Reboot. Reset. Nuclear War. Let's Begin.

[shamous113]

...BTW Did you ever seed coralline in the tank? When I set up new systems with a lot of new rock or rock that has been in sumps I always throw a handful of coralline scrapings into the return flow to seed it through the tank then crank up the Mag levels to let it grow out before I add other things.

How high do you take the mag levels?

 

[Nighthawk26]

Honestly IMO you have been the opposite...maybe a bit of laziness would do you some good

...sometimes instead of doing more you really need to do less and just let time and nature solve your problems for you. If you provide conditions that favour what you wish to keep and stress the competition, eventually what you want will win.

Best post in this thread.

 

[AdInfinitum]

That's well over my head. So with that said, could my cured marco rock still have had phosphates that without cyano would have just basically held onto it, but the cyano basically drew it out? Cyano sort of just went away without any direct treatment, so would that mean it basically extracted all it could and then starved itself?

Yes you got it exactly! Also with a bump up in nutrients the Cyano could have been consumed and/or out competed by other micro flora/fauna.

 

[Nonuser]

So you're saying it has a cycle like when you cycle a tank?

 

[AdInfinitum]

How high do you take the mag levels?

Nothing crazy or toxic lol, didn't even have Mg test kits like now...just added some extra magflake (MgCl2) and Epsom salt to keep it up as coralline consumes a lot as it grows and doing it when you first set up gets the coralline rolling without competition since it it starts slower than soft tissue algae.

Sorry about the hijack Reef keeper...but sort of on topic .....

 

[Nighthawk26]

Yes you got it exactly! Also with a bump up in nutrients the Cyano could have been consumed and/or out competed by other micro flora/fauna.

Ok, but still, there has to be the presence of Phosphate available in the water column or substrate or sock or SOMETHING. Meaning no available phosphate at all will not allow cyano? Or still it can be there? I'm past that hurdle... for now anyways, just curious.

 

[reef keeper]

So is this why I need to dose 350 ml of mag 2x a week to keep up? I have a ton of chaeto in my fuge. You think it's just stripping the water too much? Fuge is about 60 gallons on 340 total gallons.

 

[AdInfinitum]

Ok, but still, there has to be the presence of Phosphate available in the water column or substrate or sock or SOMETHING. Meaning no available phosphate at all will not allow cyano? Or still it can be there? I'm past that hurdle... for now anyways, just curious.

Well yes there must be a source but all living things require it. The fundamental energy carrier molecule in cells is adenosine tri-phosphate so absolute zero phosphate equals zero life.

It just happens that Cyano can access and utilize phosphate that virtually no other living thing can.

 

[AdInfinitum]

So is this why I need to dose 350 ml of mag 2x a week to keep up? I have a ton of chaeto in my fuge. You think it's just stripping the water too much? Fuge is about 60 gallons on 340 total gallons.

Are you still using Kalk? One potential downside of Kalk is that as calcium and alk levels get higher than Kalk alone will get it (your Ca reactor), Kalk can start to precipitate Mg out of solution. Maybe cut the Kalk out and see if your levels stabilize.

 

[reef keeper]

My calcium reactor is off line. By using kalk, I find my ph is more stable. I'm seriously looking at a DOS. Less fussy and meets my control freak standard. I can also ditch the reactor on eBay. And gives me back a power bar for the frag tank.

 

[Kman]

Easy Tiger!

Couple things here. If you have ever had to tear down a fully set up 220G then you know how much work and a PITA it is, so I am pretty sure you can not call someone lazy for taking that on.

As for the cause of the the problem, he seems to have indicated where he is confident the problem came from. If your comment of him being lazy was from the perspective of why didn't he do something about it then as it got worse, well he has offered an explanation for that oversight as well. He clearly said he was rolling in poop happy that he felt he was getting great coloration of colaline. Clearly that turned out to be wrong.

Everyone is trying to learn her (or at least they should be), and everyone has different levels of experience. That coupled with the comment of the decades you have been doing this suggest so me that you know better how to talk to people. With all that experience I'm sure you have a ton of helpful hints to offer. I can only imagine his frustration.

Well I never called anyone lazy. I was saying using that reason not to fix an issue is being lazy, because it is. I have worked with large systems for years and regardless of the size of tank dealing with an algae outbreak or any issue is more work. So using 'it is a large tank' as the reason not to make a change is being lazy. If people don't want to deal with those issues large scale don't get a large tank it is as simple as that. It is part of having a large system and you have to deal with it. Not attacking anyone just saying how it is.

OP I am not trying to be rude or attack you here or say you don't know what you are doing. But from a veteran reefer to a fellow reefer this situation was caused by you because you don't have patience. You get your system to a point where you see some result and then you get excited and impatience and then you dump a crap load of live stock into it before it is even a fraction ready. It causes problems so you take things out and do it all over again. If you just slowed down and took your time and stocked your tank responsibly like people have said in other threads you would not be running into this issue. I have spoken with a few veterans on the side as they PMed me about this topic after I posted my reply yesterday. They have given you the tools you need to succeed but you choose to ignore the advice if it differs from your own opinion or thoughts. When I and just like others first started in this hobby or we needed advice when new if a veteran gave us advice we would listen to it and do it. We would not back talk them like so many new people in saltwater do today for some reason. Like for instance what happened when I mentioned to manually scrub the rocks in the tank yesterday. All of a sudden reasons popped up why it is not feasible and will not work. Well guess what? Decades of my experience say otherwise so you can listen to me or not your choice if you want to fix this. Scrapping a tank every time someone runs into an issue doesn't make sense and is counter productive. I would have not gotten to where I am today if I had done that. So stick to it you will get through this. If you need to take the frags of sps out and put them into a frag tank till things are under control.

Any suggestions I provide in any of my posts I use myself and are based on my experience in saltwater and trust me you will get results if you listen. I want you to do well but if you don't want to listen to veterans like me when we give you the advice to fix an issue. Why bother asking if you don't want to listen? Or you can keep doing what you are doing up to you. I am not trying to sound harsh I am just a blunt person and I don't beat around the bush.

 

[ThePaliga]

Agreed. I ran into a huge problem with turf on my first aquarium. Thought I was doing so well, until a buddy came over and pointed it all out. It was an uphill battle for months... But I'm so glad I didn't end up scrapping the tank. Remember.. This hobby isn't about quick results.

Just my two cents...

 

[reef keeper]

Ok. So let's begin this again.

I don't have to like what you say, but not to listen would be foolish. Period end I need to get the sps out before I do anything.

What would you recommend I use to scrub the rock? A plastic brush would make the most sense to me.

I'm no stranger to hard work. And I'm no stranger to putting my head down and getting it done.

Let's begin here. I already have a plan in place to eliminate the bubble algae. That will also require removing the rock - but not killing it.

 

[ThePaliga]

What I used was a new metal brush. Takes it down to white pretty nicely. Then, once you have a break in the turf, a nail brush, or other firm brush brings the majority up relatively easily... Just a matter of keeping on it is all

 

[reef keeper]

Would there be a risk of leaving metal filings in the rock? So basically I'm going to rape the rock.

 

[shamous113]

You can get stainless steel wire brushes from industrial suppliers ie Knells in kitchener or i think home hardware carries them, the ones with the wooden handels seem to hold up better. We use them at work for cleaning welds.

 

[Nonuser]

I picked up a 3 pack at princess auto for cheap and they worked great still have 2 left they had plastic handles

So when are you posting the fish 4 sale list?

 

[reef keeper]

Soon enough. To start

Yellow tang 40

2 scribbled rabbits 40 ea. They swim together

One spot fox face 45

Niger trigger (sold)

Sailfin not. For. Sale.

 

[Skim]

I had an outbreak a while back what worked for me was reducing light intensity and using Brightwell Aquatics Microbactor 7 and Microbe-Lift Special Blend. It was not fast but you could see dying back a little each day. It worked for me maybe worth a try.

Skim

 

[reef keeper]

What did you have? The thick red turf that won't scrape off or the cotton candy.