MechEng99
07/07/2010, 05:39 AM
Hello all!
I've been keeping SPS for about 4 years now...and I'm now absolutely stumped why I can't get a tank to cycle properly. This is aquarium #4 in my house, and all others are doing great. It's been sitting at the cyano phase for 10 months now...and this is about to be me: :blown:
Tank Stats:
150g Display, 40g sump
Lighting: 2 x 400W MH + 2 x 54W T-5 actinics
Flow: 60x turnover rate
Skimmer: Octopus Extreme 250
Livestock (fed one pinch of Formula Two twice a day, plus a clip of seaweed and 1/2 block frozen food every 2 days):
Female Watanabe Angel
Chocolate Tang
2 Chromis
2 Lyretail Anthias
1 Splendid Leopard Wrasse
Misc snails & hermit crabs
Cleaner shrimp
Chemicals:
Ca: 420
Alk: 10.2
pH: 8.3
Mag: 1350
Phosphates: 0 (Salifert - tested against another test kit too)
Nitrates: 0 (Salifert and API)
Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Salinity: 1.025
I can't grow any sort of macroalgae to outcompete the cyano. I've tried chaeto, grape caulerpa (got desperate), halimeda, and graciliaria. It just dies off.
I'm running GFO 24/7 as well, but not in a reactor (reactor arrives tomorrow). I also have a RDSB. All sponges/filter socks are cleaned every 3 days. Skimmer runs wet and pulls out about 1/3 gallon of green skimmate every 3-4 days. Water changes are every 10 days at 10%. There is NO other type of algae in the tank. Just cyano (and yes, I know it's bacteria). Water is RO/DI - TDS meter doesn't work, so I just change my filters every 6 months or when algae starts to grow in any of my tanks. Bulbs are 6 months old (and this cyano problem started from pretty much day 1.)
Two of my other tanks are SPS-dominant. Macroalgae grows great in one of those tanks, but not in the other. No pest algae in either tank (so one tank just can't grow any algae at all.)
So, to recap, it seems to me that the usual causes of cyano all check out ok. What am I missing? My only thought is that I used entirely base rock and seeded the tank with only 1 cup of water from my safest tank (I'm really really cautious about getting pests/nuisance algae in my tank). Could it be that there's just a really serious bacterial imbalance? It's been 10 months...but if the other bacteria is outcompeted by the cyano, then I don't think I'll ever see a change unless I do something. Any thoughts on this?
I ordered a phosphate reactor and Prodibio Bio-Clean. I'm not one to usually dose things (other than Ca, Alk, Mag) in my tank, but I'm desperate at this point. I think seeding the tank with other strains of bacteria may help fight the cyano.
Thanks for the help and for reading this rambling post. :)
I've been keeping SPS for about 4 years now...and I'm now absolutely stumped why I can't get a tank to cycle properly. This is aquarium #4 in my house, and all others are doing great. It's been sitting at the cyano phase for 10 months now...and this is about to be me: :blown:
Tank Stats:
150g Display, 40g sump
Lighting: 2 x 400W MH + 2 x 54W T-5 actinics
Flow: 60x turnover rate
Skimmer: Octopus Extreme 250
Livestock (fed one pinch of Formula Two twice a day, plus a clip of seaweed and 1/2 block frozen food every 2 days):
Female Watanabe Angel
Chocolate Tang
2 Chromis
2 Lyretail Anthias
1 Splendid Leopard Wrasse
Misc snails & hermit crabs
Cleaner shrimp
Chemicals:
Ca: 420
Alk: 10.2
pH: 8.3
Mag: 1350
Phosphates: 0 (Salifert - tested against another test kit too)
Nitrates: 0 (Salifert and API)
Amm: 0
Nitrite: 0
Salinity: 1.025
I can't grow any sort of macroalgae to outcompete the cyano. I've tried chaeto, grape caulerpa (got desperate), halimeda, and graciliaria. It just dies off.
I'm running GFO 24/7 as well, but not in a reactor (reactor arrives tomorrow). I also have a RDSB. All sponges/filter socks are cleaned every 3 days. Skimmer runs wet and pulls out about 1/3 gallon of green skimmate every 3-4 days. Water changes are every 10 days at 10%. There is NO other type of algae in the tank. Just cyano (and yes, I know it's bacteria). Water is RO/DI - TDS meter doesn't work, so I just change my filters every 6 months or when algae starts to grow in any of my tanks. Bulbs are 6 months old (and this cyano problem started from pretty much day 1.)
Two of my other tanks are SPS-dominant. Macroalgae grows great in one of those tanks, but not in the other. No pest algae in either tank (so one tank just can't grow any algae at all.)
So, to recap, it seems to me that the usual causes of cyano all check out ok. What am I missing? My only thought is that I used entirely base rock and seeded the tank with only 1 cup of water from my safest tank (I'm really really cautious about getting pests/nuisance algae in my tank). Could it be that there's just a really serious bacterial imbalance? It's been 10 months...but if the other bacteria is outcompeted by the cyano, then I don't think I'll ever see a change unless I do something. Any thoughts on this?
I ordered a phosphate reactor and Prodibio Bio-Clean. I'm not one to usually dose things (other than Ca, Alk, Mag) in my tank, but I'm desperate at this point. I think seeding the tank with other strains of bacteria may help fight the cyano.
Thanks for the help and for reading this rambling post. :)