Maintaining a "Balanced" tank

[Chris's Fishes]

Hey guys,

 

I've got a 10 gallon "reef" tank that went through a pretty rough crash a year ago. I had some RFA's spawn, which triggered some macro to go sexual (somehow...), and despite a lot of water changes I lost a lot of coral and some inverts. I left the tank alone, moved, set it back up on my counter, and didn't really touch it for the better part of a year.

 

The tank became overgrown with hair algae, then red cyano, then lots of diatoms, and finally, I began to see tons of feather dusters, asterina stars, and other cool little critters that I couldn't ID. It seems that the tank has come full-circle back to a "balanced" ecosystem.

 

The tank houses two 2" Percula Clowns, has around 8 lbs of live rock, and uses a small HOB and a Koralia Nano 240 for circulation and mechanical filtration. Nitrates stay around 10, and phosphates hover between .3-.4. It seems to be stalled at those values, never increasing or decreasing that much unless I do a water change. Phosphate is high, yes, but I no longer have too many algae issues - there's still a small amount of red cyano and some hair algae here and there, but it seems to be declining rather than spreading, so I believe these parameters to be okay for this tank.

 

I'll be moving the tank from my counter to a stand soon, and will also be moving the clowns to another tank and probably stocking the tank with a Possum Wrasse and Clown Goby. I've also begun adding corals again, and now have some Fire/Ice Zoas, a Red/Green Blasto, and a Green Hairy Mushroom, all doing well after a week in the tank.

 

TL;DR;

 

Basically, how do I keep the tank as balanced as possible during all the upcoming changes and not have to start back from square one? Is it possible? I always have pretty wicked break-in periods with reef tanks, and have been known to become discouraged because of them.

 

 

[seabass]

9 minutes ago, Chris's Fishes said:

...didn't really touch it for the better part of a year.  The tank became overgrown with hair algae, then red cyano, then lots of diatoms, and finally, I began to see tons of feather dusters, asterina stars, and other cool little critters that I couldn't ID. It seems that the tank has come full-circle back to a "balanced" ecosystem.

Now you know what a mature tank is.

 

11 minutes ago, Chris's Fishes said:

...how do I keep the tank as balanced as possible during all the upcoming changes and not have to start back from square one?

Just don't mess with it too much.  You want to maintain the life and biodiversity which your tank has finally achieved.  Hair algae and cyano are relatively easy to keep under control.  Sounds like you have a good base going forward.

[Chris's Fishes]

3 minutes ago, seabass said:

Now you know what a mature tank is.

 

Just don't mess with it too much.  You want to maintain the life and biodiversity which your tank has finally achieved.  Hair algae and cyano are relatively easy to keep under control.  Sounds like you have a good base going forward.

So, in your opinion, will switching up the stocking and adding coral likely disturb the balance much?

 

The rock will only be out of water for a couple minutes max, and I plan to keep everything else the same - I'll probably even keep the same water and the gunk that comes with it, since the tank will sit fishless for a short period of time before I get the new guys anyway.

 

I actually had you in mind, @seabass, when I was posting the thread. Love the way you run your tanks 🙂

[seabass]

1 hour ago, Chris's Fishes said:

So, in your opinion, will switching up the stocking and adding coral likely disturb the balance much?

Not really.  Unless you dramatically change how you feed the tank.

 

You could clean it up a bit if you want.  Cyano is usually a sign of excess organics, but the organics might also be sustaining some of the life which is keeping your tank in balance.

 

1 hour ago, Chris's Fishes said:

I actually had you in mind, @seabass, when I was posting the thread. Love the way you run your tanks

Thanks so much.  Still very much a work in progress.

[Chris's Fishes]

3 minutes ago, seabass said:

Not really.  Unless you dramatically change how you feed the tank.

 

You could clean it up a bit if you want.  Cyano is usually a sign of excess organics, but might the organics might also be sustaining some of the life which is keeping your tank in balance.

 

Thanks so much.  Still very much a work in progress.

I'm sure I'll be losing some organic material in the move - I'm not going to scrape the bottom of the tank for every last bit of biofilm, after all. But, I do think that "dirty" tanks are usually healthy tanks. The cyano has receded on it's own (and continues to do so), so I'm afraid to do too much cleaning, honestly.

 

Besides, a little algae never bothered me - I just wipe the front glass off and ogle all the uglies that grow on the side panels.

[WV Reefer]

3 hours ago, Chris's Fishes said:

Hey guys,

 

I've got a 10 gallon "reef" tank that went through a pretty rough crash a year ago. I had some RFA's spawn, which triggered some macro to go sexual (somehow...), and despite a lot of water changes I lost a lot of coral and some inverts. I left the tank alone, moved, set it back up on my counter, and didn't really touch it for the better part of a year.

 

The tank became overgrown with hair algae, then red cyano, then lots of diatoms, and finally, I began to see tons of feather dusters, asterina stars, and other cool little critters that I couldn't ID. It seems that the tank has come full-circle back to a "balanced" ecosystem.

 

The tank houses two 2" Percula Clowns, has around 8 lbs of live rock, and uses a small HOB and a Koralia Nano 240 for circulation and mechanical filtration. Nitrates stay around 10, and phosphates hover between .3-.4. It seems to be stalled at those values, never increasing or decreasing that much unless I do a water change. Phosphate is high, yes, but I no longer have too many algae issues - there's still a small amount of red cyano and some hair algae here and there, but it seems to be declining rather than spreading, so I believe these parameters to be okay for this tank.

 

I'll be moving the tank from my counter to a stand soon, and will also be moving the clowns to another tank and probably stocking the tank with a Possum Wrasse and Clown Goby. I've also begun adding corals again, and now have some Fire/Ice Zoas, a Red/Green Blasto, and a Green Hairy Mushroom, all doing well after a week in the tank.

 

TL;DR;

 

Basically, how do I keep the tank as balanced as possible during all the upcoming changes and not have to start back from square one? Is it possible? I always have pretty wicked break-in periods with reef tanks, and have been known to become discouraged because of them.

 

 

Just go slow. 

[billygoat]

Sounds to me like your move should be super easy, especially if you don't have to move the tank very far. The only thing I'd be concerned about is stirring up the sandbed, as that can get gnarly pretty quick if you haven't been cleaning it regularly (I don't either - don't worry). But if you are simply moving the system across the room and just have to take out the water and rocks to do so, I think you'll probably be fine. You may see an uptick in pest algae growth due to the disturbances, but don't let that discourage you - the tank should soon swing back into balance again as long as your maintenance and feeding remain consistent.

[Chris's Fishes]

3 minutes ago, billygoat said:

Sounds to me like your move should be super easy, especially if you don't have to move the tank very far. The only thing I'd be concerned about is stirring up the sandbed, as that can get gnarly pretty quick if you haven't been cleaning it regularly (I don't either - don't worry). But if you are simply moving the system across the room and just have to take out the water and rocks to do so, I think you'll probably be fine. You may see an uptick in pest algae growth due to the disturbances, but don't let that discourage you - the tank should soon swing back into balance again as long as your maintenance and feeding remain consistent.

The tank is barebottom, so I don't think that'll be an issue, luckily!