ughhh cycling with dry rock sucks

[Jwill1316]

Alright Fellas help me out here. I wish I had started my tank with live rock but it's what it is. I started my build.
with dry rock and ocean direct sand. Obviously, I'm having the new tank syndrome. Tank is currently 6months old.
I'm still fighting the ugly stages with this tank. Fighting GHA in the refugium with Cheato, as well as fighting some Dyno in the main tank not much but deff present.
I'm currently in the process of running a UV sterilizer to get rid of the Dyno, and GHA. I'm removing as much as I can.
by hand but we all know that GHA is a pain. I have a few sps corals in the tank and I believe I jumped the gun on purchasing.
corals. I think I should have waited at least a year but it's what it is.
My question is do I continue to feed heavy and broadcast feed. I'm currently feeding Phyto feast as well as live Phytoplankton.
i have had loss on color in my sps and obviously due to low nutrients. Tank params are as follows.
salinity 01.25ppm
nitrates 1
phosphates 0
PH 7.9-8.3
averages about 8.1
dkh 8.0 to 8.1
mag 1360
cal 480
temp 77
I have been running my Protein skimmer for 24/7 but think im going t go to 12 hours.
I currently run my refugium for 24 7 as well basic sock filter for mechanical filtration as well.
and I'm running Kalkwasser to Maintain my alk, water changes are 10% every week.
running 4 ATI t5 24watt bulbs 2 blue +, 1 purple +, 1 coral +, and a 250-watt 14k Hamilton metal halide.
I run my T5s for 12 hours and the halide for 4.5 hours.
I have 1 Hippo tang, I 6-line, 1 lawnmower blenny, 2 clown fish and 1 purple dotty back.
I do have a clean-up crew 6 turb snails, 4 astrias, 3 blue leg crabs.
its a50gallon breeder with a 40 gallon sump. Im wondering if I should be patient and continue to run what Im
doing until the GHA problem is gone and hpe that the colors come back.I was thinking about dosing neo phos
as well as neo nitro to get the nitrate and phosphates up.

 

[brandon429]

let's see pics

there's about a 90% chance your lights are too bright for the reflective surfaces and phosphate swings associated with dry rock starts. I have a couple handy threads where reef picasso masters guided those systems into pure sps reefs though, let's see how yours presents/pics

 

[Jwill1316]

let's see pics

there's about a 90% chance your lights are too bright for the reflective surfaces and phosphate swings associated with dry rock starts. I have a couple handy threads where reef picasso masters guided those systems into pure sps reefs though, let's see how yours presents/pics

 

[Jwill1316]

let's see pics

there's about a 90% chance your lights are too bright for the reflective surfaces and phosphate swings associated with dry rock starts. I have a couple handy threads where reef picasso masters guided those systems into pure sps reefs though, let's see how yours presents/pics

Yeah I was thinking about backing my halide down to a shorter period. Water params are good just can't figure out what route I should take with trying to rid the algea and getting phosphate and nitrates up. I feel that I won't beat the alge and dyno if I try to bump nitrates and phosphate.

 

[brandon429]

that is amazing looking, great job wow

I was expecting brown and green growths littering the rock scape, that's such a clean setup wow. anyone with a dry rock start would envy that progress. I'm going back to re read and see if you're using UV light it is a tremendous help to curb invaders as they transit via the water to new surfaces. that absolutely looks like an ideal start to me.

I can't think of any way to make that tank better, since coralline hasn't adhered as a rejecting surface those open areas are going to take on a little green pigmentation, what a stellar setup. I can't think of any way to make that setup better than it is.

 

[brandon429]

Connecting Established Reef To New Tank

EDIT: In conclusion, if using the method I did - connecting an established reef to a new system with dry rock (clean), I recommend the following: 1. Dose your new tank prior to connecting to your old tank with NO3 and PO4 enough to raise to your established tank levels. 2. Take your skimmer...

www.reef2reef.com

tuffloud may know a way. watch him take a stellar 200+ gallon reef tank worth big $, and then move all the contents into a totally white rock system I thought would be relentless in its algae problems/ he proceeds to guide that new one into another reef tank $$ with perfect rocks and corals. consider his chemistry approach there since your rocks aren't easily removed for external guiding.

 

[Jwill1316]

that is amazing looking, great job wow

I was expecting brown and green growths littering the rock scape, that's such a clean setup wow. anyone with a dry rock start would envy that progress. I'm going back to re read and see if you're using UV light it is a tremendous help to curb invaders as they transit via the water to new surfaces. that absolutely looks like an ideal start to me.

I can't think of any way to make that tank better, since coralline hasn't adhered as a rejecting surface those open areas are going to take on a little green pigmentation, what a stellar setup. I can't think of any way to make that setup better than it is.

Thank u im still not happy with some of my sps loss in color i know its still early and wish i had not moved so soon on coral. I should have waited a little longer until the coraline alge stared up better. Just want to het rid of the nasty alge so i can het more coraline growth and maturity. All isnt 100 percent happy yet i know there is room for improvement

 

[abdiel b]

Use fritz aquatics turbo start. It cycle’s your tank instantly.

 

[TheBear78]

Be patient, possibly more than you were! At six months in your rocks are probably still absorbing phosphate. Keep feeding well and as the weeks pass I wouldn't be surprised if you N&P levels start to swing the other way. I had the exact same problem with dry rock. I started dosing which helped but a year in and I'm now struggling to keep N&P down...

Do you need a refugium? They increase nitrate export and the lights will not help the GHA problem.
Do you need to dose Phyto? That can also reduce nitrate.
Do you need to skim at all? Many don't.

Water changes are also a sure fire way to reduce nitrate but 10% a week is a good routine and keeps many other essential nutrients topped up.

 

[Jwill1316]

Be patient, possibly more than you were! At six months in your rocks are probably still absorbing phosphate. Keep feeding well and as the weeks pass I wouldn't be surprised if you N&P levels start to swing the other way. I had the exact same problem with dry rock. I started dosing which helped but a year in and I'm now struggling to keep N&P down...

Do you need a refugium? They increase nitrate export and the lights will not help the GHA problem.
Do you need to dose Phyto? That can also reduce nitrate.
Do you need to skim at all? Many don't.

Water changes are also a sure fire way to reduce nitrate but 10% a week is a good routine and keeps many other essential nutrients topped up.

Im going to back down on the skimming for sure and see what that results ive alwasy ran a refugium i beleive ill just keep feeding heavy back down on the time the skinmer is on and see where that leads me just wanting to get some of the color back in my sps that have lost that color

 

[brandon429]

I feel light reduction will help tremendously in bleach control even though current levels aren't causing much algae at all

 

[Jwill1316]

Im going to back down on the skimming for sure and see what that results ive alwasy ran a refugium i beleive ill just keep feeding heavy back down on the time the skinmer is on and see where that leads me just wanting to get some of the color back in my sps that have lost that color

Im open to any suggestions i know its mainly a waiting game for sure but just trying to be open to other avenues there are some corals that arent happy and i can deff say it had to be phosphates being consumed

 

[Jwill1316]

I feel light reduction will help tremendously in bleach control even though current levels aren't causing much algae at all

I was thinking that as well

 

[areefer01]

I hate to be that person but what is it that you are actually asking for help on?

 

[Jwill1316]

I hate to be that person but what is it that you are actually asking for help on?

Loss in color on the sps im thinking that the algea is eating all my phospates and nitrates up hence why my phos is reading 0. Just the loss in color has me bothered so trying to pinpoint if its the nutreints, the lighting.

 

[Seansea]

How often you feeding?

 

[rc8t6353]

What are you testing with? This is just my opinion and what worked for me. Although your tank is new, start dosing neophos and neonitro. Start sparingly tho. Pull the rocks out with algae and scrub as clean as you can. Up the clean up crew and cut back on the water changes just a little. Hopefully your not dealing with dinos from the low phosphate and nitrate levels. And as others have said, cut back on the white light and the length of time the lights are on. I went with all blues for a few weeks and it helped weaken the algae before I scrubbed the rocks. I hope this helps.

 

[Jwill1316]

How often you feeding?

i feed 2 cubes a day and im currently dosing acro power 3ml evey other day and phytoplankton live every day 5 ml

 

[Jwill1316]

What are you testing with? This is just my opinion and what worked for me. Although your tank is new, start dosing neophos and neonitro. Start sparingly tho. Pull the rocks out with algae and scrub as clean as you can. Up the clean up crew and cut back on the water changes just a little. Hopefully your not dealing with dinos from the low phosphate and nitrate levels. And as others have said, cut back on the white light and the length of time the lights are on. I went with all blues for a few weeks and it helped weaken the algae before I scrubbed the rocks. I hope this helps.

ok i will def give it a try

 

[areefer01]

Loss in color on the sps im thinking that the algea is eating all my phospates and nitrates up hence why my phos is reading 0. Just the loss in color has me bothered so trying to pinpoint if its the nutreints, the lighting.

Got it, thanks.

• Tank is new - probably not ready for SPS but you already noted this. Can you move them for a bit to a fellow reefer or a frag tank (if you have one)?
• Have you vetted the test results, reagents used, test kit(s)? Fellow reefer near by, LFS (if reliable)?
• You are dosing a lot of different things on a new display
• You have a lot of light with frags again on a new display
• Dry rocks take a long time to mature as you are finding out. It is a multi year process

I'd check test kits, reagents, and do a quick back to back test to see if the results are consistent and repeatable. If things are indeed 0 then go from there. I'd start by making a list of what you are dosing, feeding, and lighting, then look to see what may affect your nutrient levels. You can dose nitrate and phosphate but the question is do you need to.

There is no way to bypass the phases that a new tank will go through but you can of course help mitigate or manage. So whatever you decide error on the side of caution and go slow.