2022 Photo & Baby Update - 170 Gallon Mixed Reef - CADE 1500

mvbrandt · May 14, 2022

So. Year and a half old torch suddenly turned to brown goo quite literally overnight. All 3 heads. All other corals and Livestock fine, at least presently. Parameters all check out. 0 new additions to the tank of any kind in over 6 months.

Sad and worried.

kronos571 · Sep 25, 2022

Howdy. Wondering how the tank is going. I have been thinking about pulling the trigger on a Cade 1200, probably using the Reefbreeder's light combo you have and ReefWave 45s. I was feeling a little overwhelmed about all the info out there for a first time reefer, but coming across this thread has really energized me with how beautiful your tank looks and reading about the decisions you've made that would probably closely mirror my own.

mvbrandt · Feb 5, 2023

Time for a very belated answer to your question and a long overdue update.

So, I had a baby, hence my aquarium odyssey of the last year+ has been muted amongst other priorities.

Oh. And I got Bryopsis.

_______

So. What have I learned?
Well, it snuck in via a local reef store that has since closed. I'm kicking myself still over it. Moreover, I missed it for a while, as it snuck in on a mat of GSP I jammed down behind one of my rock formations with intention for it to mat up the back.

When I finally noticed it, the first thing I did was a boatload of research, then began an escalating battle of mechanical, biological, and then chemical warfare against it with every solution you can find on these forums and elsewhere.

In the end, I think this was my biggest mistake.

When all that failed, but killed several of my favorite stonies along the way, coupled with my hippo Tang deciding he liked to murder lush mats of zoas (yup, with numerous cases of visual confirmation); I decided to try something radical. I'd been trimming my neon green nepthea for a while. I stopped. I also stopped water changes (Bryopsis thrives in near-0 nutrient as it is), and focused purely on recovering my trace balance to the perfection it was at before I tried all the different forms of nonsense. I kept at pulling the Bryopsis, only carefully and when it was in big easily-removed chunks. I stopped removing anything not bryopsis. Even let the glass get grody. It was my last gambit short of a reset; maintain the chemistry, keep the fish fed, and let nature do whatever it wanted that wasn't an eyesore (ie, yank the bry).

The whole battle took a year. I wouldn't call it over, but I would call it more or less won, or maybe stalemated. IDK. The tank is recovering nicely. Most of my stonies didn't actually die off and are growing back from whatever was left. Neon green nepthea seems to be aggressive enough to compete with Bryopsis when only one of them is getting pruned. I've allowed the Bryopsis to remain where you can't see it, greedily working its way into a perverse form of out-of-sight algae scrubber. And I say "allowed" very liberally; those of you who've had it know, you ain't pulling it all.

The various efforts with Kent Mg, flucanazole, etc took a toll on the stonies and some of the purple coralline, but it's growing back rapidly now. The fish and motile inverts all survived, and the numberless hordes of asterinas, bristles, pods, and more are all still merrily about their daily business.

It's late and I'm tired, but here's a late night shot of the aftermath. And I'm on the other side emotionally; I still love my tank, and I'm proud to show it off again. But i sure got close to the Quit.

Oh, see the green creeping up the back glass on the back left? Yeah. There's the gsp culprit. Algae free, but the trial is still ongoing on whether I one day nuke it in impotent revenge for the fury it smuggled in across my border.