO, give it time. Even moving every piece of live rock and every bit of sand into a new tank doesn't bring it over 100% just like it was, takes quite a bit of time for everything to stabilize, usually starts around 6-8 months and then around a year to 18 months stuff will really settle in and take off exactly. the fact that I'm already seeing a LITTLE growth should mean a lot. Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Love the look of your little fuge, with those macros and Xenia. If you find that you've got diatoms, and you run out of patience, try a UV Sterilzer. I had bad diatoms that nothing would get rid of. I got a used UV Sterilzer for $50, plugged it in, kept the sand stirred up, the rocks blown off, and it was gone in a week or two. 2 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Started treatment again for cyano- it's definitely diatoms. The red slime is definitely gone- I took it out with the first treatment of chemiclean. However, this helps confirm as well- they're diatoms. Which is fine, and to be expected with new sand. I guess it also makes sense that they've appeared in more full force after a solid sand-bed stirring session. I should cut that out.. It's hard though, trying to figure out my flow... andI have the sugar fine sand... so it blows everywhere. I'll figure it out! I am determined. In other news: Ten days left in my masters program. 1 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 Whoa- just tested ca and alk... ca- 490 alk- 9.3 (whoa... dropped fast. bumping by a mil to help it plateau) i need to test my alk with brand new salt water before i do a water change- it's possible that the IO is mixing with a high alk, which is why i tested at 9.9 right after a change... hm. Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 regular IO or RC? RC has very very high alk, i had a batch with 12. not sure about IO though... Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 i switched to IO because the alk varied so much between batches of RC last year... haven't tested it since the summer though- that was like a box of salt ago... Quote Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 i switched to IO because the alk varied so much between batches of RC last year... haven't tested it since the summer though- that was like a box of salt ago... I used to use IO and RC but found the alkalinity was always 10 or higher and magnesium was usually low. I use Brightwell NeoMarine now and I love it. Mixes to 7.5-8 alkalinity everytime and magnesium always at 1300 and cal at 425. Really consistent stuff every batch. 1 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted January 13, 2016 Author Share Posted January 13, 2016 I used to use IO and RC but found the alkalinity was always 10 or higher and magnesium was usually low. I use Brightwell NeoMarine now and I love it. Mixes to 7.5-8 alkalinity everytime and magnesium always at 1300 and cal at 425. Really consistent stuff every batch. hows the price? Quote Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 I used to use IO, because salt is salt lol, but I found a place that sells Red Sea salt for just a bit more. The '160 gallon' bucket of Instant Ocean is $45, which makes it seem like it is only about $0.28/gal - but the quoted volume of water is only at 25ppt, not 35ppt. It only makes 133 gallons of 35ppt water, which brings the cost to $0.34/gal. Red Sea salt makes 175 gallons at 34ppt and costs $65 for that bucket, so the total cost is only $0.37/gal. It mixes up very quickly (just a few minutes) and doesn't have the same organics that IO and RC do, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it keeps the mixing vessel cleaner 4 Quote Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 hows the price? You can find it usually for $65 per 150 gallon bucket. It's one of the more expensive salts but worth every penny. Using jedis fancy formula it costs $0.43 per gallon at 35ppt. Quote Link to comment
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