How old is too old?

[tthemadd1]

So in the many years I have had my tank setup, broken down, moved, and reestablished I'm wondering how long will it last?
I'm recently having more issue with cyano than ever and wonder if my sand bed is beyond repair? I've tested for ph and nit and they are low to 0. I've gone back to either ro water or distilled. I've used phos ban in a top off container. Food is now my own blend, frozen, and rinsed. Only bioload in 95 total gallons (including fuge) are one clown, mimic tang, niger, and a lawnmower. Tons of happy pulsing xenias, RBT, star polyps, mushrooms, brain coral, etc. everything is growing well. New PC lights in December, good water movement, etc.
The thought is maybe my liverock, sand bed are too old and need updated, or the bio waste cleaned out. My protein skimmer isn't pulling out nutrient like it used too. Either because my bioload is light or there is enough bacteria load to do the brunt of the work.
I recently battled the green algae and it is now gone but the cyano really hits the sand bed. I'm guessing because the nutrient level is high at that point and that is the only place where ph/nit are coming from. All in all I have tons of thriving life, micro/macro but it is still an issue.
One recent change was from a 400w MH to the PCs five months ago.
So throw me a curve ball and give me your thoughts.

 

[flower]

Hi,
Just a few ideas to bounce around......
When you have cyano or hair algae...you will get a false negative reading on your tests because the cyano absorbs and lives on it. That's the way macroalgae does as well....they all feed on the extra nutrients and phosphates. It doesn't mean it isn't in there, it means it's being absorbed making the water pristine. Unfortunately cyano suffocates coral.
(just a guess) 400w MH is pretty high and going to PCs may register as old bulbs to your tank...LOL, a very wild guess.
How old are your power heads, they may not be pushing the water like they used to, and you might have dead spots.
Your protein skimmer should be pulling out something, how old is it?
You said you have gone "BACK" to RO or distilled? Distilled I have never used, only RO....so you used tap water...for how long? I have read that rocks absorb phosphates and over time, leak it back into the system.
What are the rest of the numbers
Alk?
Calcium?
Magnesium?
How old is the CUC (Clean Up Crew)?
Look up old tank syndrome and see if that apples to you, and sounds like what you are dealing with.

 

[bang guy]

Do you have a deep sand bed or a shallow? Is it healthy (full of worms and other organisms)? How often to you add new live sand?

 

[tthemadd1]

Lots of question.
Start with parameters
All are in range ph, calc, alk, and mag good. Never an issue
Before I went back to distilled and ro I used spring water from my last property. BEST WATER ever. Had it tested and it was so much better than any water I've ever had anywhere in the country. This was in Alabama.
True about ph leached back into water stream but I don't have any cyano on rocks or on corals. Only spotting on my sand bed, which is about 1-2" depending on the location.
I will say I recently took some sand out to put in a mushroom frag container and had good levels of Isopods, copes, worms, tube worms, etc. I had to rinse it at least five times to get the waste out of it. It was very heavy in waste material. (Thinking this may be the issue).
I have only added live sand once in the past eight-ten years. At the same time, at one point about three years ago the tank was left empty and dry for about six months. At that point it would seems like a fresh start all the live rock 100lbs? was dead rock.
I put the rock in a trash can with pumps and lights and snails for three months to cure it again, as well as cycled the tank once that was done for four more months. After that I moved the tank twice still healthy. I also had a crash in Alabama about two years ago because my mh bulb burnt out and it took me two weeks to get a new bulb. Didn't lose everything just a RBT and a bubble coral. Everything survived and has come back.
CUC has been in the tank through everything about three years. I have added some new blue legs, a long spine urchin, and turbos. I have some monster red legs, and a mystery crab that has been hiding out in the rocks. I lost some sand feeders over the years. Not sure if the daft sifting starfish is still alive (have never seen it since I put it in a year ago) also sand sifting snails have died off about a year ago.
So I'm thinking either I start by cleaning sand through the tank little by little or remove and replace sand in a slow manner.
Ill check out old tank syndrome and see what I come up with. Thanks for the advice.

 

[flower]

LOL...All is in check??? Upon thinking about it, that did happen to me once. The parameters were all reading good. (I never had hair algae) I never figured it out, it wasn't much cyano, but any was IMO not good.....so I got some red slime remover stuff, it worked but made my skimmer go nuts. It didn't return afterward. Back in those days I never heard of adding new sand, or old tank syndrome. I loved that red slime remover stuff. I was told it was because of overfeeding so I made sure to not do that.

 

[tthemadd1]

At this point I made a sandbed cleaner from some item from Lowes. A sand vacuum of sorts with a filter system to recapture clean water and put back in the tank. I also did a five gallon water change. I will see if any cyano grows on the newly cleaned sand. I will also look at doing some sand trades with some locals. See how that goes as well.

 

[tthemadd1]

So last few weeks have been a cyano battle. Seems to be dissipating somewhat but I can tell it is only hitting the sand and a few areas where the algae died off. I guess it is feeding on the decay. Very little but still some.
I vacced the sand bed in a few spots. Less waste buildup so that also should help. Taking slow. Only about 1-2% of the sandbed a week with water changes. I've been doing 5 gallons a week. 90 gallons total w fuge. So any other suggestions would be great. Thinking about doing some sand exchanges with fellow reefers in the area as well.

 

[beaslbob]

Try killing your lights and stop adding food until the cyano dies off.
Then resume with less lighting and feeding so the cyano stays away.
my .02