At what point do you call it quits?

[Dsantamaria29]

Hello all,

I have a Waterbox 220.6 (Build thread liked to my account). This particular tank seems to either be cursed or just hate me to the point of driving me mad. Started in Nov I have dealt with the following issues;

Ostreopsis dinoflagellates
Small Cell Amphidinium dinoflagellates
Cyano outbreak
GHA / Byropsis outbreak
Cyano outbreak again
and now I have Hydroids popping up

I started with 1/2 TB saltwater rock and 1/2 Marco thinking that would give me biodiversity that would help keep Dinos at bay.

I do know some of these problems were caused because of the treatment of the other problems and some were caused by me however I just feel continually frustrated with this sequence.

So, at what point do you concede to the fight and hit the restart button?

 

[cvrle1]

If it was early enough in the process, and I didnt have any fish or corals, and had these issues, I would consider reset. But before doing so, i would do whatever I can to understand why I was having all these issues, what can cause them, and how to prevent them from happening again, as I wouldnt want to keep hitting reset every 6 months. That would be waste of time and money.

 

[Dsantamaria29]

I have a pretty good stock of fish, most have been with me from my previous tanks (2 years or so). I also have some corals as well. Im sure some of the issues have to do with it being a newer tank and some of it has to do with nutrients (raising nutrients to combat Dinos, trying to ride that line while other organisms take over) and some have to do with moving too fast (mostly with corals).

 

[stephj03]

Give yourself the OK to pause on corals and let the tank go on autopilot and figure itself out for a while.

Do your water changes, keep your ATO resevior full, keep testing all/phos/nitrate but pick something besides coral and algae to focus on.

My wife always tells me "it's a hobby, and I support it as long as it gives you the fulfillment a hobby should"

IMO after you check off the majors (good source water, balanced feeding, balanced export) let them do the work for you over time.

But take a break after checking those boxes and let the tank sit there for a few wks.

That's the other thing my wife always tells me. "Take a break from looking at it if you don't like how it looks right now".


Clearly my vote would be to keep the tank up at least through the summer. 3mo is about how long my "break" was during 1st yr uglies after killing a couple of frags packs worth if "too early for SPS" SPS.

 

[Dsantamaria29]

I think thats part of my problem as well. Most of my coral issues have been SPS. Zoas and LPS have been doing well.

I have definitely paused on live additions to the tank at this point and am trying to focus more on getting a rhythm down with maintenance and finding a routine that works well for me and the system. I've been reading about treatments for hydroids and will probably attempt to irradiate them.