eurithromyacin

[Jaws]

Thanks guys. I got the prizm pro working pretty good now... at least as good as a prizm pro can work. Things are looking a little better today too. I need to syphon the bottom again though. I only feed once a day and only half a cube of prime reef and the same amount of mysis. Can having too many fish in your tank be a contributor?

[MitchM]

I think you need something else in there to take up the extra pollutants that could be leaching out from the sand and/or rocks. Lighter feeding and heavier skimming won't do it, IMO.
I've never tried Phosban, but a lot of people recommend it. Have you any macroalgaes growing in the system?
I'm at the point of adding some macros to my tank pretty soon to hopefully acclomplish the same thing.
Sand beds and "dirty" live rock (as in LR that doesn't have sufficient water flow around it) are phosphate sponges in themselves.

Mitch

[Jaws]

No macro algaes. The only other filtration I have is a fluval 404 which doesn't do a whole lot.

[Aquattro]

The fluval will contribute to nitrates, get rid of it. You're feeding way too much, IMO, for a time when you're having cyano problems. I'd feed some dry pellets once a day, mysis maybe once a week, sparingly. If you have too many fish, then yes, that can contribute.
What type of water change schedule are you using?

[Jaws]

20% every Sunday.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Jaws

20% every Sunday.

good amount. Try and baste the rocks off when you doa water change, just to remove floaties.

[Jaws]

I usually try to do that. I think the dumbest thing I did was drag a net over the bottom 4 or 5 days ago to pick up all the cyano because the syphon wouldn't pick it up. That probably just made the problem worse. Thanks for all your help guys.

[Beverly]

Originally Posted by reef_raf

The fluval will contribute to nitrates, get rid of it.

IME, any mechanical filter will become a nitrate and phosphate producer if not cleaned frequently. It's best to thoroughly clean the filter media during EACH water change in the outgoing changewater.

Now, to get picky about mechanical filtation, if it weren't for the filter media in our tanks, TONS of crud would simply stay in the tank and produce MORE nitrate and phosphate.

IMO, the key to keeping any reef system from becoming overloaded with nuisance algae or cyano is to find the balance between food input and poop output, whether it's by:

- better skimming
- reducing the number fo fish in the tank
- feeding less but not starving the fish
- having macroalgae in the main tank that utilizes the nutrients
- keeping mechanical filtration clean
- using a refugium.

Sounds like jaws inherited a tank that the original owner was having problems with and decided to sell it rather than deal with the problems. In this situation, I would either remove the sandbed and clean it in changewater, or remove the sandbed completely. Plus, I would add macroalgae to utilize the nutrients and, if possible, add more LR.

jaws may test for phosphate, but if the cyano is already there, it is probably utilizing the phosphate and his tests may show 0 ppm.

[Jaws]

Thanks Bev. Good advice. I'll clean the fluval today when I do another water change. Any advice on how to clean the fluval? I'll be adding more rock in a few days too. I want to reduce the number of fish in the tank but I'd rather not do that until February when I move. It will be much easier then. Hopefully when I move though, I'll be transfering everything into my 180 and will be going bare bottom so I won't have this problem. This will probably shock everyone but I'm going to list all the fish I have in my 90G and hope someone can tell me how much to feed them:

Regal Angel
Blue Hippo Tang
Yellow Tang
Two Skunk Clown Fish
Six Line Wrasse
Cleaner Wrasse
Pink Spotted Watchman Goby
Spotted Mandarin
Lawnmower Blenny
Five Green Chromis

Before you judge me, keep in mind I did buy this tank off someone else. I'd also like to transfer all of them to the 180G if possible.

[Aquattro]

GASP!!!!! That many fish?? Wow! Jason, pretty much what I said on the first page. Some dry food once a day, making sure it all gets eaten. Mysis once a week as a treat. Best way to clean the fluval is FW with bleach. Then post it for sale to someone with a fish only tank. Cannisters don't belong on reefs. Live rock is there to perform nitrification, not cannisters. They are competing with each other, and your rock will suffer. To remove it, take out half the media this water change, and then take the whole filter out at your next water change. This will let your rock build bacterial populations to compensate for the loss of the cannister.
And while the fish load is on the high side, it is easily manageable. I wouldn't worry about keeping them all until you get the 180 going.