Cyano and rock cleaning

[bfoleyiii]

What is the harm if I take a rock (or in my case rocks) out of my tank to clean them in a bucket of salt water to remove some of the Cyano. I am thinking some of the rocks that I can easily remove from the tank I would take a power head and brush too in a bucket then I could blow off and clean. Then I could blow off and siphon out some of the rest in the tank before I start a three day lights out?

Any serious harm or damage going to be done. I figure I may lose some pods but that should really be it right?

Thanks,

[tebstan]

Depends on how nasty the rock is to begin with, and what else is in the tank. Moving it might stir up a lot of trapped detritus. Do you have cyano from flow or nutrient problems?

[Europhyllia]

I have had more problems from moving rock than from cyano.
I just blast it off with a turkey baster, siphon it out or scoop it up.

How old are your bulbs? You'd be surprised how fast this comes back if the conditions for it haven't changed

[bfoleyiii]

The tank (and thus bulbs) is only 4 months old. I don't see much settling in my tank so I dont think I have much of a flow issue. But I was feeding twice a day for a while after putting the fish in so I am certain I have a nutrient issue. (Much like Karin's sig, I like to feed but just dont have much yet to feed).

I wouldnt be pulling any of the rocks up off the sand just the few I could pull out with out disturbing anything. How well do those phosphate remover pads work?

I am debating between running a few reactors for gfo/biopelltes/gac or a ATS right now. And while I am leaning twords an ATS the wife isnt sold when she see the pictures of the algea mat some folks are getting. I would rather not run three reactors of stuff I have to replace (cost wise, not time wise). But I was thinking of throwing some of those remover pads between the baffles in my sump to try an help out some.

[ramsey]

The tank (and thus bulbs) is only 4 months old. I don't see much settling in my tank so I dont think I have much of a flow issue. But I was feeding twice a day for a while after putting the fish in so I am certain I have a nutrient issue. (Much like Karin's sig, I like to feed but just dont have much yet to feed).

I wouldnt be pulling any of the rocks up off the sand just the few I could pull out with out disturbing anything. How well do those phosphate remover pads work?

I am debating between running a few reactors for gfo/biopelltes/gac or a ATS right now. And while I am leaning twords an ATS the wife isnt sold when she see the pictures of the algea mat some folks are getting. I would rather not run three reactors of stuff I have to replace (cost wise, not time wise). But I was thinking of throwing some of those remover pads between the baffles in my sump to try an help out some.

I don't think GAC is actually going to help you with nutrient export. Biopellets and GFO certainly will but if you run Biopellets, you may not need GFO. I would run them for a while and check your phosphate level. It seems that some folks don't need it, while other folks do.

[Europhyllia]

I think your tank is still so young to where it may resolve itself after awhile if you just keep blowing it off the surface of the rocks/substrate/corals

[FireWater]

I agree with Karin. At 4 months old you may be seeing swings in the natural maturation process. One thing I did not see is your water change regimen. Try upping the frequency or amount you change and see what that does for you before you go spending a lot of money. The only thing I would worry about in pulling rock out to scrub it is starting another mini cycle in the tank once they are introduced back. When you do the water changes try using the turkey baster process to blast the rocks and then siphon out the water. Justahobby is one that always blasts the rocks in his tank. I do it about once a week just to help export stuff and keep detritus from settling on the rocks.

[bfoleyiii]

I change about 10% a week. And while some of it is probably new tank issues I would (as would the family) rather take a more active approach in removal now than to find out 3 months down the road that it was more than just growing pains. I'm actually looking to make some sort of filter out of PVC that I can run my sand vacuum through where I can use it to suck up the stuff I blow off and just run it throw the pvc/filter back into the sump so that I can spend some time on it outside the normal water change days. But I'm guessing with a few replies now that those removal pads dont do much and not really worth the cost?

Any one had any luck running gfo more passive rather than a reactor? Reading shows that bio pellets really need to be tumbling but I've seen posts of folks that just bag and sump GFO and carbon.

And I did blow some off the rocks a couple of weeks ago and obviously did not do a good enough job, I'm guessing, getting it out of the water with the vacuum as it really started to spread after that. I'm guessing it settled around started growing again.

But from what you all have said I will probably just skip removing any rocks to clean them and just handle as much in tank as possible. I'm thinking, larger water change followed by a full lights out/cover for three days with a second large water change after that and see how much we can knock it back.

Thanks,

[FireWater]

I would up the water change frequency and/or amount. Example would be a 25% change and vacuum as much cyano as I could while doing that water change. You said you liked to feed with not much to eat the food so you may have added to the issue there. You did say that you don't do that anymore right? You have to figure out the best way to remove the excess nutrients that works for you and your set up. You can run gfo and carbon bagged in the sump, but carbon may not help with what you need and bagging it is not the best way to run either of them. Your filter/vacuum proposal sounds pretty cool and if it filters enough of the particulate out then that could work. I would try a reactor with gfo if you want to move forward and not be passive about it. Keep up with regular water changes after the initial large change and test the tank water for results.

[bfoleyiii]

Testing is pretty moot atm as both phosphate and nitrates are showing zero, but that is because they are being consumed before they can show up on the test is my guess.

[FireWater]

True, but once you start the vacuuming and manually remove the cyano and/or algae you should see something if it is there.

[Europhyllia]

once the cyano is established it sort off lives off of nothing. That's why even when people add the GFO media they often still have cyano. Or when you use biopellets and macro and hair algae can't survive but cyano still can.
I feel like I had good results with ZeoZym but it could have just been natural ageing of the tank too. If you have a sponge dying in your system it can kick off a cyano bloom - I think Xenia might do that as well.

[BSJF]

Flow, flow, flow.

If you are cleaning rocks once every 2 weeks, it isn't enough to rid you of the problem. Clean them daily even if all you do is go around a blow each rock off with a baster. Each time you clean, you release nutrients in the water from the dieoff, so the less you do a time creates a better balance in the system. I also wouldn't do a larger water change than what is needed to clean the rock (unless you have high nitrates or phosphates), as you are importing new nutrients that it feeds on too each time you do. If you are adding any trace element supplements, stop.

If you take the rocks out to clean, be sure to use your existing tank water to clean and rinse them, then put new water directly into the tank to replace what you took out to clean them with. Less shock on the rock that way. I haven't had problems doing this, as long as you don't have to disturb anything and you match temp, pH, salinity...

6 months is the magic number, no matter how hard you work. But, I can't stand to look at that stuff myself.

[FireWater]

Good luck with which ever method you use.