Cyano again or still

[NaCl_H2O]

You mentioned a "Seahorse Tank" - having any problems with it? If not, your water source probably isn't the problem.

I wouldn't "Cook LR" - seems that would only create "Dead Rock", which would just introduce more nutrients back into the tank.

Are you sure what you have is cyanobacteria? When I get cyano it is mostly on the sand/substrate and not on the rock. If on the rock, it easy is washed off with a turkey baster. Could be some other type of algae - can you describe or post a pic?

[gjuarez]

I wouldnt cook all of the rock, but I would cook a little of it, *(if nothing else works) but do it slowly and a couple of pieces at a time. Cooking the rock will help break down the stored phosphates and it will also keep it detritrus free. Cyano loves dead spots where there is low flow. You might want to consider adding perhaps another powerhead with an indirect flow at the sand bed or wherever the cyano is growing. Do weekly water changes until the cyano is gone, and once it is gone do it for a couple of weeks more. Good luck with it and keep us posted.
Jerry

[matt]

200 lbs of live rock in a 55? Sounds like you need to have a sale. I'm amazed you can fit all that rock in there and still have room for water! Live rock will certainly help with filtration, but only up to a point. Since there are all sorts of thngs living on the rock, it also presents a bioload to the tank. Plus, with that much rock, there's almost no way you can get decent flow in and around it all. Try taking half of it out, and I'm assuming you have a sand bed, get the rock up off the sand and off the back glass so you can get some real flow in there. You can use PVC tubing, cut into rings, to get most of the rock out of the sand, then just bury the PVC in sand.

If you have no sand bed, which some people like but not me, you can have more rock in there, but you're more dependent on aggressive skimming and macroalgae for filtration.

edit: oh yeah, I almost forgot. "Cooking" the live rock, I assume in order to sterilize it, is a really bad idea. You'll essentially be introducing huge amounts of dead stuff into your system. Forget you ever heard this extremely questionable idea, no matter where it came from. You pay $5/lb for rock that has marine life on it and then kill all the life? Come on....

[JimD]

Matt, "cooking" the rock is a term used to re-cure old rock and allow any embeded detritus to be evacuated/leached. Not literaly putting it in the oven. lol. Thats what I thought also when I first saw the word "cooked". Check out this link.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=437342

[texasranchers]

OOOH nooo. My hubby, the chef, would hurt me if I put rocks in his oven.

RO DI water

Seahorse tank is great. TR

[matt]

Thanks Jim, got it. Sorry about the rant!

[NaCl_H2O]

:blush Yea, I thought "cooking" involved an oven too :blush

[gjuarez]

Sorry for not specifying the cooking the live rock concept Matt. LOL Like JIm, when i first read about it I though people were boiling or baking the rock. THis concept has been around for a while. Cooking the rock is like recharging the rock. It becomes bacteria oriented again by starving the algae to death that otherwhise inhibits bacteria from growing more densely. The way it is done is to take the algae's main source of nutrition away, which are phosphates and light. THe algae dies including the coraline but you do get detritus free rock and an awesome biological filter.

[texasranchers]

I just caught up to last night's posts. Speaking of water, I did not have anything like this until I started using my RO DI unit. We set it up in Jan 2005, started having this trouble in June or July. BUT the main seahorse tank and the juvy seahorse tank uses the same water.
Our fresh planted/community tank and the Oranda tank uses tap water.

Well anyway, let me make notes on what was suggested and get started. Hope to have it fixed or sold by Christmas. Can't stand this awful mess. Trying to get pics to show you. It is thick enough I can cut it with scissors, won't 'blow' off, can't 'scrubbed' some pieces of rock that holds some of the remaining corals. TR

[gjuarez]

I wouldnt sell it man. Just keep asking questions and fighting it. You will miss it a week later if you sell it.