I Dosed ocean Magik with 5280 pods

[jbaker]

I used ocean Magik and 5280 pods in my 55 gallon Aquarium. All the copepods died but the phytoplankton took to the rocks. And is now growing on yhe sand. If i got more copepods would that help with phyopankton all over the rock and sand?

 

[brandon429]

no those two events are unconnected. the rocks above are progressing exactly like all dry start systems progress. there's 20 ways of responding or not responding to the coverage above on the rocks. if you want to see the best nano dry start reef I recall seeing in years, read pages 1-9 here it covers what you consider doing above in response to the green rocks.

 

[brandon429]

Cycling a new Biocube 32

Hello all! My name is Daniel from Florida and I’m starting to get into the reef hobby. I have been cycling my tank for two weeks now and logging it into an app. I have recently been gifted a live rock with some good amount of coralline on it. I also got some water from and established tank. My...

www.reef2reef.com

when to take action vs when to allow to remain is a common theme in new started tanks. that above is just one way of really balancing the two options for sure. his results=lots of happy corals in month 2.

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

How did the pods die?

 

[jbaker]

How did the pods die?

Not sure they were alive when i put them in.

 

[tehmadreefer]

How do you even know they died? Pods hide within the rock, sand, and in sump. You would have absolutely no idea if they all died lol

 

[jbaker]

How do you even know they died? Pods hide within the rock, sand, and in sump. You would have absolutely no idea if they all died lol

Never seen them on the rock or glass.

 

[tehmadreefer]

Never seen them on the rock or glass.

They are also nocturnal. Not only that they are in the holes of the rock and small caves where the sand meets the rock. At night use a red light and you will em. Additionally, they don’t just walk around on the glass, lol they are only present when it’s coated in algae and are reproducing. When you clean your glass, they get cleaned too...

 

[jbaker]

So this is normal? I am just in the ugly stage?

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Totally normal. And healthy.

 

[NB Reefer]

Without knowing more about your tank the best guess is that you are in the ugly stage. When did you start it up? Looks like it was started from dry rock so my guess is less than 4 months old.

 

[DungSl1nger]

How long since you put the pods in? It took me almost a month before I saw them in significant numbers

 

[jbaker]

Without knowing more about your tank the best guess is that you are in the ugly stage. When did you start it up? Looks like it was started from dry rock so my guess is less than 4 months old.

Almost 4 months old and it was dry rock.

 

[jbaker]

How long since you put the pods in? It took me almost a month before I saw them in significant numbers

Put the pods in about a month ago.

 

[brandon429]

Question, just to keep comparatives going

are Daniels rocks green in the thread above

how did he guide his current rock condition

what’s your take on his tank being ready for corals so fast

*most tanks will wind up fairly similar in three years. How you get there has diverging paths, always a choice to make your tank look how you want it to, vs follow it’s lead and see where things go. both ways work, Daniels thread shows how to make green rocks turn into coral loaded rocks within two months.

 

[brandon429]

Your white spectrum lighting and length of time on each day needs to reduce. Tanks that run so blue it’s ugly grow less algae than ones easy to see in a photo. If it runs anywhere near that white level then that alone could re balance, white light selects for green pigmentation in reefing.


your tank still looks nice. You can now see what it selects to grow, however. A mere five o’clock shadow, currently

some lights can’t be adjusted. That w be factored in how often you are hand guiding, outside the tank so not a problem.

 

[brandon429]

Should I be stirring sandbed in new tank?

I've only had my tank set up for just over 2 months now and have nothing in it except for a few snails. Currently I'm in the ugly stage I believe, as my rocks and the entire sandbed is getting this yellowy orange layer building up on the top that goes away when I blow on it but eventually comes...

www.reef2reef.com

thats so you can see the rock pic, it’s the next phase in hands off reefing next step beyond the phase your tank is in. even that reef there has easy, accessible growths to take right off rocks vs letting them proceed into yet another thread example: envision a fully green bearded reef. Your sand isn’t dirty, but one day it will be. His is larger grain sand, so it got dirtier faster than normal.

At any phase u can pick intervention steps and whip back into shape. That’s most important to know from the initial rip clean examples
when you have projections and fronds anchored to rocks that’s the time to act, yours is the precursor to that phase.

adding pods or phyto is unrelated to the issue. Right above is a comparative system