Not having success

[I'm Batman]

I swear every time I add rock I end up with a whole bunch of issues. Rock goes from donor tank into a bucket of SW, rides 10 minutes home and after some light swishing goes in the tank. I lost a tribal blenny and have had crazy spikes.  
 

“Cooked” new rocks for months until cycled, put them in the tank and boom covered in algae. I’m terrified of adding rocks. 

[Llorgon]

On 10/23/2020 at 5:34 PM, mcarroll said:

Persistence will win out....you're on the right track.  👍

 

Thin out the rest of the area you're working in and the tougher parts can still be pulled at the end, even if it's little bits at a time.  Won't have anything else in the way.   If it's still too tough, just get it next time.

 

It's not the end of the world to do it (vacuuming as you go is cumbersome, but helps a lot), but scrubbing green algae CAN make it spread.  

 

Bubble algae is the most famous for this, but AFAIK all green algae have the capability to spread like that. 

 

That's the point of the "finger tweezer" method and the bowl of clean water in that video....avoid the spread of reproductive bits. 👍

 

 

Sorry I missed this on my first reply.  (Some of this might be piling on now.)

 

Your phosphates are effectively zero, along with nitrates.  

 

You will need to stop doing everything you're currently doing to remove nutrients.  If you need to do water changes to keep mineral numbers in line (ca, alk, mg), then I would strongly recommend dosing the new water with nitrates and phosphates before adding it to the tank.

 

Do not remove your rocks from the tank anymore.  For however much cleanup you can accomplish, you're also setting back the development of life on the rock...a losing proposition.

 

>>>>>> Sounds like you have a lot more room to feed your fish a lot more food. <<<<<

 

Ramp up to 1/2 cube a day but eliminate the coral feedings and see how it goes for a few days or a week or so.

 

See if you can get up to a whole cube per day without issues....I suspect you can.

 

Ok to keep the pellets/flake, but IMO make them occasional.  

 

(You will be able to feed A LOT more frozen than dry or processed, BTW.)

I think I'm slowly winning on the gha. There's patches on the back wall that haven't grown back in over a week! 

 

I know scrubbing the rocks isn't ideal, but for some places it's more effective than me trying to pull it out.

 

So for nutrient control I have an algae scrubber and water changes. The algae scrubber is doing well at growing the algae so far.

 

For the nutrients, what numbers should I be shooting for here? The gha started because of high nutrients. Which is why I was lowering them.

 

I do have phosphate and nitrate dosing stuff from my battle with dinos in a previous tank. I could dose them. But don't I still have decent nutrients since the gha is still growing pretty well in places?

10 hours ago, I'm Batman said:

I swear every time I add rock I end up with a whole bunch of issues. Rock goes from donor tank into a bucket of SW, rides 10 minutes home and after some light swishing goes in the tank. I lost a tribal blenny and have had crazy spikes.  
 

“Cooked” new rocks for months until cycled, put them in the tank and boom covered in algae. I’m terrified of adding rocks. 

Well that is a bit concerning to hear. I put the new rock in yesterday during my water change and removed another algae filled one. 

 

Everything in the tank seems fine this morning. Finger crossed it stays that way.

[mcarroll]

1 hour ago, Llorgon said:

I know scrubbing the rocks isn't ideal, but for some places it's more effective than me trying to pull it out.

 

So for nutrient control I have an algae scrubber and water changes. The algae scrubber is doing well at growing the algae so far.

When you scrub, you're scrubbing a lot more than just algae...no matter how careful you are.  At best you're resetting the algae cycle so that once again there is free room for algae spore settlement, not ending it.

 

I would disable the algae scrubber and see how things go for a few weeks (at least) or a couple of months.  It doesn't sound like your tank needs it.

 

1 hour ago, Llorgon said:

For the nutrients, what numbers should I be shooting for here? The gha started because of high nutrients. Which is why I was lowering them.

Algae doesn't take over because of high nutrients.

 

If it did, just for example, I'd have nothing but hair algae growing....my phosphates stay around > 1.0 ppm and nitrates stay around >50 ppm.  

 

But that's not the case for my tank – I have a lot of coralline, some cyano and  rarely any green algae at all.  (For greens, sometimes bubble algae and hair algae do show up, but I don't do anything about it...sooner or later I notice they are gone just as suddenly as they appeared.)

 

It's normal and healthy for a tank to have these algae around on a transitory basis....coralline is the only "major player" and the only constant though.

 

That balance is achieved, over time, by the presence of herbivores.  Aka you and your cleanup crew.

 

The usual problems that cause algae blooms are: 

• Lack of cleanup crew
• Combined with the extremely high percentage of well-lit open area in a brand new tank.  This is a perfect settling ground for algae....rapid settlement of open spaces is one of their several forte's.

Using dead rock instead of live rock tends to exaggerate this probable outcome since there's such a limited array of organisms.

 

Not enough competition to promote stability.

 

Especially no coralline algae spores.  

 

So whatever algae is tough enough to survive its way into a new tank is what blooms to domination levels.  Cyano and hair algae can come from dust in the air...dino's probably come from cysts on the dead rock...all are exceedingly tough and well adapted for that mode of spreading.

 

Trying to starve out algae is the wrong strategy, mostly because most algae are so well-adapted against starvation – it's the #1 thing they have to "worry" about in the wild.  In a new tank, you end up starving out all the competing organisms that are less-capable in this regard....so you end up favoring the pest algae by lowering nutrients.

 

1 hour ago, Llorgon said:

But don't I still have decent nutrients since the gha is still growing pretty well in places?

No. (And see above about the whole idea of starving it out.)

 

That's the whole "my test kit is lying to me, the algae is telling the truth" meme.  🙄

 

As long as you're doing the test according to the instructions, your test kit isn't lying.  😉

 

Anything that needs nitrates and phosphates to be dissolved in the water is going to be impacted....and you need other things to grow and displace that algae....which will mainly be other algae.  Can't do that without LOTS of available nutrients.  👍 

 

1 hour ago, Llorgon said:

I do have phosphate and nitrate dosing stuff from my battle with dinos in a previous tank.

You're incidentally pushing this tank in that same directions....dino's are likely to be the next algae that shows up if you actually were to succeed in starving out the hair algae.  (If you looked at the algae growing in your system under a microscope, you might already find 

 

First, I would disable all filtration other than a protein skimmer....it's possible that the display is mostly being starved just by the algae scrubber and shutting it off will do everything that needs to be done.

 

Second, keep working with the algae removal method from that YouTube video.....again persistence is key....might take a few weeks, but it is a winning strategy.

 

Third, if things don't start seeming better within a day or two of shutting down/removing excess filtration (ie tank conditions same; no3 and po4 still testing zero) then I would get out the nutrient dosing reagents and begin.

 

I would target minimum levels of 0.10 ppm or phosphates and at least 5-10 ppm for nitrates.  Higher is fine for both numbers.

 

Algae spores can be filtered out or killed BTW.

 

So if you do see algae spreading during this time after taking down the filters, it shouldn't be required but you can consider adding a UV filter or Micron filter (or both, if money is no object) to help you out while you and the snails establish that balance.  Both filters will kill or eat algae spores from the water, preventing them from spreading as much or as fast.

 

Most aquarium stores (even chains) seem to carry UV filters....most seem to work, but be conservative in the sizing.  For example, if you have a 10 gallon tank, don't get the UV filter that's "made for 5-10 gallon tanks"....instead opt for the one made for "10 to 20 gallon tanks".  For micron filters (aka diatom filters) Marineland makes the most portable one in their Polishing Filter.  The classic Vortex XL is a canister-style micron filter and might be better in some situations.  FWIW, micron filters have the advantage in that there are usually no disposable parts.  UV bulbs are only good for X hours of operation....usually 6 or 12 months in actual use....and then have to be recycled (contains mercury) and replaced.  It's possible you'll never need more than the original bulb though....you won't have to keep this running to keep the algae down...that will be competition's job. 👍

 

2 hours ago, Llorgon said:

I would focus your hand-pulling efforts around that Euphillia at the top of the pic.  

 

Work in one small area at a time – eg. that 2" patch of hair to the left of it.  Leave the other longer hair around it alone and ignore it, and just focus in that area until it's as clean as you can get it.  You can use tweezers for the finest parts, but don't go too nuts on it....just do a good job.  For added measure, you can grab one of your snails and place him right on the patch so he knows it's now ready for him to eat.  They hunt from memory and will avoid areas that have been overgrown – too big for them to eat.

 

You can work on another area, or if that seemed like a lot of work, quit until next time.   Do try to hit a patch every day...if you can do more than one patch a day then you're ahead of the curve.  It can be tedious though...and it's more important to be persistent and thorough than fast IMO.

 

It's possible that areas you clear will re-grow if there aren't enough snails.....this is how you know if you need more snails.  Keep cleaning and adding snails in small amounts until you don't have to clean or add snails anymore.

 

Depending how much you can get done at once and what your availability of snails is like, it might take a few days or up to a few months to ultimately get control.

 

BTW, do you see much/any active coralline algae growth now?  Maybe on the new rock?

[Llorgon]

On 10/25/2020 at 12:13 PM, mcarroll said:

When you scrub, you're scrubbing a lot more than just algae...no matter how careful you are.  At best you're resetting the algae cycle so that once again there is free room for algae spore settlement, not ending it.

 

I would disable the algae scrubber and see how things go for a few weeks (at least) or a couple of months.  It doesn't sound like your tank needs it.

 

Algae doesn't take over because of high nutrients.

 

If it did, just for example, I'd have nothing but hair algae growing....my phosphates stay around > 1.0 ppm and nitrates stay around >50 ppm.  

 

But that's not the case for my tank – I have a lot of coralline, some cyano and  rarely any green algae at all.  (For greens, sometimes bubble algae and hair algae do show up, but I don't do anything about it...sooner or later I notice they are gone just as suddenly as they appeared.)

 

It's normal and healthy for a tank to have these algae around on a transitory basis....coralline is the only "major player" and the only constant though.

 

That balance is achieved, over time, by the presence of herbivores.  Aka you and your cleanup crew.

 

The usual problems that cause algae blooms are: 

• Lack of cleanup crew
• Combined with the extremely high percentage of well-lit open area in a brand new tank.  This is a perfect settling ground for algae....rapid settlement of open spaces is one of their several forte's.

Using dead rock instead of live rock tends to exaggerate this probable outcome since there's such a limited array of organisms.

 

Not enough competition to promote stability.

 

Especially no coralline algae spores.  

 

So whatever algae is tough enough to survive its way into a new tank is what blooms to domination levels.  Cyano and hair algae can come from dust in the air...dino's probably come from cysts on the dead rock...all are exceedingly tough and well adapted for that mode of spreading.

 

Trying to starve out algae is the wrong strategy, mostly because most algae are so well-adapted against starvation – it's the #1 thing they have to "worry" about in the wild.  In a new tank, you end up starving out all the competing organisms that are less-capable in this regard....so you end up favoring the pest algae by lowering nutrients.

 

No. (And see above about the whole idea of starving it out.)

 

That's the whole "my test kit is lying to me, the algae is telling the truth" meme.  🙄

 

As long as you're doing the test according to the instructions, your test kit isn't lying.  😉

 

Anything that needs nitrates and phosphates to be dissolved in the water is going to be impacted....and you need other things to grow and displace that algae....which will mainly be other algae.  Can't do that without LOTS of available nutrients.  👍 

 

You're incidentally pushing this tank in that same directions....dino's are likely to be the next algae that shows up if you actually were to succeed in starving out the hair algae.  (If you looked at the algae growing in your system under a microscope, you might already find 

 

First, I would disable all filtration other than a protein skimmer....it's possible that the display is mostly being starved just by the algae scrubber and shutting it off will do everything that needs to be done.

 

Second, keep working with the algae removal method from that YouTube video.....again persistence is key....might take a few weeks, but it is a winning strategy.

 

Third, if things don't start seeming better within a day or two of shutting down/removing excess filtration (ie tank conditions same; no3 and po4 still testing zero) then I would get out the nutrient dosing reagents and begin.

 

I would target minimum levels of 0.10 ppm or phosphates and at least 5-10 ppm for nitrates.  Higher is fine for both numbers.

 

Algae spores can be filtered out or killed BTW.

 

So if you do see algae spreading during this time after taking down the filters, it shouldn't be required but you can consider adding a UV filter or Micron filter (or both, if money is no object) to help you out while you and the snails establish that balance.  Both filters will kill or eat algae spores from the water, preventing them from spreading as much or as fast.

 

Most aquarium stores (even chains) seem to carry UV filters....most seem to work, but be conservative in the sizing.  For example, if you have a 10 gallon tank, don't get the UV filter that's "made for 5-10 gallon tanks"....instead opt for the one made for "10 to 20 gallon tanks".  For micron filters (aka diatom filters) Marineland makes the most portable one in their Polishing Filter.  The classic Vortex XL is a canister-style micron filter and might be better in some situations.  FWIW, micron filters have the advantage in that there are usually no disposable parts.  UV bulbs are only good for X hours of operation....usually 6 or 12 months in actual use....and then have to be recycled (contains mercury) and replaced.  It's possible you'll never need more than the original bulb though....you won't have to keep this running to keep the algae down...that will be competition's job. 👍

 

I would focus your hand-pulling efforts around that Euphillia at the top of the pic.  

 

Work in one small area at a time – eg. that 2" patch of hair to the left of it.  Leave the other longer hair around it alone and ignore it, and just focus in that area until it's as clean as you can get it.  You can use tweezers for the finest parts, but don't go too nuts on it....just do a good job.  For added measure, you can grab one of your snails and place him right on the patch so he knows it's now ready for him to eat.  They hunt from memory and will avoid areas that have been overgrown – too big for them to eat.

 

You can work on another area, or if that seemed like a lot of work, quit until next time.   Do try to hit a patch every day...if you can do more than one patch a day then you're ahead of the curve.  It can be tedious though...and it's more important to be persistent and thorough than fast IMO.

 

It's possible that areas you clear will re-grow if there aren't enough snails.....this is how you know if you need more snails.  Keep cleaning and adding snails in small amounts until you don't have to clean or add snails anymore.

 

Depending how much you can get done at once and what your availability of snails is like, it might take a few days or up to a few months to ultimately get control.

 

BTW, do you see much/any active coralline algae growth now?  Maybe on the new rock?

Ok. Lot of info here, thanks.

 

So if I understand correctly, raising my nutrients may help with my coral issues and to control the algae, add snails and do manual removal until a balance is found?

 

if that is the case, when would an algae scrubber be appropriate?

 

As for the coraline algae, there is a bunch on the new rock I got, but only tiny patches here and there on the other rocks. Not very good growth at all. I do have some snails with good covering of coraline though.

[mcarroll]

3 hours ago, Llorgon said:

Ok. Lot of info here, thanks.

Sorry about that....it's a tendency.

 

And yes, you got it right in your nutshell summary.  😄

 

3 hours ago, Llorgon said:

if that is the case, when would an algae scrubber be appropriate?

Theoretically my tank that I mentioned would be a good target for an algae scrubber.  It has LOTS of available nutrients...far more than corals can use.

 

3 hours ago, Llorgon said:

As for the coraline algae, there is a bunch on the new rock I got, but only tiny patches here and there on the other rocks. Not very good growth at all. I do have some snails with good covering of coraline though.

Past being past, it seems like your tank is ready now.  👍 

 

Keep making progress!  🙂 

[I'm Batman]

I’m having a hard time weighing the pros of the algae scrubber enough to buy one. I’ve had tanks with years and years of ZERO algae and all of a sudden having an outbreak with no new additions. Thanks to a lot of folks on Nano-reef we were able to get rid of my algae and Dino problem that sprung up last last year around this time. 
 

My theory as of now is that I’d prefer to have no algae growing and if I did, coralline. That seems to be what’s happening today for me (In the picture below). No green algae but TONS of coralline. Given this has taken place after about 8 months of getting rid of the GHA and Dino’s.

 

I used an algae reactor with chaeto - it died off and caused more issues than what it was worth. Also with the algae scrubber, again, we now have algae in the tank. With your internal/external style, when you open that thing up a bunch of algae and detritus is going to scatter around the tank.

 

For me, I’d rather stay away from algae period if it isn’t the kind I “prefer.” My goal currently is to provide the right parameters that will have “favored” algae outcompete the “nuisance“ algae.
 

Here’s the irony of reefing... Dino’s are making a comeback... 

 

 

[Llorgon]

16 hours ago, I'm Batman said:

I’m having a hard time weighing the pros of the algae scrubber enough to buy one. I’ve had tanks with years and years of ZERO algae and all of a sudden having an outbreak with no new additions. Thanks to a lot of folks on Nano-reef we were able to get rid of my algae and Dino problem that sprung up last last year around this time. 
 

My theory as of now is that I’d prefer to have no algae growing and if I did, coralline. That seems to be what’s happening today for me (In the picture below). No green algae but TONS of coralline. Given this has taken place after about 8 months of getting rid of the GHA and Dino’s.

 

I used an algae reactor with chaeto - it died off and caused more issues than what it was worth. Also with the algae scrubber, again, we now have algae in the tank. With your internal/external style, when you open that thing up a bunch of algae and detritus is going to scatter around the tank.

 

For me, I’d rather stay away from algae period if it isn’t the kind I “prefer.” My goal currently is to provide the right parameters that will have “favored” algae outcompete the “nuisance“ algae.
 

Here’s the irony of reefing... Dino’s are making a comeback... 

 

 

Oh no! Not a dinos comeback! I'm scared to get them again. I got them in my 75 gallon and they killed almost all my cuc and I lost the majority of my coral. It sucked!

 

How do you get coraline algae to grow? My tank will be a year old in December and I have barely any. A few small patches on the rocks and back wall, but that's it.

[Llorgon]

So I haven't turned my algae scrubber on since Saturday night and I have upped my feeding to 1/4 cube frozen every day up from every other day. Going to test the water today and see if any of my params are trending up or not.

 

I have also been tackling algae removal in small places in the tank. I have done the hammer coral and small frogspawn. Tonight will be the big frogspawn. I have also been pulling off algae from the back wall and making some progress there.

 

There is some brown film like algae on part of the new rock. It comes off pretty easily, no bubbles on it. Hoping it's not the start of dinos.

 

[I'm Batman]

My coralline growth in the 20gal was totally unintentional. This tank has been up for 3 years and just this year after the Dino’s did I start seeing coralline. Here’s a list of what I dose -

 

B-Ionic 2 part once a week. On Monday morning as the lights ramp up I add 6 drops of A, wait 30 minutes then 6 drops of B. 
 

Microbacter7 I add 5 drops every 2 weeks.
 

Aqua Vitro Fuel I use randomly, usually 4-5 drops every every other week right before feeding. (I don’t use this as much because the green tint makes me think it causes algae - probably negligible.)

3 drops of Kent Tech M Magnesium about once a month.
 

Reef Roids on Wednesday and Saturday. I use Kinglake 3ml pipettes and take about 1ml of tank water into a 2oz solo cup and add small amounts of roid powder to make a thick paste, maybe adding another .5ml to get desired consistency. I spot feed acans and trumpets and then broadcast the rest. 

For the single clown fish he gets 3-5 “1mm” pellets of New Life Spectrum Marine, daily.

 

I don’t use any Purigen, chemi-pure or “poly-filter” brand pads like I used to. Just a tunze 9001 skimmer and marineland cut to fit blue/white bonded filter pad. 

[Llorgon]

1 hour ago, I'm Batman said:

My coralline growth in the 20gal was totally unintentional. This tank has been up for 3 years and just this year after the Dino’s did I start seeing coralline. Here’s a list of what I dose -

 

B-Ionic 2 part once a week. On Monday morning as the lights ramp up I add 6 drops of A, wait 30 minutes then 6 drops of B. 
 

Microbacter7 I add 5 drops every 2 weeks.
 

Aqua Vitro Fuel I use randomly, usually 4-5 drops every every other week right before feeding. (I don’t use this as much because the green tint makes me think it causes algae - probably negligible.)

3 drops of Kent Tech M Magnesium about once a month.
 

Reef Roids on Wednesday and Saturday. I use Kinglake 3ml pipettes and take about 1ml of tank water into a 2oz solo cup and add small amounts of roid powder to make a thick paste, maybe adding another .5ml to get desired consistency. I spot feed acans and trumpets and then broadcast the rest. 

For the single clown fish he gets 3-5 “1mm” pellets of New Life Spectrum Marine, daily.

 

I don’t use any Purigen, chemi-pure or “poly-filter” brand pads like I used to. Just a tunze 9001 skimmer and marineland cut to fit blue/white bonded filter pad. 

Ok I don't feel so bad then about my lack of coraline.

 

You are dosing way more than what I am. So far water changes have been enough to keep alk,cal and mag stable.

 

Do you have any issues with fish eating the reef roids before the corals do? When I use it I make it as a thick paste so it's easier for me to make it go where I want, but the fish always end up taking most of it from the corals.

[I'm Batman]

Yeah I feed the crabs and fish right before I spot feed the corals to keep them occupied. I only have 1 fish so this keeps him pretty happy during feeding time. 

[Llorgon]

I've tried that. They eat all the food then go after the food on the corals. Very annoying.

 

 

I tested my water tonight. Nitrates 5ppm, phosphates were reading 0 though.

[Clown79]

7 hours ago, Llorgon said:

Ok I don't feel so bad then about my lack of coraline.

 

You are dosing way more than what I am. So far water changes have been enough to keep alk,cal and mag stable.

 

Do you have any issues with fish eating the reef roids before the corals do? When I use it I make it as a thick paste so it's easier for me to make it go where I want, but the fish always end up taking most of it from the corals.

Coraline comes with time and a tank needs seeding  too. 

[farkwar]

If that is your 25 gallon

 

Your CUC seems completely under sized in my experience

 

Reefcleaners.org has awesome critters

 

That will clean that tank up

 

I'm also adding a Tunze 3181 to my setups to keep algae in check

[Llorgon]

14 hours ago, Clown79 said:

Coraline comes with time and a tank needs seeding  too. 

I have some snails that are completely covered in it. Just hasn't transferred to the rocks yet. I have taken a few and rubbed them on a few places on the rocks. Will see if that makes a difference or not.

11 hours ago, farkwar said:

If that is your 25 gallon

 

Your CUC seems completely under sized in my experience

 

Reefcleaners.org has awesome critters

 

That will clean that tank up

 

I'm also adding a Tunze 3181 to my setups to keep algae in check

I will be adding more cuc in the future. I just added a bunch so I am going to wait a bit before adding more.

 

Unfortunately reefcleaners.org doesn't ship to Canada

[Clown79]

3 minutes ago, Llorgon said:

I have some snails that are completely covered in it. Just hasn't transferred to the rocks yet. I have taken a few and rubbed them on a few places on the rocks. Will see if that makes a difference or not.

I will be adding more cuc in the future. I just added a bunch so I am going to wait a bit before adding more.

 

Unfortunately reefcleaners.org doesn't ship to Canada

There are plenty of locations across canada that sell and ship cuc. Unfortunately with the limitation of flights, stores are being supplied less often than usual during covid, so when they get stock, you gotta order it fast before it sells out.

 

Coraline is just one of those things that can take a long time and then take off and then it's a pain to control on the glass. it requires conditions as corals do.

 

Dosing a bunch of products won't get coraline to develop faster. Foods, amino's, vitamins, phyto, alk/ca should all be dosed based on need/purpose, otherwise it usually comes with a negative outcome.

[I'm Batman]

Thanks to @Clown79 who’s always steered me in the right direction, I’ll be stopping aminos until I’m able to test fo those elements.

[farkwar]

I wasn't going to add CUC to my current build

 

But then it became infested with a brown fluffy algae I have never encountered before(never went CUCless before)

 

I really neglected it for, well, since Covid started.  Just topping off the ATO tank

 

Domino damsel, apparently survived on the fuzz brown algae

 

Anyway

 

I changed my mind.  Bought a huge CUC for a 20 gallon

 

Overnight, the brown depressing fuzz was gone

 

Over a month, the CUC army developed attrition(runaways, duels, and corner stickers)

 

Bought a second one

 

It's going so well.  Decided to upgrade the tank

 

And got me remotivated into setting up the big one

 

 

 

[I'm Batman]

Pics or it didn’t happen lol

[farkwar]

23 minutes ago, I'm Batman said:

Pics or it didn’t happen lol

I was trying to attach a vid to that post but it not allowed.  Weird.  (PS, when I move this to the 170, I want to take that JF Altered Ego and put it in a skull)

[farkwar]

These are corals from Cornbred

 

Beautiful, but small animals

 

The last image is color corrected

[Clown79]

4 hours ago, I'm Batman said:

Thanks to @Clown79 who’s always steered me in the right direction, I’ll be stopping aminos until I’m able to test fo those elements.

amino's can be ok to use but not absolutely necessary and many find they end up with algae outbreaks over time. I always believe in dosing less than recommended.

[farkwar]

Liquid amino supplements can't be all that concentrated

 

They are clear transparent

[farkwar]

I wrote hypothesis for a reason

 

It is obviously past conjecture

 

There are too many cases of observation for mere conjecture

[Llorgon]

21 hours ago, Clown79 said:

There are plenty of locations across canada that sell and ship cuc. Unfortunately with the limitation of flights, stores are being supplied less often than usual during covid, so when they get stock, you gotta order it fast before it sells out.

 

Coraline is just one of those things that can take a long time and then take off and then it's a pain to control on the glass. it requires conditions as corals do.

 

Dosing a bunch of products won't get coraline to develop faster. Foods, amino's, vitamins, phyto, alk/ca should all be dosed based on need/purpose, otherwise it usually comes with a negative outcome.

Ya the shipping and availability of things in Canada isn't great, but it seems to slowly be getting better again. J&L is shipping again which is nice. I am going to give this cuc another week or so before adding more. I want to see how they do.

 

That makes sense about the coraline. If corals aren't happy coraline probably won't be either. Probably why I'm not getting any growth.

 

Agreed on the dosing. I tend to only add what I can test.

 

I did dose some phosphate yesterday. Just to try and get the number up from 0 it was reading the other day.