Thinking of going a different direction

[Potatohead]

This is somewhat embarrassing to admit, but my tank currently sucks, and has sucked for a couple years (more like 2.5). I have an acro dominant 66g. I have gotten to the point I can certainly grow coral, but I can't seem to do it without also having a ton of algae (mainly cyano) problems. This has been going on for two years now. I have an eight bulb Sunpower over the tank and I do suspect it's just too much light for the coral load I currently have, but I don't know that for sure. The growing cyano then also consumes a lot of nutrients so they always test really low, and corals grow more slowly than they probably should. I have tried so many things, spent a lot of money... I am just tired of fighting this battle.

So, I'm thinking of resetting, running a few rounds of chemiclean and no lights for a while, getting a less powerful light, and setting the tank up to house more LPS, acans, chalices etc. I have a little seven gallon nano on my office desk with some acans and ricordeas, and it's really fun. Ironically I still battle a bit of green cyano in that system too, but it's manageable and no big deal because the tank is so small.

If I am honest with myself I really do want a killer acro tank, but three years+ of trying, maybe I'm just not very good at it. Moving away from that dream, that I can simplify a lot, maybe get rid of my doser, maybe even the skimmer, etc and still have a really cool reef that hopefully I will actually enjoy looking at when I get home rather than getting annoyed or disgusted with it which is currently mostly the case.

Has anyone made a similar type of move and regretted it/been really happy about it?

 

[brandon429]

easy

all you do is cull and harvest the full acros into a nano/large one that way you can control the invaders directly. I know your current tank pretty well, its too large for manual controls and the places you've sourced hardscape materials is presenting organisms that require direct control.

Direct control = the ability to run a 100% water change without delay. Itd take you a year to make up enough water for a full instant wc right now, plus a six man crew to run it and finance it.

downsize but keep your corals itll instantly fill out a smaller reef, say a 55 g. cull a bunch of fish out

pico reefs never, ever, ever have the ongoing challenges large tankers have and we now keep the exact same corals. its due to direct access. we settle by keeping less to no fish, focus on corals.

Gallonage is the #1 determinant in overall success against invaders, because + gallons is - willingness to access them directly. at about 2 gallons nobody has invasions strange irony about volume. find a happy mid ground gallonage to support your colonies

transport the corals onto live rock of the purplest highest quality, dont try and bring up your own rock

 

[AlexG]

Do you have a build thread or pictures of how the tank looks right now? While changing the tank around is an option I would be concerned that not knowing the underlying issue causing the algae/cyano to be present would still be an issue even if you change the tank up.

 

[Jon Fishman]

What have you tried?

I run Ozone and UV and feed the tank like a drunken school-boy and I never have to worry about algae.

I’m not doubting that you have tried “a lot” if you’ve been battling for over 2 years....... but if it were me, I would throw a big new shiny toy in the sump to fight the nutrients vs tearing down

 

[Katrina71]

I'd love to see your sucky tank! Please post pics and there is no reason to be embarrassed!!! We have threads for the ugliest tanks. Pics are worth 1000 words. I'm sure another reefer has had the same issue. I enjoyed your honesty!

 

[MichaelReefer]

I feel like us thinking our tanks "Suck," is pretty normal...I see some guys on here and am like "wow, my tank looks like **** compared to his;" yet I have people compliment my tank all the time. *Shrug*

 

[Jon Fishman]

I feel like us thinking our tanks "Suck," is pretty normal...I see some guys on here and am like "wow, my tank looks like **** compared to his."

I keep doing stuff and buying stuff with this crazy idea that I can somehow find the “secret” to make my fairly new tank look like some of these well-established, mature tanks owned by people who have exponentially more experience and better husbandry methods than me......


But I do like shiny new toys.....


I agree though! Let’s see this ugly tank! I am a cell-phone point-and-shooter. So all my pictures are ugly!

 

[MichaelReefer]

I keep doing stuff and buying stuff with this crazy idea that I can somehow find the “secret” to make my fairly new tank look like some of these well-established, mature tanks owned by people who have exponentially more experience and better husbandry methods than me......


But I do like shiny new toys.....


I agree though! Let’s see this ugly tank! I am a cell-phone point-and-shooter. So all my pictures are ugly!

I've only been doing reef tanks for a little more than a year now. Wen't from a 15 gallon Nano to a Reefer 250, and I will tell you, you learn fast about how tanks age like fine wine. The longer and longer a tank gets established the nicer it gets.

I have a 55 gallon planted Freshwater and it is very similar in that sense. When you first get the plants in there it looks bad, but the longer and longer you have it, and the thicker and thicker plants grow in... it looks a heck of a lot better.

 

[Potatohead]

What have you tried?

I run Ozone and UV and feed the tank like a drunken school-boy and I never have to worry about algae.

I’m not doubting that you have tried “a lot” if you’ve been battling for over 2 years....... but if it were me, I would throw a big new shiny toy in the sump to fight the nutrients vs tearing down

I have a very long multiple page thread on here about this which kind of ended last winter when my power went out for 28 hours and I kind of reset at that point, I can try to dig it up. (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/cyano-going-to-cause-me-to-shut-down-my-tank.343703/)

The only thing I have not tried is UV. The reason for that is most of the problem I have is confined to the rocks and sandbed, and I am hesitant to try a $400 item that kills things in the actual water. I could very well be wrong.

I currently have a filter roller, a refugium which grows chaeto like a boss, and a skimmer (not oversized). I have about 70g of water volume, and five smaller fish. I feed about 1/2 cube a day or maybe flake instead some days, but what they will eat in about 30-40 seconds.

For about two months in the summer my corals were looking pale so I tried feeding a bit more. It did work, colors got better, but also algae (mainly cyano) got much worse. It's a weird powdery type of cyano too, it doesn't really form mats. Since then I have cut feeding way back, and to be truthful, it has helped. It's just not as good as I wish it to be, and my corals look pale again. It's obvious to me the cyano is out-competing the coral, I just can't seem to get that swung around.

 

[Katrina71]

Have you considered just adding more flow?

 

[Potatohead]

Have you considered just adding more flow?

Well, sort of, meaning I have turned up what I have. The tank is at 95 times turnover potential. I'm not running everything 100% all the time obviously, but probably averages about 65%, I would guess. Maybe 40% at night. I could add more but not sure how much it would help...