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ReeferND

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@ReefGoat I have seen this thread before and I completely agree it looks like what I have. I just wish people would follow through on their threads about success or failure. @DreC80 I was thinking maybe it was Dino's so that's why I gave the tank a 3 day dark period....assuming they maybe photosynthetic but from that last thread, maybe there are Dino's that don't phtotsynthesize???  I have beaten cyano in my tank at work but it was the typical red kind.....wonder if a similar treatment would work for this if it is in fact a white cyano?

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6 hours ago, ReeferND said:

@ReefGoat I have seen this thread before and I completely agree it looks like what I have. I just wish people would follow through on their threads about success or failure. @DreC80 I was thinking maybe it was Dino's so that's why I gave the tank a 3 day dark period....assuming they maybe photosynthetic but from that last thread, maybe there are Dino's that don't phtotsynthesize???  I have beaten cyano in my tank at work but it was the typical red kind.....wonder if a similar treatment would work for this if it is in fact a white cyano?

It'd be worth a try at this point you've got nothing to lose. If you try to go the live rock route try kp aquatics or Tampa Bay saltwater 

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Well, let me give you folks a quick update. I cannot make any mention of the chemiclean or anything related to bacteria on rocks at this point but....... I can say without a shadow of a doubt, the UV sterilzer has made my water crystal clear! I always thought my water was clear as I always use ROX 0.8 but holy moly it's twice as clear now. Looking long way through the tank it looks like looking through glass. I can easily read Maxspect on the gyre on the other end. I'm pretty blown away by how the water looks. My concern here is that having water look like this may mask problems in the tank..... first world problems I know. I will keep you all updated with the bacteria. I will be gone from the tank for 4 days, so if anything I am doing is working it should be easy to notice after 4 days without cleaning. You folks send me a holiday present by wishing me luck with a crystal, bacteria free tank when I get back!!! Happy holidays y'all!

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A Little Blue
9 hours ago, ReeferND said:

Well, let me give you folks a quick update. I cannot make any mention of the chemiclean or anything related to bacteria on rocks at this point but....... I can say without a shadow of a doubt, the UV sterilzer has made my water crystal clear! I always thought my water was clear as I always use ROX 0.8 but holy moly it's twice as clear now. Looking long way through the tank it looks like looking through glass. I can easily read Maxspect on the gyre on the other end. I'm pretty blown away by how the water looks. My concern here is that having water look like this may mask problems in the tank..... first world problems I know. I will keep you all updated with the bacteria. I will be gone from the tank for 4 days, so if anything I am doing is working it should be easy to notice after 4 days without cleaning. You folks send me a holiday present by wishing me luck with a crystal, bacteria free tank when I get back!!! Happy holidays y'all!

That’s the beauty of UV if implemented correctly.  Glad to see it work with solving your issue. 

Also recommend it for any bacterial or algae outbreak. And a necessity imo for quarantine/hospital tank setup. 

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18 hours ago, ReeferND said:

Got a shipment from BRS today! It's always like Christmas. I will continue to fight the good fight against the bacteria. Hope the UV sterlizer helps out with that.

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Those are great little dosers

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Is this thread becoming a IM30L hangout?   😄  Good luck OP, all other 30L owners here are rooting for you.  Sometimes a little time away from the tank does wonders - and I hope it'll be the case for you here.   

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Back from holidays. Tank looks ok but lots of the stringy stuff everywhere. It did hit me that I never showed a picture when it gets to this stage. If you zoom into the pictures (even the areas that are not circled) you can see what is covering my rock. These rocks were clean 4 days before this picture. Any thoughts?

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Hard to say.  Are you dosing anything the could be feeding this?  What about coralline algae?  Is it pretty well established on your rocks?  What happens if you just let it go? Does it cover things to the point where it actually affects them in a negative manner?  Does flow impact it at all? I'm just wondering if it may be one of those situations where you just continue regular maintenance and it eventually dies off on its own.  I'm rooting for you and hope it can get figured out soon.

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@DreC80nope, not dosing anything to the tank. I am still even dosing alk, calc, and mag by hand. I was using reef roids, reef chili, and lps amino acids but have not done any of those for at least 2 months. I have 0 coralline growth in the tank. I only have 4 frags in there and none came with any on them as they were all put on brand new plugs before going into the tank. I got some unique corals gift cards for Christmas so I am hoping some of those can seed the tank. I have not let this stuff just go yet. I am not sure when to pull the trigger on doing that.....perhaps I should. Maybe it will burn itself out. It does start to cover the corals and yes they are being impacted by it. I have increased flow in the tank with gyre now at alternating gyre mode reaching 30% (about 35x turnover in the display). Maybe add more flow? I can say for sure that the glass and back wall we're not nearly as impacted as they have in the past after 4 days being gone. So the UV must be stopping it from finding new surfaces I just need to get it off the rocks.

 

I am open to any and all suggestions. 

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I wish I had advice for ANY of the many problems you've ran into with this build. I'm just posting to let you know that I'm jumping back into the hobby after years and years away, reading threads like this to re-familiarize myself are extremely helpful! I've been silently lurking. You have a beautiful stand/cord setup.

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8 hours ago, ReeferND said:

@DreC80nope, not dosing anything to the tank. I am still even dosing alk, calc, and mag by hand. I was using reef roids, reef chili, and lps amino acids but have not done any of those for at least 2 months. I have 0 coralline growth in the tank. I only have 4 frags in there and none came with any on them as they were all put on brand new plugs before going into the tank. I got some unique corals gift cards for Christmas so I am hoping some of those can seed the tank. I have not let this stuff just go yet. I am not sure when to pull the trigger on doing that.....perhaps I should. Maybe it will burn itself out. It does start to cover the corals and yes they are being impacted by it. I have increased flow in the tank with gyre now at alternating gyre mode reaching 30% (about 35x turnover in the display). Maybe add more flow? I can say for sure that the glass and back wall we're not nearly as impacted as they have in the past after 4 days being gone. So the UV must be stopping it from finding new surfaces I just need to get it off the rocks.

 

I am open to any and all suggestions. 

I guarantee that your problems came from using the Reef Roids and Reef chili. I could be wrong but in my 10 gallon that's where my problems started. Reef Chili......how often were you adding these two coral foods?

 

 

I think that my tank was just too new to be adding Reef chili and it started an algae infestation. So for the record the stuff probably works very well in a mature tank with a lot of corals. But in a fledgling tank with few corals. Bad news from my experience. 

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Since @ReefGoat brought up feeding topic, how often and how much are you feeding?  You don’t seem to have much in the tank after flipping thru the last 4 pages. What about clean up crew or fish, I can’t tell if there are any in there?  Think of the tank as a food chain - the more you can introduce each part of the chain, the more likely the system will be able to balance itself out. 

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9 hours ago, ReeferND said:

@DreC80nope, not dosing anything to the tank. I am still even dosing alk, calc, and mag by hand. I was using reef roids, reef chili, and lps amino acids but have not done any of those for at least 2 months. I have 0 coralline growth in the tank. I only have 4 frags in there and none came with any on them as they were all put on brand new plugs before going into the tank. I got some unique corals gift cards for Christmas so I am hoping some of those can seed the tank. I have not let this stuff just go yet. I am not sure when to pull the trigger on doing that.....perhaps I should. Maybe it will burn itself out. It does start to cover the corals and yes they are being impacted by it. I have increased flow in the tank with gyre now at alternating gyre mode reaching 30% (about 35x turnover in the display). Maybe add more flow? I can say for sure that the glass and back wall we're not nearly as impacted as they have in the past after 4 days being gone. So the UV must be stopping it from finding new surfaces I just need to get it off the rocks.

 

I am open to any and all suggestions. 

I just went back through and read the entire thread again.  If my math is correct the tank is about 10 months old now.  It took a really long time for my coralline algae to show up...probably around the 10 month mark honestly.  I don't know if it was a coincidence or not but most of mine started showing up after I added a t5 supplement to the tank (though I don't recommend you adding more equipment at this point). 

 

I would add as much flow as your tank can handle.  I have two mp10s running 50% on reef crest mode and an upgraded return pump on my 30l.  If it doesn't negatively affect your corals, crank it up.

 

Did you ever remove the marine pure?  I'm wondering if you should remove those and dump a bottle of dr. Tim's all in one to reseed the good bacteria in the rock/sand.

 

I know I had mentioned not adding fish previously, but maybe it's worth a shot at this point so you and your daughter can enjoy the tank a little more.  As @micoastreefing said, feeding the fish, fish waste, etc may help in balancing things out.

 

I would stop dosing waste away and all of the other items at this point except calcium/alkalinity.  Do you think scrubbing the rocks in the tank is just helping this stuff spread? Are you still running the skimmer?  Recommend you keep it going, if nothing else for oxygenation of the water.

 

Maybe add a fish or two and try not doing any water changes for a month or so.

 

I feel like you started this tank correctly and took your time.  You have the right equipment and mindset.  Success will come.

 

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@GPFeathers thanks for the comment on the cabinet and cable management. I put a lot of time and thought into it. Wish I would've had the money for an Apex but reefkeeper will work for now as long as it stays alive. Once it dies/screws up I will be getting an Apex. 

 

@ReefGoati think you are probably correct with my horrid feeding habits. I was feeding reef roids and chili 2x a week and it was targeted but of course some spread in the tank. To be honest, I probably should've never had corals in the tank that young and just kept to feeding my fish to build up the system.

 

@micoastreefingi only have 4 coral, a serpent star, an anemone, and started with about 70 snails of all sorts now I am down to probably a small handful which I think added to my nutrients problems (total noob mistake). I did have 2 clowns but both died from fin rot and I have not replaced since. I couldn't agree with you more about the ecology of the system. It's quite embarrassing to admit at this  stage but I actually am an ecologist. I just never followed my trophic levels closely enough and now I am paying for it. 

 

So, this is what I am going to do now.

 

1) remove marine pure from sump in case it is harboring this nasty bacteria

2) add Dr Tim's one and only to the tank

3) introduce 2 fish on the same day Dr Tim's goes in

 

I will obviously monitor ammonia and both Ns during this phase. Maybe I will be able to jump start a new ecosystem. Once that seems to be working, I will slowly introduce corals to the system but at a much quicker rate than I have thus far. Honestly, and I want anyone new that reads to take it with a grain of salt, I think I was too slow! Before beginning this hobby I always read there wasn't such as a thing as too slow but I think those comments were for people that are impatient. I think a year without any/minimal bioload has hurt my progress in establishing an ecosystem.

 

Do you folks have anything else you would do at this point or does that seem like a good basis to start?

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Well, marine pure has been out for a while now. I have just let this stuff go while changing filter pads every other day. Not adding any more Dr Tim's products nor chemi clean. No water changes. Fingers crossed it will burn itself out. If not, corals, anemone, and inverts are going to quarantine tank and I will start the process of bleaching the tank and all equipment. 

 

I really hope no one else ever gets this stuff. What a pain.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello everyone. Update here. So, I cannot beat this stuff. I feel like I have tried everything within reason. So, I am starting over. Ordered new arag alive figi pink sand, Caribsea shapes rock, and drm tims one and only. Shipment arrives tomorrow. I moved everything still alive over to my 10 gallon guarantine tank. Galaxia coral is dead, palythoa is dead, hammer and frogspawn are clinging to life. Pretty defeated at the moment. If this try doesn't work, I will just give up. I am going to be following the BRS 4 month cycle to the tee. 

 

What do you folks think about the idea for the cycle?

 

How should I go about sterlizing all my tank and equipment? I am really worried if I don't do it properly and kill all this stuff it will pop up again in the new system. Bleach? Hydrogen peroxide? Both? I live where it will be -40F on Sunday.....set it all outside?

 

Any help and motivation would be great folks. Really defeated here.

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I suggested soaking all equipment in vinegar on the other thread, but wanted to tell you here, don't give up! About 6 or 8 months after we started our first reef tank in 2012, I was ready to quit over cyano and algae - the tank looked like a swamp and I couldn't get a handle on it. I asked for help on this site, got some great ideas and info. And after a while, I was able to have a tank I could enjoy. You have gained a lot of experience dealing with this that will help. 

Hope your reboot goes well.

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@Newstead thanks for the suggestion and the kind words of motivation. I am really passionate about this hobby, even though I have no success. I watch every BRS video including all thier live streams. Your right, I think I have learned a lot in the last year and feel much more prepared for the experience. 

 

For the cycle, I am going to follow the 4 month cycle highlighted by BRS and WWC. I hope that will lead me to success. 

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