RaymondNoodles
Active Member
20g mixed reef with LPS and softies has been running for 4 years. Typically nitrate has been 50ish and phosphate .6-.8. Haven’t had any algae, cyano or dinos for years.
Recently cyano and dinos have been running rampant for the last 6 months. I’ve lost most coral. Prior to this outbreak, the tank had been very stable for years. I would do a 30% water change once a month. When I first noticed cyano creeping up I also noticed none of my micro brittle starfish legs poking out from the rocks as normal. There were probably 50 of them prior. I believe they all died. Haven’t seen one in months. Phosphate at that time was out of range on my ULR Hanna checker (above .9). Nitrate was out of range on my Red Sea test kit (above 50). I did a 30% water change but nitrate and phosphate did not come down within range. Waited a few days and did a 50% water change. Still out of range. Waited a week and did another 50% water change, still out of range.
The only thing I can think is something killed all the starfish which caused nutrients to sky rocket. Perhaps the high nutrients killed them in the first place? Salinity and temp have been very consistent at 77F and 1.025. I have another tank using the same RODI water in the same room which hasn’t had any issues.
I’ve been manually removing the cyano and dinos but after a couple days they are coated over nearly all the rock and coral I’ve had cyano and dino out breaks in the past when nutrients were very low when the tanks were much younger but never at this stage. Something must be very out of wack.
Thankfully my clown, diamond goby and springeri damsel seem to be doing ok for the most part but I recently noticed some black spots appearing on my clown.
It’s heartbreaking. 6 months ago this tank was beautiful. Now it looks like a wasteland. Not sure what to do. I’d like to hear others thoughts about what caused this and where to go from here.
Recently cyano and dinos have been running rampant for the last 6 months. I’ve lost most coral. Prior to this outbreak, the tank had been very stable for years. I would do a 30% water change once a month. When I first noticed cyano creeping up I also noticed none of my micro brittle starfish legs poking out from the rocks as normal. There were probably 50 of them prior. I believe they all died. Haven’t seen one in months. Phosphate at that time was out of range on my ULR Hanna checker (above .9). Nitrate was out of range on my Red Sea test kit (above 50). I did a 30% water change but nitrate and phosphate did not come down within range. Waited a few days and did a 50% water change. Still out of range. Waited a week and did another 50% water change, still out of range.
The only thing I can think is something killed all the starfish which caused nutrients to sky rocket. Perhaps the high nutrients killed them in the first place? Salinity and temp have been very consistent at 77F and 1.025. I have another tank using the same RODI water in the same room which hasn’t had any issues.
I’ve been manually removing the cyano and dinos but after a couple days they are coated over nearly all the rock and coral I’ve had cyano and dino out breaks in the past when nutrients were very low when the tanks were much younger but never at this stage. Something must be very out of wack.
Thankfully my clown, diamond goby and springeri damsel seem to be doing ok for the most part but I recently noticed some black spots appearing on my clown.
It’s heartbreaking. 6 months ago this tank was beautiful. Now it looks like a wasteland. Not sure what to do. I’d like to hear others thoughts about what caused this and where to go from here.
