Whos right and whos Wrong!!!!

[Geoff]

the great thing about this site is you really sit and think about what is being said, it all really makes sense.

look and see where the cyano is growing the most. that will help you in figuring out who is right.

a lot has changed in this hobby in the past 10+ years. unfortunately some places it is taking a bit of time to catch up to all of the recent theories and practices.

you could have asked the person how they think the bacterial cycle works. not to be confrontational, but to see if they can make sense of the situation.

G~

[partobe]

I removed my bio balls 3 weeks ago and bought a ro unit and my nitrates have started to drop so your store is wrong

[thekid55]

well i removed my bio balls. and i hate calling people wrong but i have to say your LFS is wrong.

[Isda]

Got rid of the bio-balls, thanks to advise from this forum, this was key in getting my nitrates finally under control. As for the cyano, I tried 'natural' ways to get it under control but nothing seemed to work for me. I finally succumbed to using Chemiclean, haven't had a problem since. By no means am I advocating the use of chemicals, in my case, it was the last thing for me to try. I had been combating cyano for months before using this.

[afbengochea]

good husbandry and good water flow with a strong skimmer will do the trick. Ive also had success with astrea snails eating the stuff too. Just remember that you might be able to get rid of it but you should find out why it happened in the first place

[Phishnoob]

Didn't we just do this thread?

Ditch the bio balls as you have about a year on your tank. Use good water. If you use tap water that adds phosphates that feed cyano.

Cut back on your feeding. Once every three days.

Get some flow in there to keep cooties in suspension so your skimmer can go to work.

Cyano will go away, but the process is gradual. I have been there as well as many others.

I have seen that cyano stuff at the LFS and used to go to a great one, but they would peddle that rid all as well as other things.

I would advise reading and absorbing what has been posted in some previous threads and working on continuing improvements towards reducing the factors that cause cyano.

[skeety]

hmmm...looks unanimous to me!

Not sure whether I'd want to believe he's being decietful, or if he's REALLY that misguided. Either one is scary.

[Hardhead Cat]

I agree with all here. Find an LFS that you can trust! It's important. No one on this forum has any ax to grind, you can pretty much trust all the advice here, it's free and no one is trying to sell anything. I've learned so much by just reading and learning here - - I removed my bio balls in three batches from the 135-gallon and had no problems, my water quality is much better now.

HHC

[Little Luey]

Now that you know you cannot trust that guy, just be carefull when he gives you advice, I always tell the LFS employees that I am just looking, when I do need something then I call them. He may have been really trying to help out, maybe he got that info from someone training him and that is the best he knows. A lot of times LFS employ people who have no knowledge on fish at all, to them a cardinal is the same as an angel, it is $6 or $7 per hour.
This is unfortunate, but the way it is.
I am sure you can find someone on that LFS or another one you can trust for advise. Or you can always rely on the advice the members of TRT give you.

[Doug1]

Its really about addressing the source of the problem, which is excess phosphate, since as I recall Cyano can fix \nitrogen on its own, PO4 seems to be the magjor limiting factor. The Red Slime cures are generally an Eurythramyacin type antibiotic and will affest the beneficial bacteria as well as cyano, you are at risk for the cyano becoming resistant to the drug if you use the stuff, meanwhile your good bacteria populations can suffer causing more dieoff which will feed the cyano bloom

[zxcv123]

Originally Posted by Doug1

Its really about addressing the source of the problem, which is excess phosphate, since as I recall Cyano can fix \nitrogen on its own, PO4 seems to be the magjor limiting factor. The Red Slime cures are generally an Eurythramyacin type antibiotic and will affest the beneficial bacteria as well as cyano, you are at risk for the cyano becoming resistant to the drug if you use the stuff, meanwhile your good bacteria populations can suffer causing more dieoff which will feed the cyano bloom

I was thinking along those lines when I refused The product. The cure is not helping the problem directly, you need to get nitrates and phosphates down to really cure it. THanks Doug And everybody.

Heres the thing dow, There is a petland nearby that knows diddly squat , but there is this super quality huge LFS warehose about an hour away. I cant drive an hour twice a week due to financial problems and gas prices.

[never_finished]

hijacking thread in progress....

how slow do you need t oremove the bio balls? I just removed about 10 or so (stomach flutterbies) and just wondered how long i should wait to take more out. Also....what to do with water change intervals now that i am messing around with the bio balls.

[jenajet]

What size tank? I would remove some every week then do your waterchange.

[Geoff]

what critters do you have in the system?

if the bio-load is low, i would just remove them all.

G~