Pictures are perfect, I have a match. That is the eutrophication shift described above and it’s reversible and all your filter bacteria are in place on biofilm, under the accumulation which a human storm can certainly remedy.
see how the color palette of the tanks above have shifted from reefy purples, electrics, blacks, reds to the yellow + gray hue only- that’s a visual cue for eutrophication shift and lowering of throughput water in/ out. Surface area exposure is compromised, we can uncompromise it and all the filtration bac are simply awaiting freedom lol on the basal rock surface
this thread is 30 pages of work to scan for patterns. It’s not to offput effort to summarize, it’s that scanning the logs can reveal small details left out of this basic summary below:
If you are reading this thread to cure a tank invasion from a link I sent you, we do not need to identify your type of invasion here we do not need you to test anything at anytime regarding nitrate, phosphate etc Above all, we do not need to see a microscope slide picture of your invasion at...
www.reef2reef.com
use all new water if you can in rebuilds. It’s fresh, doesn’t have to be filtered for waste compounds etc. if impractical or can‘t, then draw off the cleanest top water here for use, after heavy carbon filtration in a separate container, and prepare for reuse after substrates are cleaned. Seek or make the best water for reassembly is step one.
step two is disassembly surgery. Remove living animals or corals for holding in clean waters. Set your paly rocks in a clean container of saltwater so you can detail them outside the tank, 0% of this job is in-tank work.
it’s all complete disassembly surgical cleaning and no other method can beat this one in reliability.
Rinse all substrate in tap water until clear, that gives you unlimited rinse time. Clear substrate, then rinse in RO water to evacuate tap, now the sand can be reused or just get new sand and pre rinse that, be clear and clean on sand don’t input a clouding source into the new tank(s)
take rocks and brush off accumulations. Use pressurized seawater in some creative way to shoot jet out the pores
re express waste out of this rock. It’s living inhabitants if any can’t expel detritus, its locked in by blanketing and low flow. Express all that out, surgically detail the rocks with knife point rasps (urchin mimic) and forceful washing with saltwater
clean the rocks off
On the empty tanks awaiting rebuild, razor blade + peroxide spray or vinegar...get off all glass accumulations.
start these new reefs laser clean, you don’t need to buy new rocks and sand! We can restore biologically what you have, it’s the only fun way, new rocks is cheating.
reassemble it all, cloudless, and verify your rocks are cloudless clean by putting a test set of rocks into a clean glass five gallon nano of saltwater swirling and heated for a day, to see if they cloud due to sped-up emission of detritus they’ve needed to pump out but couldn’t.
*your new cleaned setups spews detritus for weeks into the clean tank, catching up on breathing/waste casting and respiration literally. Be siphoning that our of the edges, be changing water and mini siphoning pop up invasion spots, you have a busy post surgical 3 mos of guiding work to literally exercise the reef back into fringing reef zone, high energy throughput, ORP strong not acid-tentative, currents high and accumulations low. We effect all that environmental shift back to stony corals and sharp contrasting visual hues by just old fashioned elbow grease and separating sensitive animals from waste clouds
cloudless reassembly is our mechanism. We don’t have to test for free ammonia in these jobs, we already know they’ll skip the cycle and can be reused, if no waste clouding is present. Even the tap rinsed sand, that’s what we do above.
the same job that moves an existing reef tank to a new home, deep cleaning during takedown phase, is exactly the way to reverse the aging process for the reefs there at the University. So happy to see what you all kick into compliance!
By removing the yellow and gray hued coverings, the stark reef colors come back as we plant new life in place of accumulation, on top of rocks that now can actively exchange with the surroundings as they should be. We have taken to your reefs like a dentist set on turnaround if we’ve done things right.
B
