Move some rock or not?

[Aquaman6410]

So I'm struggling with my newest 75 gallon tank. It has been up for a year, started with dry rock. It has some coralline growth on the back wall and a tiny bit on the rock. But I've been suffering with on and off amphidinium dinos. I had a crazy cyano outbreak a month or so ago that had to be cleared up with chemiclean. Now there are some dinos mixed with soft brown hair like algae. I figure its in the ugly phase still hardcore. My acans I added seem to be doing alright. My hammer coral test failed just the other day. It got covered with algae and was hard to scrub it off. 3 of the 6 polyps bailed out over the past few days.

The thing is I'm sure its all due to just not being biodiverse enough and having that matured balance. I'm tried bacteria supplements, copepods, rotifiers, coralline, snails, etc. The question is do I move a rock over from my stable biocube? That tank is almost 3 years old with no major issues, everything thriving. It was started from dry rock, had similar issues in the beginning, and I eventually added a piece of live rock to it. That kicked off coralline growth in that tank and maybe the diversity is what fixed all the issues it had over the next few months. The problem is this introduced bristleworms, asterina starfish, and what looks like vermetid snails. The tank has a ton of bristles ans asterina but the tank is thriving. Do I take a piece of rock over in hopes it helps the tank diversity but I bring over hitchhikers as described? Or do I just leave the 75 alone and hope things take care of themselves in time? The 75 has no hitchhikers at the moment. What stance do you guys take on dry rock tanks? Do you have hitchhikers like the ones I mentioned and do you think they are a good thing?

 

[Reefjnky]

I started a 16g with rocks and sand from my 57g last month and now set up at 32g from the same 57g. I didnt add fish for about a week but didnt loose any when i did. I dont think adding a rock or 2 from the old tank will throw anything off just make sure you have good flow through out the whole tank with no dead spots and keep up with water changes. Also I have found that too many rocks can prevent good flow so maybe swap out a rock or 2 from your old tank instead of adding. Check your calcium if you arent seeing good coraline growth too.

 

[Reefjnky]

So I'm struggling with my newest 75 gallon tank. It has been up for a year, started with dry rock. It has some coralline growth on the back wall and a tiny bit on the rock. But I've been suffering with on and off amphidinium dinos. I had a crazy cyano outbreak a month or so ago that had to be cleared up with chemiclean. Now there are some dinos mixed with soft brown hair like algae. I figure its in the ugly phase still hardcore. My acans I added seem to be doing alright. My hammer coral test failed just the other day. It got covered with algae and was hard to scrub it off. 3 of the 6 polyps bailed out over the past few days.

The thing is I'm sure its all due to just not being biodiverse enough and having that matured balance. I'm tried bacteria supplements, copepods, rotifiers, coralline, snails, etc. The question is do I move a rock over from my stable biocube? That tank is almost 3 years old with no major issues, everything thriving. It was started from dry rock, had similar issues in the beginning, and I eventually added a piece of live rock to it. That kicked off coralline growth in that tank and maybe the diversity is what fixed all the issues it had over the next few months. The problem is this introduced bristleworms, asterina starfish, and what looks like vermetid snails. The tank has a ton of bristles ans asterina but the tank is thriving. Do I take a piece of rock over in hopes it helps the tank diversity but I bring over hitchhikers as described? Or do I just leave the 75 alone and hope things take care of themselves in time? The 75 has no hitchhikers at the moment. What stance do you guys take on dry rock tanks? Do you have hitchhikers like the ones I mentioned and do you think they are a good thing?

I wouldnt add dry rocks to a new set up that isnt maturing but i've added them to my old tank and they mature nicely

 

[NS Mike D]

some thoughts in the dark here. Cyano, followed by a dinos is typical of of lowering nutrients when low nutrients was the underlying problem. I've made that mistake and see the advice to lower nutrients when high nutrients hasn't been determined every day here.

Dinos pose a harder problem, and I would recommend posting in the dino thread to get feedback on your plan of action and its execution. Raising nutrients solves the underlying cause, but since dinos have incredible survival skills (including in a 4 months of a dry sterilized tank) often UV sterilizers are needed to kill the survivors in the water column.

You will need a microscope with a camera (not expensive) to take pics of the critters for positive ID before embarking any remedy. Also, highly recommended is good reliable NO3 and PO4 test kits like Red Sea, Sefiert or Hanna to be sure I'm right about low numbers


on a side note, the formation of the bacteria film, coraline to cover the rocks and the overall microfauna (bacteria, pods, worms etc) are how natures keeps these under control. They form a barrier and even attack the ugly stuff. So keep that in the back of your mind as a goal while you deal with the problem at hand.


don't worry about how you got here, that is spilled milk. You started with dry rock (which takes longer to mature) and so that is what you dealing with.