Thrilled - Getting past the ugly phase

PR_nano · Jun 8, 2021

After a year and a half I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I seen a lot in that year some of which had me questioned if I should start over or keep going. Glad I keep pushing and overcome lots of things along the way as it's valuable knowledge I have now gained. This site has a wealth of knowledge and experienced hobbyist willing to help. So thanks to all, this has been a great trial.

dank reefer · Jun 9, 2021

Its always a good feeling when you overcome something in this hobby. Good Job for sticking with it and persevering!

The_Skrimp · Jun 9, 2021

I voted ongoing. I'm just past the 1 year mark on this tank and it has taken till now to see some light at the end of this tunnel. My sand still has quite a bit of brown on it during the day, and I still have hair algae everywhere but It was a lot worse just a few months ago. There was a point where every inch of rock was covered in hair algae.
My biggest mistake I think was over feeding early on and using carib sea dry base rock instead of live rock. I started carbon dosing vodka, using a UV, dosing hydrogen peroxide, and dumping microbacter 7 and microbacter clean into the tank and it's all starting to finally get better but I'm not quite there yet.

PR_nano · Jun 9, 2021

dank reefer said:
Its always a good feeling when you overcome something in this hobby. Good Job for sticking with it and persevering!

My thought exactly. Thanks!

PR_nano · Jun 9, 2021

The_Skrimp said:
I voted ongoing. I'm just past the 1 year mark on this tank and it has taken till now to see some light at the end of this tunnel. My sand still has quite a bit of brown on it during the day, and I still have hair algae everywhere but It was a lot worse just a few months ago. There was a point where every inch of rock was covered in hair algae.
My biggest mistake I think was over feeding early on and using carib sea dry base rock instead of live rock. I started carbon dosing vodka, using a UV, dosing hydrogen peroxide, and dumping microbacter 7 and microbacter clean into the tank and it's all starting to finally get better but I'm not quite there yet.

I still have some small brown patches in the sand (dino) , small patches of turf algae and other things going on but no way near what it used to be. I think that was dino on sand at its worst...

I also use the Caribsea dry rock and did dose all the same products you listed. In the end I stopped and only focus on maintaining detectable nutrients level both PO4, NO3, and let the tank mature on its own. It was a long wait but I feel I'm almost there.

Good luck you seem to be almost over your issues.