Warning to others.

[Eienna]

EDIT: Scratch that, I accidentally missed part of the post

 

[Reefbuds]

+1 on Don't Sell. Think about how much you've spent thus far. You're never gonna get that back. 7 months? That's nothing. Your tank is still young. Work the problem. Solve the problem. Bringing a tank back from where yours is at can be 10x more of a learning experience than cycling a new tank can ever be.

This

 

[Reefbuds]

Also 10x more satisfying when you have put in the time and work and resolved the issue. Watching your tank grow and evolve is what's its all about, problems and all.

 

[Eienna]

Look, you DO need your numbers in the sense that you need to know whether you're in a safe range. "Don't chase numbers" means don't freak out about getting them exact because stable is better than an exact number. The advice for dinos, well, the difference that makes is that the other bacteria usually outcompete dinos unless your nutrients are too low. Are you sure it was dinos at all, and not cyanobacteria or diatoms?

Don't quit now. You can solve this. Couple years down the line, it'll be thriving. Just keep learning.

 

[billyocean]

Personally...I think it's the light up BRStv sign causing the algae.

 

[Notsolostfish]

Personally...I think it's the light up BRStv sign causing the algae.

Ok

 

[YOYOYOReefer]

i have bought tons of used gear when someone cant keep their tank alive for pennies on the dollar..
cant believe the money some people spend on gear they dont need for a tank with just a few fish and corals.
lack of patience is a huge issue these days

 

[Eienna]

While adding nutrients to those levels was a mistake, I also suspect your tank may not have gone through its "ugly phase" yet, and that would be what you're seeing. Normally it happens sooner, but keeping nutrients so low from the get-go probably delayed it. Give it about six months of gentle management, and that will pass as your biology stabilizes. I know some videos on the subject - I'll try to go find them for you.

 

[Jstew75]

I just hope both teams have fun.

 

[ptrick21186]

Also 10x more satisfying when you have put in the time and work and resolved the issue. Watching your tank grow and evolve is what's its all about, problems and all.

Almost God like in my opinion. I joke around with my girlfriend about that all the time. She's always like "I don't understand your fascination with that tank" as I'm staring at it. To which I reply "It's my little world I created. I introduced everything into this world from the smallest bacteria to the biggest fish. I control just about everything that happens".

 

[billyocean]

Ok

Just a joke. In all seriousness...take control of your tank. Everyone wants a nice tank but not everyone wants to put in the work. Your the boss of that water and your letting it tell you what to do because you don't know what the job is. Learn your parameters and daily consumption for starters. @brandon429 can help you through a rip clean and you'll have a fresh start. We've all had algae problems and it didn't go away overnight. Dry rock start ups are headaches at times even 2 years in but it is what it is. Without testing anything I can tell you a pretty spot on range from alk, calc, mag, po4, no3, potassium off the rip. Take control of your tank!

 

[ptrick21186]

Look, you DO need your numbers in the sense that you need to know whether you're in a safe range. "Don't chase numbers" means don't freak out about getting them exact because stable is better than an exact number. The advice for dinos, well, the difference that makes is that the other bacteria usually outcompete dinos unless your nutrients are too low. Are you sure it was dinos at all, and not cyanobacteria or diatoms?

Don't quit now. You can solve this. Couple years down the line, it'll be thriving. Just keep learning.

Exactly! Chasing EXACT numbers is pointless. But knowing your numbers and how they fluctuate is very important.

 

[Troylee]

That well water or city water?

City water.. it’s horrible

 

[Eienna]

BRS did a whole series on the "ugly phase" trying to figure out what causes it and what to do about it.
There's a whole mess of pesty creatures that will come and go at first. My guess is, you started sterile and the creatures came in with your new frags. While these pests will need management, such as manual removal and proper nutrient control (as in, NOT dosing phosphates to a brand new tank) _this does pass._

EDIT 2: I posted a much shorter video with fixes on the next page.

My advice is to find one or two people you trust for advice. I have a few in particular I can recommend, at least on YouTube.

Just a joke. In all seriousness...take control of your tank. Everyone wants a nice tank but not everyone wants to put in the work. Your the boss of that water and your letting it tell you what to do because you don't know what the job is. Learn your parameters and daily consumption for starters. @brandon429 can help you through a rip clean and you'll have a fresh start. We've all had algae problems and it didn't go away overnight. Dry rock start ups are headaches at times even 2 years in but it is what it is. Without testing anything I can tell you a pretty spot on range from alk, calc, mag, po4, no3, potassium off the rip. Take control of your tank!

They WERE in control. It's that seeming loss now because of some idiot that's making them want to quit.
Fact is, they still are, they just have a few things to learn and the tank has to go through being new.

EDIT: My apologies, that comment came off excessively aggressive so I fixed it.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Almost God like in my opinion. I joke around with my girlfriend about that all the time. She's always like "I don't understand your fascination with that tank" as I'm staring at it. To which I reply "It's my little world I created. I introduced everything into this world from the smallest bacteria to the biggest fish. I control just about everything that happens".

Your girlfriend is going to suggest kids if you're not careful

 

[billyocean]

BRS did a whole series on the "ugly phase" trying to figure out what causes it and what to do about it.
There's a whole mess of pesty creatures that will come and go at first. My guess is, you started sterile and the creatures came in with your new frags. While these pests will need management, such as manual removal and proper nutrient control (as in, NOT dosing phosphates to a brand new tank) _this does pass._

My advice is to find one or two people you trust for advice. I have a few in particular I can recommend, at least on YouTube.


Take control?! Are you kidding me?! They WERE in control. It's that seeming loss now that's making them want to quit.
Fact is, they still are, they just have a few things to learn and the tank has to go through being new.

No... I'm not kidding! I clearly stated to learn those numbers...i.e. take control...what am I missing here?

 

[Eienna]

No... I'm not kidding! I clearly stated to learn those numbers...i.e. take control...what am I missing here?

I'm sorry about how that came off. I got upset because that's what they're trying to do, that's why they came here. And someone screwed them over with advice that would have been fine on a mature tank but not on theirs. You make it sound like it's their fault, that they just let it go. They're trying.

 

[Eienna]

Here, this has some tips for mitigating said ugly phase.
Almost everyone has serious issues the first year or so. By then, if you keep learning, things should level out.

 

[billyocean]

My bad..didn't mean to seem rude..it was meant to inspire some grit! FWIW it's best to research heavily on every decision made before doing it. Raising phosphate to .1 off the jump is risky because who knows what the rock is absorbing and when it will reach saturation...thusly sending phosphates through the roof. I've seen worse tanks turned around and I feel OP can do the same. Master this tank before moving to another tank and going through another cycle and ugly stage is my advice. It's so much closer to being fine than starting over anew!

 

[Tamberav]

I just want this video to be warning for other newbies starting out. I started this hobby 7 months ago, i got excited finished the cycled, added fish, and started immediately with lps corals. I was happy about my gear, so i immediately was replacing socks, breaking in my nyos 120, and all the fun along with it. Till one day i started seeing a little bit of dinos on the sand. So i was worried about cyano, and after effect of it. At this time my corals were pretty happy, so i came to this server, and asked about my algae, and the first thing i got "whats your phosphate, and nitrate" at that time i didnt have a hanna checker for those, so i immediately bought one, and my nitrate, and phosphate were both at 0.

So the first thing this server told me was A) feed more B) buy a brightwell neophos & neo nitro.

As a guy who does not like any sort of chemicals in his tank. I started feeding more. But that didnt bring my nutrienrs up at all. Keep in mind at this time my algae wasnt bad at all.

So the devil played with my mind, and i bought neophos, and neonitro.

I started dosing those, the dinos went away not gonna lie. But iv had cyano on some parts of my sand. It wasnt extending, but it wasnt going away. It was ticking off my rock anemone, my corals were pretty ticked off. So a reefer with "experience" told me yes dose your phosphate to 0.1 as 0.06 is low to your nitrate 5.6 and when you reach 0.1 for phosphate your algae will go away. So i started double dosing phosphate. And here iam the tank is completely covered in all sorts of algae, dinos, cyanos, green cyano,a lot of green hair algae. And all of my corals either bailing out, or dying.

Moral of the story here. Never chase a number, and let your tank do its thing. Chasing numbers are not good, and i wish i listened earlier. Never buy corals immediately neverrr. And im not saying wait a year to buy corals, just wait enough for your tank to stabilize, and your nutrients are not in the low 0s.

The video doesnt do the tank justice on how bad the algae is in my tank rn

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My mag is 1315
Alk:7.5(was 8.5 before)
Calcium:420
Salinity:1.026

It sounds like your issue is you used dry/dead rock or fake painted. Just my guess though.

Most new reefers go through all the crap you listed and more..... that is why so many quit. Then what is left is the stubborn people who painfully learned now to get through all the up's and downs.