cyano attack :(

[lapin]

It does add a deep color pattern to it, interesting color on that one above. Not a bad invasion at all, how are you treating it

The pattern caused by the extra power head and my sand sifter. You can see him in the second photo. In the middle looking straight at me spitting sand out. Im blowing it off the rocks . I was syphoning it off the sand but I think thats a lost cause. I turned down the lights a bit. Added the extra power head to blow on the stuff. From that back corner to the front is 5 feet so the cheap power head is not the best solution but the cheapest. I have added a 3 bottles of bacteria and 2 bottles of coraline. Next week some macro algae will go in the display. Maybe the cyano would like some company at the dinner table.

 

[lapin]

I dont like red

 

[xiholdtruex]

Decided to rip clean. I will continue to post updated on my build thread and on

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

 

[lapin]

Just an update from my last post here. Cyano is gone. Replaced by some hair. Thats a good thing. Added a few barbers in June, maybe 30 in all. Helped but they cant keep up. Added another 50, 2 days ago and man can they cut the hair. A couple of them have mohawks. Added more macro and built a real 20 gallon fuge. Next up pods. I hear they like algae too.

 

[Lasse]

Time will most likely solve your cyano problems.. I currently have two small reefs set up and running now for about 2.5 years, both had cyano really bad during the first year.. one tank I did nothing to rid the problem but the other I tried everything that has probably ever been prescribed.. repeated deep cleaning, brushing rock, vacuuming sand, hydrogen peroxide, increased flow etc.. nothing worked long term. Fast forward to today and the one tank that I did nothing to is completely free of cyano and has been for over a year, the second tank that I put all my efforts into still will get a small patch pop up time to time but only on the sand bed in very low flow areas. I did make a couple interesting observations during my journey.. on the one tank that I was actively trying to rid cyano of I pulled a large bag of carbon I had been running because of the high bio load and basically overnight all the cyano disappeared however after a few days it started to come back but never as bad as it was at first.. the other thing that seemed to have an unexpected effect was increased feedings, I had been running ULN system with minimal feedings and as I progressively increased feedings the cyano seemed to continue to clear itself up.. not sure if either of these actually had any effect but going just off my observations it seems they did

Interesting - do you think something in the aquaria made it stable?

Just an update from my last post here. Cyano is gone. Replaced by some hair. Thats a good thing. Added a few barbers in June, maybe 30 in all. Helped but they cant keep up. Added another 50, 2 days ago and man can they cut the hair. A couple of them have mohawks. Added more macro and built a real 20 gallon fuge. Next up pods. I hear they like algae too.

Interesting - what do you think help you out? the barbers - snails or hermits?

@xiholdtruex My general experiences is that most problems will arise after 3 to 4 months if you not try to turbo the biological processes in the start up processes. At this time - you can chose your strategy

1) do a total clean start every 3 months or so
2) do a biological turbo start introducing a fish, clean up crew and corals already the first week, feed very sparingly (only a few frozen artemia every 3 day the first day, the same every second day week 2, the same amount every day week 3 and after that slowly rise the feeding.) Be sure to have some NO3 and PO4 in the water at least from week 2. Use full light from the moment you introduce your CUC. No cleaning of substrate, no WC before week 4-5. Adjust your nutrient levels to the concentration of your chose in the third or fourth month - not earlier. Do not worry over high NO3 or PO4 before that.
3) Just wait and se as Tetro Reefer - To adjust the nutrients and remove some of the mats (but reuse the water - avoid WC could be a good addition to wait and see

In all of my aquaria I have use method 2 - I have started aquaria from 5 gallons to 80 gallons at home with this method -nema problema. I never have seen "the ugly phase" in the start up session. Have happens after this but mostly because of me. But this is only my experiences and the way I want to do reefing. Others will do it in another way - that´s free for them - I do not doubt that they get result too. there are many ways to skin a cat

Sincerely Lasse

 

[xiholdtruex]

Interesting - do you think something in the aquaria made it stable?



Interesting - what do you think help you out? the barbers - snails or hermits?

@xiholdtruex My general experiences is that most problems will arise after 3 to 4 months if you not try to turbo the biological processes in the start up processes. At this time - you can chose your strategy

1) do a total clean start every 3 months or so
2) do a biological turbo start introducing a fish, clean up crew and corals already the first week, feed very sparingly (only a few frozen artemia every 3 day the first day, the same every second day week 2, the same amount every day week 3 and after that slowly rise the feeding.) Be sure to have some NO3 and PO4 in the water at least from week 2. Use full light from the moment you introduce your CUC. No cleaning of substrate, no WC before week 4-5. Adjust your nutrient levels to the concentration of your chose in the third or fourth month - not earlier. Do not worry over high NO3 or PO4 before that.
3) Just wait and se as Tetro Reefer - To adjust the nutrients and remove some of the mats (but reuse the water - avoid WC could be a good addition to wait and see

In all of my aquaria I have use method 2 - I have started aquaria from 5 gallons to 80 gallons at home with this method -nema problema. I never have seen "the ugly phase" in the start up session. Have happens after this but mostly because of me. But this is only my experiences and the way I want to do reefing. Others will do it in another way - that´s free for them - I do not doubt that they get result too. there are many ways to skin a cat

Sincerely Lasse

I have seen many people use the second method with much success. Our local store told me that how they made there display tanks and never had a issue. There tanks are thriving also.

The way I originally started my cycle was with ammonia and waiting. After 2 months. I added a clean up Crew and started my lights for 7 hours a day. After the clean up crew was in for a month I added one clown fish. After a month I added 1 rock flower and kept adding ever few weeks. Only feed two times a week mysis shrimp.

I think the breaking factor in my tank was I lost one anemones and it threw my numbers off and my local fish store sold me some water that was super high in nutrients.

Now I'm mixing my own water and started a new do you I should be ok now after the cleaning with my current methods

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I have seen many people use the second method with much success. Our local store told me that how they made there display tanks and never had a issue. There tanks are thriving also.

The way I originally started my cycle was with ammonia and waiting. After 2 months. I added a clean up Crew and started my lights for 7 hours a day. After the clean up crew was in for a month I added one clown fish. After a month I added 1 rock flower and kept adding ever few weeks. Only feed two times a week mysis shrimp.

I think the breaking factor in my tank was I lost one anemones and it threw my numbers off and my local fish store sold me some water that was super high in nutrients.

Now I'm mixing my own water and started a new do you I should be ok now after the cleaning with my current methods

There are many different methods and opinions on starting and keeping a reef tank. I think the best thing to do is to pick one method and not try to mix several different methods.

Mr. Miyagi said it best, "Walk on left side of road, OK. Walk on right side of road, OK. Walk in middle, sooner or later, squish like grape." I'm sure this is only paraphrased, but you get my point.

 

[lapin]

My general experiences is that most problems will arise after 3 to 4 months if you not try to turbo the biological processes in the start up processes. At this time - you can chose your strateg

1) do a total clean start every 3 months or so
2) do a biological turbo start introducing a fish, clean up crew and corals already the first week, feed very sparingly (only a few frozen artemia every 3 day the first day, the same every second day week 2, the same amount every day week 3 and after that slowly rise the feeding.) Be sure to have some NO3 and PO4 in the water at least from week 2. Use full light from the moment you introduce your CUC. No cleaning of substrate, no WC before week 4-5. Adjust your nutrient levels to the concentration of your chose in the third or fourth month - not earlier. Do not worry over high NO3 or PO4 before that.
3) Just wait and se as Tetro Reefer - To adjust the nutrients and remove some of the mats (but reuse the water - avoid WC could be a good addition to wait and see

In all of my aquaria I have use method 2 - I have started aquaria from 5 gallons to 80 gallons at home with this method -nema problema. I never have seen "the ugly phase" in the start up session. Have happens after this but mostly because of me. But this is only my experiences and the way I want to do reefing. Others will do it in another way - that´s free for them - I do not doubt that they get result too. there are many ways to skin a cat

Sincerely Lasse

Good plans.
I used number 4.
Soak dry stones for 2 months with ammonia and bacteria starter and head-on dead fnasker. Place stones in aquaria. Add sand and salt water. Spend 2 weeks fixing leaks. Order 5 small fish. QT and get them eating live food, (easy part). Fish go in aquaria. 1 month time passes. Brown comes and goes now red is starting. Buy first lps coral. 2 months time has passed. Now Im ok with water changes. Not making too big a mess. Reefer shuts down tank. Good deal. 15 lps corals go in tank. Prob too early. Add 5 more small fish. Red is now over 1/4 sand bed tank and on some rocks. Siphon and blow off. Change 10% water every week. Think about chemclean. Stupid idea. Dumb old man... Just wait. 3 months has passed. Add 4 more fish and CUC with urchin. Month 5 add seeder sponges to crypic sump. 6 months time has passed. No more cyano. Now hair. Add fuge with red macro plus some red macro in tank. Like the look of the macro. Hope it stays alive. Nitrate .75 to 1. Phosphate .06. Feeding heavy. Not much increase. Researching salt water plant food. Pods next week....

 

[Lasse]

There are many different methods and opinions on starting and keeping a reef tank. I think the best thing to do is to pick one method and not try to mix several different methods.

Mr. Miyagi said it best, "Walk on left side of road, OK. Walk on right side of road, OK. Walk in middle, sooner or later, squish like grape." I'm sure this is only paraphrased, but you get my point.

That´s the best plan - chose a pathway and stay there - but the one that suits me best is number 2. You can follow that star in my build thread.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Retro Reefer]

Interesting - do you think something in the aquaria made it stable?

Sincerely Lasse

Both tanks where set up using same rock/water and similar filtration.. the biggest difference was the tank with limited cyano problems was not maintained as well, fewer water changes and had no skimmer also worth noting the lighting was not as intense.