Cg’s 1 month rapid reef cycle

burningmime · Jul 7, 2021

jamesdomini4 said:
I had a similar algae bloom when I turned my lights on, in a bare bottom dry rock tank. That was following the BRS/WWC 4 month cycle.

How long did yours last for? This is going on about a week.
I guess it could be worse. There are no dinos, no cyano, no GHA waving in the flow.

Acros · Jul 7, 2021

burningmime said:
How long did yours last for? This is going on about a week.
I guess it could be worse. There are no dinos, no cyano, no GHA waving in the flow.

It won’t subside until you get a UV. At least mine did not.

What setting are your lights at?

Screwgunner · Jul 7, 2021

GFO. Granulated Feric Oxide .

burningmime · Jul 28, 2021

jamesdomini4 said:
It won’t subside until you get a UV. At least mine did not.

You weren't kidding about the UV. Finally* got one installed and turned it on this morning. Holy cowfish the tank is already nearly clear; it's only been running about 10 hours!

I still don't have a speck of GHA. There's a biofilm, fish are all doing fine, diatom bloom came and went, and I can see pods. Is it possible that I just didn't introduce any GHA spores, or the few that were in fish poop got out-competed by the phyto and heterotrophic bacteria? Or is the lack of GHA a bad sign and I'm about to see more dinos than Jurassic Park?

* Pentair was tripping GFCI because of a bad ballast. Seems like a common problem. BRS wouldn't let me return it because I was outside the return window. Ended up replacing it with a LifeGuard Aquatics 40W which looks and feels better built (not just a giant black tube, but a really solid unit with an attractive ocean-like color). And Pentair is replacing the bad ballast, so I might end up with a backup UV.

Acros · Jul 28, 2021

GHA will come. You just wait.

Acros · Jul 28, 2021

Make sure you have detectable nitrates and phosphates. That will keep dinos away. UV will help with certain kinds of dinos.

burningmime · Jul 29, 2021

jamesdomini4 said:
GHA will come. You just wait.

Looking forward to it!

jamesdomini4 said:
Make sure you have detectable nitrates and phosphates. That will keep dinos away. UV will help with certain kinds of dinos.

Thanks! They were 0 last time I checked, but probably they were bound up in the phyto, so now that it's been UVed away maybe they will start coming back.

Timothy Davis · Mar 29, 2022

Any update to this?

LegendaryCG · Mar 29, 2022

Acros · Sep 8, 2022

Thought I would provide an update here.

Cali Tort, April 28th

Aug 27th:

Not bad for 4 months, huh!

bozo · Jan 2, 2023

I will be using your method for this new tank I am starting.

Hows the tank so far?

Thanks

t5Nitro · Jan 2, 2023

Could you dose ammonium chloride to the tank and add a bacterial source from an existing setup, whether a single piece of LR or some sand? Wondering how long a system can go fishless before needing to add more or some other food source before you start having diminishing returns and your bacterial colony starts to decline?

bozo · Jan 22, 2023

Do you still add phyto after adding pods?

t5Nitro · Jan 22, 2023

Phyto is good to dose daily, IMO.

bozo · Feb 28, 2023

@LegendaryCG

How come you take out the GFO and move to carbon?

I'm on week three and I'm dosing phyto everyday. I just added live rock from a 20 year old tank and also added some dragons breath.

I've been running a skimmer for about a week to break it in. Its pulling gunk.

Thanks!

bozo · Apr 29, 2023

I followed this guide exactly how @LegendaryCG explained it.

Very minimal ugly stage. Clean up crew took care of everything.

Tank has been taking off.

Thanks again