ughhh cycling with dry rock sucks

[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.

I test phosphate with salient phos test kit and nyos nitrate test kit

 

[Jwill1316]

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.

I have no way to move them to another tank I was thi king of just running ATI blue plus bulbs and then baking g my halide down to 2 hours a day I have checked my parameters against other test and everything is in line

 

[radfly]

Not six months old.

 

[brandon429]

reducing white spectrum power/anything 10K color hue or thereabouts / common for halide setups / and going with bluer light settings + slightly lesser power than current trend is a known helper for new tank uglies and bleaching challenges

its not always chemistry. that chemistry you run keeps 98% corals happy, not bleached, and invasion low I recommend do not change any chemistry do physical stuff. get and install a quality UV if you haven't already and lastly

I would remove and clean off externally any rocks you can get to. it doesn't matter if that's ideal, physicality is a big deal factor in guiding that great setup

you dont have to externally clean all of it, but there's some degree of rock + coral you can simply lift out, clean off the surface, apply a little mist of peroxide to burn the top layer/ rinsing that part off then setting it back in, all creatively working around the corals.

you can't imagine how helpful that would be, to spot detail areas that need it without affecting your overall water chemistry which is perfect.

 

[areefer01]

I have no way to move them to another tank I was thi king of just running ATI blue plus bulbs and then baking g my halide down to 2 hours a day I have checked my parameters against other test and everything is in line

Sometimes moving is not an option but figured I'd ask. Had to go back to the first post but what I believe you are saying is:

• Fighting GHA in the refugium with Cheato
• as well as fighting some Dyno in the main tank not much but deff present

So GHA in the refugium (only in the refugium)? Not sure I understand Cheato but if it is a lot then there is one source of nutrient export. How much will vary so may, or may not be, an area. You could remove it to a bucket, airstone, and light if you want to save it or just toss it.

Some form of dino's although you didn't note what type, or if it has been successfully ID'd (microscope?). Low to no nutrients can do this but again not sure what you are dealing with exactly. Still takes me back to all of the things you are dosing for such a young display with 1/4" frags. Algae wants to grow and live and uses similar things that you are feeding the corals to grow.

If you couldn't tell I'm not one to panic (then again it isn't my display to be fair) but prefer a more methodical approach to learn what problem I am dealing with so I can prevent it from happening again. Even after 5 years (also using dry rock as a base 170 lbs of it) I have issues. Question - do you have herbivores and if so numbers? Not too many, not too few, and types.

 

[Jwill1316]

reducing white spectrum power/anything 10K color hue or thereabouts / common for halide setups / and going with bluer light settings + slightly lesser power than current trend is a known helper for new tank uglies and bleaching challenges

its not always chemistry. that chemistry you run keeps 98% corals happy, not bleached, and invasion low I recommend do not change any chemistry do physical stuff. get and install a quality UV if you haven't already and lastly

I would remove and clean off externally any rocks you can get to. it doesn't matter if that's ideal, physicality is a big deal factor in guiding that great setup

you dont have to externally clean all of it, but there's some degree of rock + coral you can simply lift out, clean off the surface, apply a little mist of peroxide to burn the top layer/ rinsing that part off then setting it back in, all creatively working around the corals.

you can't imagine how helpful that would be, to spot detail areas that need it without affecting your overall water chemistry which is perfect.

yeah i think im going to run all blue plus bulbs and back down the halide significantly maybe 1 or 2 hours tops i was thinking about buying a supplemental led bar but I'm going to see how all blue t5s do. i will deff pull out the rocks that i can and do a clean on those for sure i currently purchased a uv sterilizer that on the way as we speak. With the cleaning of the rocks do you just suggest rodi water. Im not planning on changing up anything chemistry based

 

[Jwill1316]

Not six months old.

what do you mean?

 

[brandon429]

For the rocks you can access they're not dipped or broadly treated, they're handled exacting like a dentist handles a large tooth they're working on

Take a rock out and if corals are attached they'll be fine, or dribble saltwater over them to keep wet, rocks sit on the counter in the air so you can access only target zones and work around corals

Don't use a brush

Use a steak knife

Use the edge and tip to score off the growths, rasping, steel on rock and dig away/ dislodge the anchors exactly like a dentist scores our teeth with a metal pick to dislodge attachments

Be pouring saltwater over rocks to dislodge and wash off


Brushes smash bits of plant into the rock surface and seed it for more plants

A knife takes longer and has less swath but it's digging and lifting out attachments so they go away in the rinse, like a dentist

Any areas that had raised or filamentous growth you still scrape them clean surgically, but apply peroxide to those areas and let sit cooking leftover cells as few minutes

Rinse off with saltwater and set back

Repeat as needed and never let a problem zone win, and transmit growths to other areas. The uv will help for sure but you've got to dentistry this at times and in certain areas as the fallback method that prevents total takeover

You sounded resolved at the very start to head off problems, that's rare, most people work from the backwards way of letting things get totally jacked first

You've got too much money in that to risk it and I have never seen a more reliable cheat than reef dentistry by forced compliance.

If/ when there is a coralline spot that shows up, algae won't be on it, and you can detail around that spot with no rasp and no peroxide

Surgery allows you to target only the needed areas. Surgery can't cause dinos but messing with nutrients sure can, I see this as the safest plan for that $ reef

 

[brandon429]

None of that harms your cycle, I have nano reefs where we do all the rock at once vs in sections like you will do

 

[Jwill1316]

For the rocks you can access they're not dipped or broadly treated, they're handled exacting like a dentist handles a large tooth they're working on

Take a rock out and if corals are attached they'll be fine, or dribble saltwater over them to keep wet, rocks sit on the counter in the air so you can access only target zones and work around corals

Don't use a brush

Use a steak knife

Use the edge and tip to score off the growths, rasping, steel on rock and dig away/ dislodge the anchors exactly like a dentist scores our teeth with a metal pick to dislodge attachments

Be pouring saltwater over rocks to dislodge and wash off


Brushes smash bits of plant into the rock surface and seed it for more plants

A knife takes longer and has less swath but it's digging and lifting out attachments so they go away in the rinse, like a dentist

Any areas that had raised or filamentous growth you still scrape them clean surgically, but apply peroxide to those areas and let sit cooking leftover cells as few minutes

Rinse off with saltwater and set back

Repeat as needed and never let a problem zone win, and transmit growths to other areas. The uv will help for sure but you've got to dentistry this at times and in certain areas as the fallback method that prevents total takeover

You sounded resolved at the very start to head off problems, that's rare, most people work from the backwards way of letting things get totally jacked first

You've got too much money in that to risk it and I have never seen a more reliable cheat than reef dentistry by forced compliance.

If/ when there is a coralline spot that shows up, algae won't be on it, and you can detail around that spot with no rasp and no peroxide

Surgery allows you to target only the needed areas. Surgery can't cause dinos but messing with nutrients sure can, I see this as the safest plan for that $ reef

 

[Jwill1316]

I will definitely Use this method on my next day off I feel that this is very aggressive towards the dinos and really Like this method you have provided I'm not one to dump chemicals into my tank. I feel that's a disaster waiting to happen.
I'm new to reefing sps tanks I have done lps and softies no problem. I like the challenge that sps has. I understand that there is always a risk of loss of corals in a new system i fully understand that. if i could go backwards I deff would have waited on the coral but im looking forward to this method and hoping for great results

 

[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.

salifert sorry

 

[Jwill1316]

Sometimes moving is not an option but figured I'd ask. Had to go back to the first post but what I believe you are saying is:

• Fighting GHA in the refugium with Cheato
• as well as fighting some Dyno in the main tank not much but deff present

So GHA in the refugium (only in the refugium)? Not sure I understand Cheato but if it is a lot then there is one source of nutrient export. How much will vary so may, or may not be, an area. You could remove it to a bucket, airstone, and light if you want to save it or just toss it.

Some form of dino's although you didn't note what type, or if it has been successfully ID'd (microscope?). Low to no nutrients can do this but again not sure what you are dealing with exactly. Still takes me back to all of the things you are dosing for such a young display with 1/4" frags. Algae wants to grow and live and uses similar things that you are feeding the corals to grow.

If you couldn't tell I'm not one to panic (then again it isn't my display to be fair) but prefer a more methodical approach to learn what problem I am dealing with so I can prevent it from happening again. Even after 5 years (also using dry rock as a base 170 lbs of it) I have issues. Question - do you have herbivores and if so numbers? Not too many, not too few, and types.

yes I have 1lawnmower blenny and i hippo tang

 

[areefer01]

yes I have 1lawnmower blenny and i hippo tang

I wasn't really concerned about fish as they are hit or miss and the two you listed, well, wouldn't be my choice. The way I look at "fish" herbivores is that I buy them because I want them and not because they eat algae. IF they eat algae then that is a bonus.

I was talking more about snails. How many, what types, and where are they hanging out? Are they on the glass? If so move them to rocks because that isn't' where the algae is. If they are on the rocks are they do you see if they are eating it or not? You will see paths or marks.