Is The Ugly Stage Inevitable?

[7of9]

IMO the ugly stage is something the ROCK goes through. Not the tank. (To a certain extent the sand, which is after all just lots of tiny rocks).

So if you started the tank with all established post-uglys rock? Sure, sure, it's not going to go through those stages; whatever. But new rock added to this system will. I just saw this firsthand - I upgraded from a 75 gallon to 230 gallons in December; ended up with about 2/3rds new dry rock and 1/3rd established 10+ year old live rock from the old system. All of the new rock went through the ugly cycle. Bone white -> Neon Green -> Diatom Brown -> that funky mottled appearance of mature rock, you know what I mean.

Kinda wish the neon green phase lasted longer. It looks kinda neat.

Agreeing with this. I don't see the "ugly phase" as a bad thing, just part of the maturation process. I'm going with all live rock this time again, but even there, there are some stages as your tank becomes mature and you become familiar with it. Nothing is 100% perfect 100% of the time, especially in nature.

I think it often comes down to a difference between seeing your tank as as static work of art versus an ecosystem that you get to work with. Gardens also go through "ugly stages", pests, weeds, etc and you have to figure out how to manage them. A mature garden that is grown in well is easier to maintain than a newer garden with plenty of empty spaces for weeds to encroach and pests to take advantage of, but for gardeners there is enjoyment from spending time in the garden working through those stages, not just the end result.

Our tanks are more like gardens than paintings.

 

[Spare time]

how? how long did you wait to turn on lights, what additives did you use, sand? how did you set it up and avoid it?

Lights on right away (I added coral almost immediately). I just used some carib sea special grade sand. Got a mix of snails and some macro algae right away, as well as waste away gel. Left the tank without seeing it or touching it for 3 months, came back and there was just a few tiny Tufts of hair algae but that's it.

 

[Oceanis]

Agreeing with this. I don't see the "ugly phase" as a bad thing, just part of the maturation process. I'm going with all live rock this time again, but even there, there are some stages as your tank becomes mature and you become familiar with it. Nothing is 100% perfect 100% of the time, especially in nature.

I think it often comes down to a difference between seeing your tank as as static work of art versus an ecosystem that you get to work with. Gardens also go through "ugly stages", pests, weeds, etc and you have to figure out how to manage them. A mature garden that is grown in well is easier to maintain than a newer garden with plenty of empty spaces for weeds to encroach and pests to take advantage of, but for gardeners there is enjoyment from spending time in the garden working through those stages, not just the end result.

Our tanks are more like gardens than paintings.

This guy gets it. Not to sound like a hippie, but it's all about creating a self regulating microcosm (a la biodome), and making sure homeostasis is reached. Nothing will ever be perfect, but at least to me, thats where the beauty lies. The fact that we're fortunate enough to experience it in our homes is a blessing. The main goal is making sure all of the lives under your care are well taken care for and happy
>just my 2 cents

 

[7of9]

WinkThis guy gets it. Not to sound like a hippie, but it's all about creating a self regulating microcosm (a la biodome), and making sure homeostasis is reached. Nothing will ever be perfect, but at least to me, thats where the beauty lies. The fact that we're fortunate enough to experience it in our homes is a blessing. The main goal is making sure all of the lives under your care are well taken care for and happy
>just my 2 cents

Not guy, unless you’re from the Northeast US where everyone is a guy, but thanks!

 

[Tired]

Agreed. Do you really think it's not possible to properly seed/ colonize a new tank and avoid any ugly stages? I specifically think of using well matured filter media, rocks, sand, everything. A lot of new real estate, but with a full court press maybe the good guys can take over first?

If you check out tank upgrade threads that consist of someone moving the contents of an old tank into a new one, there still is some amount of an ugly stage in a lot of those. Usually just diatoms across the new sandbed- and you should not reuse an old sandbed, not without rinsing it until it's basically new.

As said elsewhere, the ugly stage really isn't a concern. Unless corals are being smothered, just ride it out. Particularly if it's the sort of mild ugly stage that comes with oceanic live rock- though that can have some wild patches of something or another partying at being in new conditions. Moving the rock to new conditions upsets its equilibrium and causes its various creatures and living substances to duke it out with each other.

About the only way you're definitely not going to get an ugly stage is if you start with aquarium-acclimated rock and don't change the conditions or add anything new at all. Too much trouble to avoid the equivalent of some auto-pulling weeds popping up.

 

[Waters]

My last two setups were all dry rock.....no "ugly stages" or algae growth of any kind. Is live rock easier.....most definitely. A dry rock start doesn't mean you are doomed to failure.

 

[lilzbra]

Avoiding the ugly stage in a new tank setup is fairly easy if you are patient. Like others have said having access to an already established tank you can pull water and rock from is a huge help. I have started plenty of tanks of all sizes over the years, and avoided the ugly stage by leaving the lights OFF for at least the first month, using 100% aged water and a few pieces of substrate/rock from an established tank, and slowly adding the cleanup crew around week 3 before the lights go on. You also want to put a couple of pieces of seeded coraline rock in your tank during this phase. Once I turn the lights on after the month the coraline just starts taking off!

The neon green phase is the start of your coraline algae growing, that is not the ugly phase, that is a transition phase!

Ugly phase in my mind is cyanobacteria, diatoms, and nuisance algae blooms. All can be avoided by just seeding the tank with established water and leaving the lights OFF!

You can help speed this up a bit by using a product like Microbacter from Brightwell

This post also explains a DYI process that works very well to help eradicate the ugly!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/extreme-water-clarity-and-cyano-eradication-made-easy.916381/

I have used this process in the past to seed a tank at the start as well. The Calcium Carbonate helps get the bacteria stuck to the rock surface area and coats it before anything else can.

 

[Tired]

My last two setups were all dry rock.....no "ugly stages" or algae growth of any kind. Is live rock easier.....most definitely. A dry rock start doesn't mean you are doomed to failure.

You have no algae on your rocks at all? Still bleach-white?

And dry rock certainly can work. It's more prone to an ugly stage, but that's not actually a bad thing- that's just what naturally happens with empty real estate in a newly established environment.

 

[Waters]

You have no algae on your rocks at all? Still bleach-white?

And dry rock certainly can work. It's more prone to an ugly stage, but that's not actually a bad thing- that's just what naturally happens with empty real estate in a newly established environment.

I have not had any nuisance algae, no. Covered with coralline or encrusting coral. Current tank is over a year old. An older picture but you get the idea lol. You just need to supply bacteria in some way along with a CUC early on while keeping things stable. I can't tell you the last time I purchased live rock to set up a tank.

 

[Icryhard]

If this stage is in no way or shape to dodge, how do companies do this for people who pay big amounts of money? I assume 50 cent wouldn't want to pay (for example) 1 million dollars for a massive tank, only to sit there and watch algae take over the first couple of weeks/months? How do they manage to straight up throw in water, rocks and immediately corals and fishes? I assume the amount of water required for such tanks wouldn't be "ready to go" somewhere?

 

[Tired]

I have not had any nuisance algae, no. Covered with coralline or encrusting coral.

That is algae growth, though. You must have had some other algae growth if your cleanup crew lived, too. That's controlled growth of mostly desirable algae, not no algae growth at all.

 

[Waters]

That is algae growth, though. You must have had some other algae growth if your cleanup crew lived, too. That's controlled growth of mostly desirable algae, not no algae growth at all.

You are really pulling hairs lol......yes, I am guessing there has been very small amounts of undesirable algae over the 15 months the tank has been set up. Nothing that can be seen at any point though. Urchins survive by eating my coralline. Fish get algae sheets along with their food. At this point I could remove all CUC and it wouldn't make a difference. The rock is covered by other organisms....no where for algae to grow even if the conditions were favorable. The point I was trying to make is that just because you have all dry rock, that doesn't mean you have to have a sea of green algae taking over the tank.