My tank in entering the ugly phase

[nano7g]

Do I need to do anything or just let it run it’s course? I have a couple coral: gorgonian and nepthea, and a clown goby. I’ve read comments of trying to reduce the light and adding microbacter heterotrophs, phytoplankton etc, but wouldn’t it be better to encourage the diatom growth so that it uses the silicates faster and just dies out sooner? In other words, just leave the light as is (8 hrs) and do nothing. Thoughts?

 

[crazyfishmom]

Do I need to do anything or just let it run it’s course? I have a couple coral: gorgonian and nepthea, and a clown goby. I’ve read comments of trying to reduce the light and adding microbacter heterotrophs, phytoplankton etc, but wouldn’t it be better to encourage the diatom growth so that it uses the silicates faster and just dies out sooner? In other words, just leave the light as is (8 hrs) and do nothing. Thoughts?

I tend to just let nature run its course and adjust if it starts to get out of control. The uglies are mostly unavoidable.

 

[Nano_Man]

A good clean up crew
Turbo snails
Hermit crabs
Copepods
urchin
All things that will help you at this stage

 

[Bruttall]

Now is also a good time to start a Coral Snow regimen. Here is a recipe I found here on these forums, really wish I could remember who posted it originally, love to give him/her credit.

Calcium Carbonate Link; https://tinyurl.com/yc5cjbdx

For 500ML of solution, add 10 level tablespoons of powder to roughly 425-450ML of RO/DI water.
Shake the bottle up, and let it sit for two hours. After which, it will be ready to use.
Now, I don’t believe that you can overdose with this product, but a good recommended dose is 5ml per 50gl of aquarium volume.
Be sure to shake up the bottle prior to each use as the powder can settle.

The Mix
Take your measured solution of Coral Snow and add it to a small container.
A plastic or glass cup will suffice.
Next, add 10 drops of Microbacter7 per 5ML of Coral Snow.
Allow 5 minutes for the solution to sit and then dose into your aquarium.
Note that Coral Snow will cloud your aquarium for at least two hours. Filter socks and Protein Skimmer(s) should be left on.

Application
I use a DIY mixture of Calcium Carbonate to clarify the water. The solution acts as a flocculant, helping to export tiny free floating matter.
Now, you could just stop right there, and use this solution simply for water clarity, but, you would be missing out on some of the greatest benefits that the complete formula has to offer.
Combining the Coral Snow with bacteria has an outsized effect on undesirable things such as Cyano slime.
To get the full effect, you’re going to want to take a turkey baster and manually remove or blow off all cyano and other desirable organisms off of the rockwork and sand.
If you’re able to, run some filter socks in the sump to help capture any large free floating waste.
Now, your going to want to add the Coral Snow solution in a cup and then add the bacteria. You can go a little on the bacteria, slightly more than the manufacturers recommendation.
Allow the solution to sit for five minutes and then administer it to the aquarium.
For the full effect, I will turn off the main system pump and allow the solution to have time to coat the surfaces of the aquarium. Generally, I will let process play out for an hour before turning on my main pump and filtration.
After the hour is up, the main pump is turned on, filter socks setup, and skimmer turned on. The skimmer is going to play a key roll here in helping to remove the particles that have bonded to the coral snow.

Enhancing Coral Snow to Feed Corals
After some weeks, and the system is clean and clear you can then move on to some more advanced methods and mixtures.
I like to add bacteria, Zeofood, and Selcon to my mix.
The Coral Snow will help to distribute the nutrition directly to the corals. When dosed correctly, you should see a feeding response from corals, especially SPS who will extend feeding tentacles.

Now, not all corals will immediately go into feeding mode during the day. It will take some time but eventually they will be conditioned to do so. All things considered, the feeding mix has done very to aid with growth of corals in my system.

I do a weekly treatment on my aquarium, I do not run any socks, matts or sponges, no mechanical filtration at all. My water is crystal clear, in fact so clear it almost looks like my fish swim in air. Picture from March 22nd my tanks 1 yr birthday!

 

[TehBrainz]

A good clean up crew
Turbo snails
Hermit crabs
Copepods
urchin
All things that will help you at this stage

Urchins are amazing CUC members.

Just be prepared for a love/hate relationship with them. They're strong little buggers and have ripped up plugs from set puddy in my tank. Cute little $^@*=!

 

[JustMarks]

Do I need to do anything or just let it run it’s course? I have a couple coral: gorgonian and nepthea, and a clown goby. I’ve read comments of trying to reduce the light and adding microbacter heterotrophs, phytoplankton etc, but wouldn’t it be better to encourage the diatom growth so that it uses the silicates faster and just dies out sooner? In other words, just leave the light as is (8 hrs) and do nothing. Thoughts?

I would let it run its course.

 

[Waters]

If it is diatoms you are worried about, just let them run their course. They will disappear pretty quickly or be eaten by the critters mentioned in this thread. I wouldn't alter the lighting at all.

 

[nano7g]

Do I need CUC? I do plan of getting them, but I want to hold out for something I want, like a Peterson cleaner shrimp which are rare. If CUC keep eating the diatoms, wouldn't that just extend the ugly phase by keeping their population down, rather than just let it take over the whole tank and reach population saturation more quickly? I don't really care about the visual look of the tank, but I do care about the dissolved oxygen in the tank being depleted, but I don't know if that is an actual issue.

 

[Waters]

No, a CUC is not a requirement...especially if you aren't concerned about the look as you stated. No, removing the diatoms won't extend their growth period. They will continue to grow as long as they have the nutrients needed....whether you remove them or not. I wouldn't worry about the oxygen being depleted in either case.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Do I need to do anything or just let it run it’s course? I have a couple coral: gorgonian and nepthea, and a clown goby. I’ve read comments of trying to reduce the light and adding microbacter heterotrophs, phytoplankton etc, but wouldn’t it be better to encourage the diatom growth so that it uses the silicates faster and just dies out sooner? In other words, just leave the light as is (8 hrs) and do nothing. Thoughts?

A solid CUC along with a good population of pods will do WONDERS. Reef Cleaners has a great selection, but I would recommend picking your own crew rather than a package. Just search what each does and pick some out. Don’t go overboard, you can build as you go.

 

[Bruttall]

No, a CUC is not a requirement...especially if you aren't concerned about the look as you stated. No, removing the diatoms won't extend their growth period. They will continue to grow as long as they have the nutrients needed....whether you remove them or not. I wouldn't worry about the oxygen being depleted in either case.

Sorry Waters, but I gotta STRONGY disagree on this. My opinion CuC are VITAL to the over all health and longevity of a marine ecosystem. I have a 300g display with a 125g sump for around 360g total water volume. Here is a list of HALF of the CuC I have in my tank. This batch was added when my tank was roughly 3 months old, I started to see algae creeping into the sand bed. I am using these screen caps from Reefcleaners.org because they give a description of what each type does for your system, and what types algae they will eat.

When my tank was 6 to 7 months old I added the following package.

Tank is a year old now.

I also have a couple peppermint shrimp, a fire shrimp, a skunk cleaner shrimp, a Harlequin Shrimp and some Berghia Nudibranchs in there as well.
If clean up crew wasn't vitally important to a healthy reef system, then Nature wouldn't use them.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Sorry Waters, but I gotta STRONGY disagree on this. My opinion CuC are VITAL to the over all health and longevity of a marine ecosystem. I have a 300g display with a 125g sump for around 360g total water volume. Here is a list of HALF of the CuC I have in my tank. This batch was added when my tank was roughly 3 months old, I started to see algae creeping into the sand bed. I am using these screen caps from Reefcleaners.org because they give a description of what each type does for your system, and what types algae they will eat.

When my tank was 6 to 7 months old I added the following package.

Tank is a year old now.

I also have a couple peppermint shrimp, a fire shrimp, a skunk cleaner shrimp, a Harlequin Shrimp and some Berghia Nudibranchs in there as well.
If clean up crew wasn't vitally important to a healthy reef system, then Nature wouldn't use them.

I absolutely agree! I feel as though my CUC made a tremendous difference in how my tank has progressed.

 

[Bruttall]

I absolutely agree! I feel as though my CUC made a tremendous difference in how my tank has progressed.

Sophie's Mom has got it going on!!

 

[Sophie"s mom]

Sophie's Mom has got it going on!!

Thank you! I had a tank 17 years ago, and it’s a whole new world these days. A good CUC IS JUST AMAZING! I did however choose my own rather than a package because I thought they were too much stuff I didn’t need or want. I like picking my own crew.

 

[crazyfishmom]

Sorry Waters, but I gotta STRONGY disagree on this. My opinion CuC are VITAL to the over all health and longevity of a marine ecosystem. I have a 300g display with a 125g sump for around 360g total water volume. Here is a list of HALF of the CuC I have in my tank. This batch was added when my tank was roughly 3 months old, I started to see algae creeping into the sand bed. I am using these screen caps from Reefcleaners.org because they give a description of what each type does for your system, and what types algae they will eat.

When my tank was 6 to 7 months old I added the following package.

Tank is a year old now.

I also have a couple peppermint shrimp, a fire shrimp, a skunk cleaner shrimp, a Harlequin Shrimp and some Berghia Nudibranchs in there as well.
If clean up crew wasn't vitally important to a healthy reef system, then Nature wouldn't use them.

Beautiful tank!

 

[Bruttall]

Beautiful tank!

thank you.

 

[1112-425XL]

 

[crazyfishmom]

What can I say? Life is like a box of chocolates.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Sorry Waters, but I gotta STRONGY disagree on this. My opinion CuC are VITAL to the over all health and longevity of a marine ecosystem. I have a 300g display with a 125g sump for around 360g total water volume. Here is a list of HALF of the CuC I have in my tank. This batch was added when my tank was roughly 3 months old, I started to see algae creeping into the sand bed. I am using these screen caps from Reefcleaners.org because they give a description of what each type does for your system, and what types algae they will eat.

When my tank was 6 to 7 months old I added the following package.

Tank is a year old now.

I also have a couple peppermint shrimp, a fire shrimp, a skunk cleaner shrimp, a Harlequin Shrimp and some Berghia Nudibranchs in there as well.
If clean up crew wasn't vitally important to a healthy reef system, then Nature wouldn't use them.

I'm not disagreeing with anything but the final sentence which you might have just added to cap things off.
I don't think nature chose to have a clean up crew or figured out the secret to optimal health, I think those organisms filled an available niche and after who knows how long became highly effective at filling that niche.

 

[Bruttall]

I'm not disagreeing with anything but the final sentence which you might have just added to cap things off.
I don't think nature chose to have a clean up crew or figured out the secret to optimal health, I think those organisms filled an available niche and after who knows how long became highly effective at filling that niche.

Exactly, they filled a niche and got good at it, so nature evolved an organism to keep itself healthy. Nature uses them, why shouldn't we? I choose to see it as we are agreeing to agree.