Im pouring bleach into my tank...Ive had enough.

redspot321 · #1 10/09/2006, 09:17 AM

Seriously, Im taking pics along the way for you all to see.

Im looking for feedback on this Idea. I have already made a decision to do it, I just need thoughts and Ideas to ensure my critters are safe.

The Problem......10 months of dinoflagette HELL!!!!!!!! I really can't take anymore of this. I have spent close to a grand trying to get rid of these nasty things.

The plan.... Remove everything (water, corals, etc) from my reef and place it into a SEPERATE storage tank with powerheads. I mean everything! I am then going to pour a gallon of bleach into the main display (without life) and let it run overnight. Hopefully this will kill any and everything in the tank.

After disinfecting the tank, I am going to drain it and refill it with tap water and dechlorinator. I will let this run for an hour.

After neturalizing the chlorine, I am going to drain the system and make 100% fresh salt water. This tank and water should be bug free!

Now I have to take care of the rock and corals.
1. I plan to scrub all rocks with a scrub brush.
2. In a second bucket of original SW from the tank I am going to shake all the Detritus from the rocks.
3. In a third bucket I am going to dip every rock and coral in a lugols solution for 10 minutes then return to the tank.

*****Should I use a freshwater dip here?*****

This is last resort, I have tried everything else!

Scatcat · #2 10/09/2006, 10:01 AM

Good Luck man I know how frustrating it can be I still battle with cyno.

Scatcat

kiknchikn · #3 10/09/2006, 10:09 AM

I wish you luck as well. I'm dreading an out break like that will happen to me as my tank matures.

I'm not an expert, but I don't think a FW dip will do anything beneficial for you in this case. I could be wrong though?

redspot321 · #4 10/09/2006, 10:20 AM

Guys thanks for support.

Scatcat have you done a search on cyano? Ive had it before it was fairly easy to rid with flow, 0 TDS, decreased feedings. I also had cyano in my 125 FO tank. Chemi clean knocked it out in 2 days.

john rochon · #5 10/09/2006, 10:34 AM

don't do it man, it doesn't gaurentee no more outbreaks in the future. 1 single cell of that stuff can start it up again.
I'm winning the battles after about 7 months [500g tank] so I know your pain. its all about nutrients and I've try'd EVERYTHING.
things that finally paid off.
#1. remove all fish
#2. reduce lights.
#3.syphon top 1/2'' of sandbed after each water change.
#4.run carbon all the time and lots of it and change it often!!
#5.use filter floss on the drains somewere and change it daily.
this has finally paid off for me so I know how you feel cost me tons of $$$ in salt,water and carbon but the tank looks way way better. you'll probally get a bout of flatworms and/or aptasia after this as its an indicator of lots of nutrients as well.

john rochon · #6 10/09/2006, 10:34 AM

forgot to add, I also upped my KALK dripping.

redspot321 · #7 10/09/2006, 10:47 AM

#1. remove all fish (I went fishless for months)
#2. reduce lights ( How much can you reduce them? My sps started to bleach)
#3.syphon top 1/2'' of sandbed after each water change. ( I have no sandbed and turkey baste daily to remove dinos off zoanthids)
#4.run carbon all the time and lots of it and change it often!! ( I do 1 cup every other day in a 55 gallon, should I change more?)
#5.use filter floss on the drains somewere and change it daily. I have not tried this, but I do have a pre filter that I rinse daily.)

I also throw on my magnum hot filter once a week to remove organice down to a few microns.

Dont get me wrong, my tank looks 90% better than it did 9 months ago, but I want them GONE!!! I figure this really cant hurt anything. Mu nutrients should be low after a 100% h2o change with 0 tds water.

Thanks for your reply

kiknchikn · #8 10/09/2006, 10:54 AM

Probably a dumb question, as it seems you've been working on this for a long time, but do you use RO water? And do you test it for phos and trates before adding it?

Also, I got rid of the majority of my algae problems (so far) by removing it from my system by wiping it off with paper towels and siphoning it out. I'm sure you've tried that too though.

pperez · #9 10/09/2006, 11:28 AM

I am doing the same thing as you except i am getting rid of bubble algea. The only difference is that i will be going all fresh. New rocks and sand. I would not chance it if i was you. Scrubbing the rocks will not eliminate it and you will probably be in the same position down the road. Unless you cook your rocks for months on end. Good luck!

marinelife · #10 10/09/2006, 11:29 AM

You should find the problem or you will just get it back in a few months

trippyl · #11 10/09/2006, 11:32 AM

do you rinse the food? I find that rinsing the frozen food before I feed it helps alot. And you'd be surprised at just how much crap comes out of the food that otherwise would be going into my tank. I feed primarily frozen mysis, plankton, and a variety of other frozen foods.

I use a few teaspoons of tank water and pour it over the food, then drain the water out again. Repeat a couple of more times. Then feed. Makes a huge difference.

Incidentally, a few months back I did a similar job with the tank in order to remove a coral eating shrimp. I took the opportunity to scrub the rocks and otherwise clean things up. It made no difference in the amount of cyano after about a week or two. OTOH, the effect I get by rinsing the food is really amazing.

redspot321 · #12 10/09/2006, 11:43 AM

Yes, I use RO, always have. I originally used a 100gpd membrane with a 15 TDS reading. When I first got dinos 10 months ago I switched to a 75 gpd and added a redundant DI filter for TDS readings of 0.

Honestly, I dont fully believe this is a cure for my problem, for its worth a shot! At this point Im willing to try anything any of you suggest.

I have read a few post by reefers that said this kind of measure fixed their dino problem.

People said increasing their ph helped as well, but not for me.

Who knows.

redspot321 · #13 10/09/2006, 11:46 AM

Shaking the detritus out of the rocks may help though, no?

Marinelife, do you have any suggestions?

kiknchikn · #14 10/09/2006, 12:11 PM

That should help remove some nutrients, yes. Might want to scrub them too.

Ron Popeil · #15 10/09/2006, 12:30 PM

i know a friend of mine swears by bare bottom tanks. perhaps just removing the sand, and blasting your rocks with water to remove all the settled detritus, then replacing them into your tank will have an effect on the amount of available nutrients in your tank.

redspot321 · #16 10/09/2006, 12:58 PM

Ron Dont you sell something for this? ?????

I ve been bare bottom for months. I blow off my rocks very often as well........................yea...........

trippyl · #17 10/09/2006, 01:31 PM

Shaking and scrubbing rocks will certainly help dislodge whatever crap is in the rocks, and will help to keep the tank clear. but I have a feeling that you will see the cyano come back rather quickly.

Some say BB solves the problem. I don't believe that, although I do believe that BB makes it much easier to keep a clean tank.

Ultimately, the cyano appearing/feeding on something being added to the tank - there is no substance buried in the tank that is just causing recurrant cyano - it's something that you are adding (intentionally or not).

In my case, it seems like that something was in the food which is why rinsing food helped me. Note that I had to rinse the food for a few weeks in order to see a decline in cyano. But all other things remaining the same (i.e. same weekly water changes, same kalk dosing, RO Water, same amount of food being fed), rinsing the food really helped.

spoiledcats · #18 10/09/2006, 01:39 PM

What kind of flow do you have in your tank?

Randall_James · #19 10/09/2006, 01:40 PM

Wow bleach.... certainly sterilize the tank...

All said above "Excess Nutrient"

The rock may leech nutrient for months after the source is found and stopped (presumably over feeding of the tank)

With no fish in the system, I would think you could do very well at reducing nutrient import and run your macro algae to help export what is in the system.

Systematic cleaning, replacement or removal of the substrate may help as well. (barebottom as you are fixes this problem)

Removal of trapped detritus and garbage from rocks is important too. A power head feeding a hose works wonders for this. It is amazing how much trash is in the rocks... ( I would even do this seperate from the main display to remove the trash once and for all)

I think a big problem is using chemical solutions (band-aids) without addressing the real issue (nutrient import)

barjam · #20 10/09/2006, 02:05 PM

I got all my params in line and then nuked it with chemi-clean and it hasn't been back since. I think the stuff is self feeding if you get too much of it.

redspot321 · #21 10/09/2006, 02:24 PM

trippy, is dinoflagettes not cyano

I went fishless for months (no food) I small tang that eats a small amount of nori and a clown that lives off the reef! dinoflagettes are photosynthetic ( can make their own food).

FLOW
RIo 2100 as a return
Internal 2x rio 2100's in each corner of the tank
1 hagen behind the rocks

Plenty O' Flow

CYANO is not what I have in my tank.
Dinos is not algae

trippyl · #22 10/09/2006, 02:30 PM

I know that they are different, but given the first four posts in this thread, I didn't think that you did :>

I have no suggestions for combating dino other than to try sucking it out as often as possible when doing water changes.

gman0526 · #23 10/09/2006, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by redspot321
trippy, is dinoflagettes not cyano I went fishless for months (no food) I small tang that eats a small amount of nori and a clown that lives off the reef! dinoflagettes are photosynthetic ( can make their own food).

FLOW
RIo 2100 as a return
Internal 2x rio 2100's in each corner of the tank
1 hagen behind the rocks

Plenty O' Flow

CYANO is not what I have in my tank.
Dinos is not algae

You have plenty flow just not used properly. If there's crap settling on your rock then you're wasting the flow. Tweak the flow first, then go ahead and nuke it if you feel that's what you need to do.

raddogz · #24 10/09/2006, 03:22 PM

This how I "cured" this problem.

I added chemi-clean (turned off the skimmer), and turned off the lights for about three and a half days.

I did a twenty percent water change, and kept changing about five gallons every second or third day. I did the following for a week.

The dino stuff went away. The fish and corals came through fine. I had to adjust the lighting for the corals once I had the lighting schedule come back up.

shinny · #25 10/09/2006, 04:07 PM

Can you get a picture of your dino problem? I am just curious as to what it looks like in your tank. I am curious how it can look so bad?