- Joined
- May 20, 2020
- Messages
- 8,352
- Reaction score
- 45,578
- What state or country do you live in
- New Jersey
I am now just shy of 3 months into my reboot and this is what I have learned:
Using live rock although very expensive, is easier than using sterile rock. 25 yrs ago live rock was everywhere, now because of restrictions and cost, I used my old rock. The ugly phase is significantly longer and uglier then when I first launched my tank with live rock.
In order to stop Dynos in my tank, the only thing that has worked was minimizing lights to just 4 hours a day, this is the only thing that has worked for me along with changing out the
Filter socks and having to clean the skimmer daily. In the last two weeks I have seen significant improvement.
There is no magic potion to help.
Algae blooms come with the usage of dead rock. I have a minor bloom that has persisted for the last 4 weeks. It isn't bad but annoying enough.
I never had a bloom before but I am cutting back the feeding schedule and feeding lighter, if push comes to shove I will get a UV.
The biggest change because i am not using live rock is i have forced myself to go SLOW. Only two fish in a 130 gallon in 3 months. Going slow is the only way to save your sanity an livestock.
The thing that really blew my mind is that bottled bacteria cycled my tank overnight. Fritz Zyme was like magic and I never had ammonia readings at all in the tank, I must admit I was skeptical but impressed in the end.
With the advancement of testing equipment, I find that reefers have more knowledge than I had in starting a reef so many years ago.
My advice, go slow and read everything you can to help give you the tools you need to succeed!!!
Happy reefing!!!
Using live rock although very expensive, is easier than using sterile rock. 25 yrs ago live rock was everywhere, now because of restrictions and cost, I used my old rock. The ugly phase is significantly longer and uglier then when I first launched my tank with live rock.
In order to stop Dynos in my tank, the only thing that has worked was minimizing lights to just 4 hours a day, this is the only thing that has worked for me along with changing out the
Filter socks and having to clean the skimmer daily. In the last two weeks I have seen significant improvement.
There is no magic potion to help.
Algae blooms come with the usage of dead rock. I have a minor bloom that has persisted for the last 4 weeks. It isn't bad but annoying enough.
I never had a bloom before but I am cutting back the feeding schedule and feeding lighter, if push comes to shove I will get a UV.
The biggest change because i am not using live rock is i have forced myself to go SLOW. Only two fish in a 130 gallon in 3 months. Going slow is the only way to save your sanity an livestock.
The thing that really blew my mind is that bottled bacteria cycled my tank overnight. Fritz Zyme was like magic and I never had ammonia readings at all in the tank, I must admit I was skeptical but impressed in the end.
With the advancement of testing equipment, I find that reefers have more knowledge than I had in starting a reef so many years ago.
My advice, go slow and read everything you can to help give you the tools you need to succeed!!!
Happy reefing!!!
