Tank Re-cycle??

[chele]

Tank has been setup for 6 months and now I have a few issues. I went with an Eclipse hood for appearance and now I can't use my hang on protein skimmer. Any other way to remove protein from the water?

I did a 50% water change to bring down nitrate level (was either 40 or 80 ppm, depending on your color opinion). Problem is, ALL of my green algae is gone and I have brown algae or diatoms covering the sand now. It is a thick mass of brown stuff that sticks together and sinks back to the bottom when disturbed. If it's diatoms, other posts say wait it out, this normally happens during the initial cycle. But I'm worried my lawnmower blenny will starve, he doesn't seem to eat this stuff. What have I done? Could I have caused my tank to cycle again by changing that much water? :help:[/SIZE]

 

[lion_crazz]

Unfortunately, there is no other way to remove protein other than frequent water changes.
As far as a recycle, test your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate and they will tell you.

 

[sepulatian]

What kind of water are you using? A six month old setup is hardly an established set up. Have you had a large diatom bloom before? How much water flow do you have? What sized tank?

 

[chele]

Thanks for responding and offering your help.
I hadn't found swf.com so I thought my well water was OK to use. I had it tested and I have nitrates at 11 ppm from the well. Now I know about using ro/di water so I'm going to start using that.
Tank is a 37 gal, was a replacement for a 29 gal. I reused my live rock, but replaced crushed coral with dry sand. This tank never had a diatom bloom before. Had green algae and purple slime (possibly cyano?) in abundance, so I added an urchin, the lawnmower blenny and 3 snails to clean up.
Read on another SWF post about using cleaner clams for reducing nitrates. Added a dozen (yes, that was prob too many) and they are happy living in the sand. Can't say they are reducing nitrates.
Water flow seems strong but only in the top half of the tank. The biowheel filter has two returns which both have strong flow.
Going to test the tank today, will post results soon.

 

[chele]

pH 8.0
amm 0
nitrite 0
nitrates 40, maybe higher but less than 80
So I'm not cycling, but my pH keeps falling down to 8.0.

 

[reefkprz]

A stable ph is more important than having it at a set number a ph of 8.0 is fine if it stays there constantly. fluctuating ph can be dangerous.