When is the ugly stage is too much?

schafon · Jun 20, 2023

Hi everyone!
I've recently (exactly 1 month ago) moved everything from my 120G to my new 200G.
I moved all of my live rock from the old tank to the new one (most of it is in the sump) + added a lot of new dry rock + new live sand (Fiji Pink).
My old tank wasn't the prettiest algae wise, I've had constant red cyano on the sand and the rocks, but I believed that it was due to me not maintaining it correctly (or at all).

Now, after around a month of the tank running it looks bad, covered in algae (see pictures) that start to annoy some of the corals.
Some of my old rocks are also getting covered in algae, which is weird, and I'm preety sure I've lost my feather duster today due to it's shell getting covered in algae from the outside and the inside.

My parameters looks ok, I'm actually feeding more recently since my nutrients are declining (I assume that's the algae having fun with it + my very efficient reefmat + skimmer).
ALK - 8.4 (still trying to tweak AFR to get it to stable)
Nitrate - 3.8
Phos - 0.03
ICP test came back ok, no crazy contaminants or toxins (only thing out of range is Aluminum at 0.064 mg/L)
Also deficiency on Potassium, Manganese, Nickel and Vanadium (Thats why I'm starting to dose Reef Fuel, Potassium is not too far off so I'm not doing anything with it right now)

Currently dosing 25ml of All For Reef and yesterday I've dosed Reef Fuel for the first time.
Doing daily 2G water changes using Apex.

I'm also not super happy with the clarity of the water, sometime it's not so clear, but not crazy, I think it's bacteria blooms.

My question is, when enough is enough? is this normal for the ugly stage? will it eventually work itself out? I'm worried for my corals, should I try to intervene with chemicals?

My auto water change is from a salt water reservoir in the garage, the water gets quite hot in there, around 82f, can it cause problems?

Thanks

Saltyreef · Jun 20, 2023

Tank transfers with coral are tough because this is usually always inevitable during a biome disruption.
With a new tank, your established coral arent fighting the biome trying to rebalance and the tank is free to mature at its own pace.

The only way to really do this reliably is keep ahead of the algae with 10x more elbow grease than normal.

Its one of the toughest issues I face in reefing since im constantly changing tank setups due to new ideas and it plagues me like no other.

schafon · Jun 20, 2023

Saltyreef said:
Tank transfers with coral are tough because this is usually always inevitable during a biome disruption.
With a new tank, your established coral arent fighting the biome trying to rebalance and the tank is free to mature at its own pace.

The only way to really do this reliably is keep ahead of the algae with 10x more elbow grease than normal.

Its one of the toughest issues I face in reefing since im constantly changing tank setups due to new ideas and it plagues me like no other.

So You say I should grab my toothbrush and go to town on everything?

etcee · Jun 20, 2023

Husbandry will get you through it. Get in there with a toothbrush and get that stuff out of your water column with your weekly 10% water change. It will work itself out over time.

DonTavo27 · Jun 20, 2023

I’ve been fighting that stage for that last 5 months since transferring tanks, I just bought a new RoDi, and have been doing consistent weekly water changes, manually pulling, added more CUC, including a sea hare. Everyday now, I see less and less GHA.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Jun 20, 2023

Only 1 month? Settle in for the long haul...

Roatan Reef · Jun 21, 2023

etcee said:
Husbandry will get you through it. Get in there with a toothbrush and get that stuff out of your water column with your weekly 10% water change. It will work itself out over time.

This is correct!

gbroadbridge · Jun 21, 2023

schafon said:
Hi everyone!
I've recently (exactly 1 month ago) moved everything from my 120G to my new 200G.
I moved all of my live rock from the old tank to the new one (most of it is in the sump) + added a lot of new dry rock + new live sand (Fiji Pink).
My old tank wasn't the prettiest algae wise, I've had constant red cyano on the sand and the rocks, but I believed that it was due to me not maintaining it correctly (or at all).

Now, after around a month of the tank running it looks bad, covered in algae (see pictures) that start to annoy some of the corals.
Some of my old rocks are also getting covered in algae, which is weird, and I'm preety sure I've lost my feather duster today due to it's shell getting covered in algae from the outside and the inside.

My parameters looks ok, I'm actually feeding more recently since my nutrients are declining (I assume that's the algae having fun with it + my very efficient reefmat + skimmer).
ALK - 8.4 (still trying to tweak AFR to get it to stable)
Nitrate - 3.8
Phos - 0.03
ICP test came back ok, no crazy contaminants or toxins (only thing out of range is Aluminum at 0.064 mg/L)
Also deficiency on Potassium, Manganese, Nickel and Vanadium (Thats why I'm starting to dose Reef Fuel, Potassium is not too far off so I'm not doing anything with it right now)

Currently dosing 25ml of All For Reef and yesterday I've dosed Reef Fuel for the first time.
Doing daily 2G water changes using Apex.

I'm also not super happy with the clarity of the water, sometime it's not so clear, but not crazy, I think it's bacteria blooms.

My question is, when enough is enough? is this normal for the ugly stage? will it eventually work itself out? I'm worried for my corals, should I try to intervene with chemicals?

My auto water change is from a salt water reservoir in the garage, the water gets quite hot in there, around 82f, can it cause problems?

Thanks

The exact reason why I dislike upgrading tanks.

Dunno if I could ever do it again and retain my sanity.

Townes_Van_Camp · Jun 21, 2023

schafon said:
So You say I should grab my toothbrush and go to town on everything?

A syringe works well also. Draw back the plunger and suck the algae in. Then use the tip to scrape it off the rock while the bulk of the algae is inside the syringe. 20/10 ml irrigation syringes with the tip cut just far enough to let in bigger clumps. If you have a stainless tip for it (non-sharp) that will scrape the growth at the rock really well. It also helps keep the algae from flying around as much (I use a small fish net on that).