cyanobacteria question

[Deborah Armay]

I had an outbreak of cyanobacteria which frequent water changes did not completely take care of. I used chemiclean and it did not the job beautifully. The problem I'm having is that I can't use my skimmer. Its been about two weeks since I used the Chemiclean and everyday I try my skimmer but even on the lowest setting the bubbles rapidly overflow into the cup. I have an reef octopus skimmer. The parameters in my tank are as follows:
PH 8
Alkalinity 9
salinity 35
PH 8
Ca 500
Mg 1300
Phosphate 0.06
Nitrates 8 ppm
What am I doing wrong? Thanks for everyone's help.

 

[Nate Chalk]

Thats what chemiclean does. I dont know the exact science. But what fixes it is letting the skimmer run super wet. Then adding fresh water back in.

How old is the tank?

 

[Garf]

I had an outbreak of cyanobacteria which frequent water changes did not completely take care of. I used chemiclean and it did not the job beautifully. The problem I'm having is that I can't use my skimmer. Its been about two weeks since I used the Chemiclean and everyday I try my skimmer but even on the lowest setting the bubbles rapidly overflow into the cup. I have an reef octopus skimmer. The parameters in my tank are as follows:
PH 8
Alkalinity 9
salinity 35
PH 8
Ca 500
Mg 1300
Phosphate 0.06
Nitrates 8 ppm
What am I doing wrong? Thanks for everyone's help.

You just gotta let it bubble out and replace it with fresh saltwater. Get rid of them toxins.

 

[JumboShrimp]

I agree— since that’s what the Chemiclean ‘wants to do,’ your probably retarding the process of getting rid of the chemical by not letting it skim out. I don’t know your set-up (internal skimmer, external skimmer, etc), but maybe get creative and with the cup lid off, let the wet bubbles overflow into a large plastic trash bag. Just brainstorming on that last part. Lol.

 

[Greg P]

Thats what chemiclean does. I dont know the exact science. But what fixes it is letting the skimmer run super wet. Then adding fresh water back in.

How old is the tank?

I'll add that adding back fresh SALTwater is probably what Nate meant to write

 

[Greg P]

It will also help if you use some GAC if you're able to

 

[Nate Chalk]

I'll add that adding back fresh SALTwater is probably what Nate meant to write

Yes

 

[Deborah Armay]

Thats what chemiclean does. I dont know the exact science. But what fixes it is letting the skimmer run super wet. Then adding fresh water back in.

How old is the tank?

Tank is 4 years old.

 

[Deborah Armay]

I did a 20% water change the next day and have auto water change set up to change out 4 gallons a day. The tank is 150 gallons. So its an internal slimmer. On the lowest setting it will fill up the cup in probably a minute. How do I do that? Should I do more water changes. Would that help? Thanks

 

[Deborah Armay]

It will also help if you use some GAC if you're able to

I've got GAC running.

 

[mermaid_life]

A couple of big water changes will fix that.

 

[Greg P]

Leave the skimmer overflowing back into the sump for aeration.
Change the carbon every 2-3 days. 100ml/grams should do the job.

Last time I cleaned out ChemiClean, I did a 20% WC on day 1 with carbon.
Day 2 I did another 20% WC and my skimmer calmed down enough to start tuning it. Then I used the skimmer to remove the rest of the gunk with cup water removal and water replacement until it calmed down enough to return the skimmer to normal.
Your situation will differ, but essentially you'll need to use the skimmer to 'dump' the water until you can tune your skimmer.

 

[Deborah Armay]

Leave the skimmer overflowing back into the sump for aeration.
Change the carbon every 2-3 days. 100ml/grams should do the job.

Last time I cleaned out ChemiClean, I did a 20% WC on day 1 with carbon.
Day 2 I did another 20% WC and my skimmer calmed down enough to start tuning it. Then I used the skimmer to remove the rest of the gunk with cup water removal and water replacement until it calmed down enough to return the skimmer to normal.
Your situation will differ, but essentially you'll need to use the skimmer to 'dump' the water until you can tune your skimmer.

Thanks you all. Did a 30 gallon water change this AM and was able to start my skimmer. Thanks again.

 

[Nate Chalk]

Thanks you all. Did a 30 gallon water change this AM and was able to start my skimmer. Thanks again.

great to hear