75 gallon GlassCages build

[BAMatter]

So I’m pulling my UV off the tank since I’ve seen no signs of Ostreopsis for about a week now. Decided to take an algae sample from my sandbed and, sigh, have another type of dino as well. Either LCA or Prorocentrum. Will need to explore dosing silicates into the system to encourage a diatom bloom to outcompete them. What a trip.

 

[Llorgon]

On the bright side things seem to be improving.

Heads up on the silicates, I tried a few test kits and none of them worked, always read zero. I was then told not to bother and just dose until diatoms show up. For my 75 gallon tank, I went through a bottle and a bit before they showed up

 

[BAMatter]

On the bright side things seem to be improving.

Heads up on the silicates, I tried a few test kits and none of them worked, always read zero. I was then told not to bother and just dose until diatoms show up. For my 75 gallon tank, I went through a bottle and a bit before they showed up

Yep, they say ICP testing is the best way to get an accurate reading. I’m not too sure if I’m even going to be dosing or not, need to research it a bit. Only a little bit of dino on the sand and may ride it out.

 

[Llorgon]

Yep, they say ICP testing is the best way to get an accurate reading. I’m not too sure if I’m even going to be dosing or not, need to research it a bit. Only a little bit of dino on the sand and may ride it out.

If you don't have a ton of them left and things are getting better might be better to leave it. I still had a ton of dinos when I tried it. After I finished dosing I was left with no dinos, lots of diatoms and a bunch of new sponges.

 

[Scrap_Life]

Not good. Crashed and burned, tried to move things along too quickly. Now I’m on the tail end of a dino battle but am making good progress. Should be back to working on stability and getting things back on track in the next couple weeks. Been eventful and frustrating, however I will say I’ve learned quite a bit about nutrients, cyano, Dino’s, and other algaes in the process of it all. Wish it didn’t really take this route, but it is what it is. Hopefully start making it a nice tank soon…

Can you let me know how you moved too quickly? I am in my setting up phase of new tank and learning as mush as I can before I start.

 

[BAMatter]

Can you let me know how you moved too quickly? I am in my setting up phase of new tank and learning as mush as I can before I start.

I was just impatient with my cycle. I used dry rock and live sand so had a very small bacterial base and biome as I began my tank. After I cycled, I added too many fish and corals too quick and in turn had a large spike in nutrients due to the lack of bacteria to process everything. Also had some large parameter shifts in my alk/Cal/mag. Ended up with a horrendous ugly stage. Dealt with cyano, hair algae, and now 2 different types of Dino’s. Tank is finally stabilizing out after about 7 months.

 

[Top_Lids]

Have definitely been put through the ringer so far with this tank, but if anyones looking for a custom lid, @Top_Lids did a great job with mine. #Toplids

Guess I can slowly start piecing together everything I’ve been doing the past few months. I’d like to try to detail my experience with Dino’s as well. May need a couple beers to type it all out though

Thanks for the shoutout man Looking superb so far, minus the dinos XD

 

[BAMatter]

Thanks for the shoutout man Looking superb so far, minus the dinos XD

For real lol

 

[BAMatter]

Well quick update. Ended up beating Ostreopsis Dino’s within about a week and a half and now it seems like I’m on the tail end of the Prorocentrum battle. Must be establishing a fairly consistent environment and biome. Alk kinda landed at 10dkh so just going to run with it. Ideally wanted around 9 but now that these larger issues have settled I’d like my remaining corals to not have to go through any unnecessary parameter swings again. If I choose to lower it I’ll do it in a few months over the course of 3-4 weeks, if I decide to. I’ll see how things go. My nutrient levels are stable around 0.1ppm PO4 and 11ppm NO3 and have been dosing NeoPhos and NeoNitro daily to keep them there. My hair algae issue is also almost fully eradicated and it’s nice to see the texture of the rocks finally visible and coralline algae taking hold (even though I’m not a fan of coralline I enjoy the sign that things are stabilizing). Been a long and frustrating 9 months of cycling but to be honest I’ve learned so much I really about the hobby that I wouldn’t have it any other way looking back at it all. There’s a major difference between knowledge from reading about the hobby versus knowledge gained from real experience dealing with issues. Mainly timeframe, I’ve concluded. Never really been a super patient person but I’ve learned to be the past couple months. Anywho, hopefully have some decent updates in the months to come as I’m a bit more confident in adding corals. Last weekend I added a nice encrusting Goni, green Octo, purple/green Hammer, and about 6 heads of Trumpet. Do not think I’m going to venture in SPS with this tank, I’d like to do euphyllia and LPS, with some zoas/palys here and there. My fish are doing well, and are fed multiple times with an autofeeder daily, with a varied frozen dinner. A couple torches are checking out that have been alive through this entire dino process and I’m actually surprised they lasted as long as they did. Never had tremendous luck with torches, and my other tank took about 12+ months before heads would split. All in all, excited to finally be seeming gaining traction. I pulled the plug on BRS 2 part and am back to Triton Core 7 dosing- parameters are doing good, however my mag seemed to drop a bit but that could be user error on the test kit. Alk is 10.1, cal is 420, and mag is 1305 (was 1350 last time I tested so I really think I missed on the test). Worst case I’ll dose some mag separately to bring it up if I find my alk and cal can’t hold their numbers. Here’s to a better next year of reefing in this tank.

 

[BAMatter]

Making some progress. Have a couple pieces that are barely hanging on and have been through this entire battle so far just reluctant to remove them just yet. Maybe they’ll bounce back.

 

[Llorgon]

Your tank is looking pretty good. Much better than mine did after dinos!

 

[BAMatter]

Your tank is looking pretty good. Much better than mine did after dinos!

Well, the hair algae that had taken over has finally gone away. I play in part largely to the daily dosing of live phyto and MB7. Happy that things seem to be stabilizing.

I’ll be hooking up a kalk doser shortly to help stabilize PH, and really hoping it lives up to the chatter I’m hearing!

 

[Llorgon]

Well, the hair algae that had taken over has finally gone away. I play in part largely to the daily dosing of live phyto and MB7. Happy that things seem to be stabilizing.

I’ll be hooking up a kalk doser shortly to help stabilize PH, and really hoping it lives up to the chatter I’m hearing!

Interesting. I am currently going through some gha issues. I might have to try that. Did you buy the phyto or grow your own?

 

[BAMatter]

Interesting. I am currently going through some gha issues. I might have to try that. Did you buy the phyto or grow your own?

Phyto Feast Live, always bought it. Have a bottle of AlgaeBarn live phyto in the mail as we speak… it helps establish some biodiversity that will outcompete the hair algae. Pods pods pods also! Plus I meticulously maintained my NO3 : PO4 at 100:1, keeping 10ppm and .1ppm. Once these habits were maintained, plus manually removing as much hair algae as I could once to twice a week, it just stopped coming back. I also recommend getting a tuxedo urchin- quite the hair algae appetite. Been keeping things clean in my system. All the nasties are being contained to my fuge now.

 

[Llorgon]

I will give that a try.

What do you use to keep nutrients up? Do you dose nitrates and phosphates?

 

[BAMatter]

I will give that a try.

What do you use to keep nutrients up? Do you dose nitrates and phosphates?

Yep, dosed to where I wanted and now just dose a small amount to keep nutrients where I want them. Things certainly may get worse as nutrients rise, just keep on manually removing the hair algae. The MB7 daily seems to work well in establishing needed bacteria as well.

 

[Llorgon]

Yep, dosed to where I wanted and now just dose a small amount to keep nutrients where I want them. Things certainly may get worse as nutrients rise, just keep on manually removing the hair algae. The MB7 daily seems to work well in establishing needed bacteria as well.

I will give the phyto stuff a try. Can't make the tank any worse and if it helps with algae, even better!

Did you notice a decrease in your chaeto as well or just the gha in the display?

 

[BAMatter]

I will give the phyto stuff a try. Can't make the tank any worse and if it helps with algae, even better!

Did you notice a decrease in your chaeto as well or just the gha in the display?

Did not notice a decrease in chaeto, no. If anything it got a bit greener and denser with the uptake in nutrients since it was beginning to outcompete the other algae in conjunction with other bacteria as well. I’m running no mechanical filtration and my fuge is definitely rather nasty as traps detritus as a filter sock would. There’s certainly green hair algae growing in the fuge, and also have some cyano as well. As long as it stays out of the DT I’m ok with it, as it’s easy enough to remove from where it is.

 

[Llorgon]

Did not notice a decrease in chaeto, no. If anything it got a bit greener and denser with the uptake in nutrients since it was beginning to outcompete the other algae in conjunction with other bacteria as well. I’m running no mechanical filtration and my fuge is definitely rather nasty as traps detritus as a filter sock would. There’s certainly green hair algae growing in the fuge, and also have some cyano as well. As long as it stays out of the DT I’m ok with it, as it’s easy enough to remove from where it is.

That's good to know. I will definitely give it a try!

 

[BAMatter]

Well I’m about to embark on a new mission to stabilize PH after watching Chris Meckley explain kalk dosing on several YouTube videos. Purchased a BRS peristaltic 1.1ml/min pump, new Pinpoint PH probe, and some pharma Kalk from BRS- will likely be switching to Captiv8 kalk when this is gone. Will set up my Hydros to dose based on current days average PH until levels stabilize at 8.3. I plan on doing this over the course of a couple weeks. My tank runs at 7.8-7.9 and I’d like to give the tank 2-3 days per .1 PH rise. Schedule will run 10:00pm-10:00am I’ll fully stop dosing Triton Core7 for the time being, and may nix it altogether depending on Alk/Cal/Mag levels once things are leveled out. I do still plan on daily dosing of live phyto and Aquavitro Fuel. Also considering throwing Brightwell ChaetoGrow on a doser since my fuge is still doing it’s thing. Since the kalk needs fairly turbulent water to dose into I may add a small powerhead directly below the effluent tubing line that will be triggered on if on with dosing pump.