Tank is going to hell.
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Scurvy
Pirate Reefer
Checked out the other thread. So positively ID’d as Diatoms. Sounds like your doing about all you can. Water changes may be working against you until you get the RODI filters you need.
Stingray122
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What would you suggest? If I am removing the large portion of the diatoms (even maybe 20% of them) from the water, is the small amount of silica being added from a water change counter productive? I figured if I am removing as many diatoms as I can during the WC, that I would atleast push them back for the time period until they grow back.
Stingray122
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I can't believe how long it says its going to take to get the package from Marine Depot. I live in MN, so my BRS orders take a day, but BRS doesn't carry it sadly. I ordered it on Wednesday. They must use very cheap shipping..
Stingray122
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Also any idea what this is? Maybe just diatoms too but you cannot get it off the rocks, never had coraline in this tank (never seeded it with any, regretting that now, my two snails have a bit on their shells). It is so stuck on there, can't scrape any with my fingernail or a brush.
![20181215_161826[1].jpg](https://test9.reef2reef.com/attachments/20181215_161826-1-jpg.918595/ "20181215_161826[1].jpg")
Scurvy
Pirate Reefer
Siphoning through a sock/filter pad back into the sump may be better if it is in fact your RODI water thats feeding the silcate.
Running the GFO or Phosgaurd should be combating the silcate already in the tank but you’ll be walking a tightrope as far as PO4 measurements go which you know.
Were it me I would probably kill the lights for a couple/three days while waiting for the filters to arrive. Id blow as much as possible into the water column with a turky baster a couple times a day hoping a lot gets caught in filter socks or pads.
Also what do you have for snails in the tanks? Astrea are Diatom crushers.
Rjukan
Broken
What kind of rock do you have? How much of it was live vs dry? What salt mix are you using? And what lights?
Also can you post a pic of your rock with less blue channel? Could it be you're still in the ugly stages? If it was all or mostly all dry rock with little to no live rock it very well could be. Possibly the coral suffering isn't directly related to the diatoms?
Also can you post a pic of your rock with less blue channel? Could it be you're still in the ugly stages? If it was all or mostly all dry rock with little to no live rock it very well could be. Possibly the coral suffering isn't directly related to the diatoms?
Stingray122
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9 month old tank. Started with all dry rock, cycled with Dr. Tim's one and only. Salt mix is Red Sea blue bucket. Lights are Maxspec Razor 24 in 160W. Could be still in the ugly stages I suppose, but I have ran a refugium since day 1 of the cycle (per BRS recommendation on their testing, but they said later to not run the refugium from day 1, but obviously I didn't know that at the time).
Rjukan
Broken
Yeah man. Dont sweat it. You have a ton of stages to get through with that rock, especially since you didn't add any fully cured LR.
Dry rock like that (like what I used for 90% of my tank until I got some Florida LR) needs to build up layers of life before it has the base for coraline to fully grow on it. It's still mostly white, so its going to have to go through those diatom stages, and other algae. In my opinion I wouldn't do anything, besides maybe get some really nicely cured LR to add to it. Only a piece or 2 is needed.
Dry rock like that (like what I used for 90% of my tank until I got some Florida LR) needs to build up layers of life before it has the base for coraline to fully grow on it. It's still mostly white, so its going to have to go through those diatom stages, and other algae. In my opinion I wouldn't do anything, besides maybe get some really nicely cured LR to add to it. Only a piece or 2 is needed.
Rjukan
Broken
Then it's just a matter of time. It's just going to take longer for the dry rock to become mature, and in order for it to get there it needs to go through some pretty ugly phases.
I initially thought the same way. In a previous system of mine (check my build thread) I went through all sorts of nightmare pest and hitchhiker scenarios which I told myself I didnt want to go through this time. But after seeing others with tanks that looked amazing and were able to keep all sorts of coral, in way less time than I had invested already, I realized the difference was the rock.
I initially thought the same way. In a previous system of mine (check my build thread) I went through all sorts of nightmare pest and hitchhiker scenarios which I told myself I didnt want to go through this time. But after seeing others with tanks that looked amazing and were able to keep all sorts of coral, in way less time than I had invested already, I realized the difference was the rock.
Xclusive Reef
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Worse case go to Walmart or similar and get some water.
Scurvy
Pirate Reefer
Got to agree with this probably being part of the maturing process. I was expecting it to look much worse than it does after seeing under white light.
It took over a year before my last total dry rock tank would keep SPS alive long term. Theyd do ok for a little bit but ultimately recede and die after a few weeks.
If youve confirmed you have silcate in your water then by all means try to correct it but I would confirm it before chasing my tail. ATI ICP will test your RoDI sample if you wanted to go that far. I think someone posted a home kit you could try too.
It took over a year before my last total dry rock tank would keep SPS alive long term. Theyd do ok for a little bit but ultimately recede and die after a few weeks.
If youve confirmed you have silcate in your water then by all means try to correct it but I would confirm it before chasing my tail. ATI ICP will test your RoDI sample if you wanted to go that far. I think someone posted a home kit you could try too.
Dual40IM
Active Member
Just my opinion but the system is just to new, needs time to mature. Be patient and it should all work out. Just a thought but could you get some mature live rock and set up a temporary tank to try and save the corals?
Epic Aquaculture
The artist formerly known as SawCJack00
The key to maturing a dry rock tank is to add as much biodiversity as possible. I started my tank with dry rock and no live rock, but I have added pods, worms, bugs, bacteria, etc. from many different sources. I added my first SPS frag 6 weeks after my cycle completed. I now have over 100 different frags/mini-colonies, and my tank will be 8 months old on 12/29/18. I'm not recommending that anyone should do it the way I have, but adding as much diversity as you can will help to mature the tank and make it more stable for your corals.
Agree with others that the tank is just maturing.
I think I noticed is that you said you "already cycled the tank and don't see why this is happening", or something to that effect. The way you should think about maturing your tank is that for sometime your tank will go through a nutrient "cycle" every time you add something to it, until your target bioload is reached in your matured tank.
New tanks with uncured new rock that don't have the biodiversity and capacity fully ramped up, may be "cycled" at a given point in time with a low bioload, but since you are stocking it over time, the tank needs to build up the capacity to manage the bioload of a new addition slowly and will "cycle" as you add new life.
The cycles will be manageable if you add livestock slowly in small increments, but they may cause an undesired nutrient spike if you add too much too quickly. The real exception for this is when you add fully cured rock to a new system, as others have said. Then you could add more life more quickly.
I think I noticed is that you said you "already cycled the tank and don't see why this is happening", or something to that effect. The way you should think about maturing your tank is that for sometime your tank will go through a nutrient "cycle" every time you add something to it, until your target bioload is reached in your matured tank.
New tanks with uncured new rock that don't have the biodiversity and capacity fully ramped up, may be "cycled" at a given point in time with a low bioload, but since you are stocking it over time, the tank needs to build up the capacity to manage the bioload of a new addition slowly and will "cycle" as you add new life.
The cycles will be manageable if you add livestock slowly in small increments, but they may cause an undesired nutrient spike if you add too much too quickly. The real exception for this is when you add fully cured rock to a new system, as others have said. Then you could add more life more quickly.
