Bio-spira works great

shoelaceike · Dec 29, 2019

Bpp124987 said:
Nice.
What happened to the flame angel and the original clown?

I sold all 3. The flame was picking at corals and my wife really wanted B&W B&W clowns. I actually just last night sold the kole tang as well. I added a small hippo tang and it tried to kill it so I took out the kole. I also have 2 fire fish, red spotted blenny, yellow watchman goby and yellow clown goby

brandon429 · Jan 14, 2020

Ike

I knew your post was gold as soon as first pic was posted. A noncompliant (to societal norms) cycle is a gem

Can we get an update

brandon429 · Jan 14, 2020

In the new forum they write we must wait a month since the bacteria that form nitrite and nitrate evolve on different timescales in the cycling aquarium.

There’s no weight to the statement though, consequence, your thread shows. They do form on different time scales but it doesn’t matter because nitrite and nitrate are unimpactful in cycle measures, only ammonia matters. Bio spira doesn’t contain full spectrum one shot complete live rock bacteria, it contains strains that control ammonia. The rest fills in over time, and nearly all cycling info being circulated in the new tank forum is out of date and in no way being adhered to in the larger scope. Unsticky old outdated threads, add this as a sticky.

shoelaceike · Jan 14, 2020

Going great!

shoelaceike · Jan 16, 2020

Just posting a current pic...nothing really changed

brandon429 · Jan 16, 2020

I would subjectively rate that as deeper color, cleaner than average, better than most matured comparable tanks, brighter, fatter corals not skinny fish

wow

today’s cycling is changing, veering away from prior methods am noticing.

what uglies phase

Barnabie Mejia · Jan 16, 2020

This is killer! I am planning to start the 75g build with Seachem stability and some Microbacter7 and let it run for a few hours, just enough time for me to get to the LFS hang out a bit and come back home with some Chromis to drop in with a clown fish. I am thinking I will let it ride for a week or so and then start moving coral in from the 29g.
I have also been "cycling" 1 gallon of marine pure spheres in the 29g for about a month now. the 29g has been running for 10 years this month, so that should also help skip the "cycle" I may drop a piece of live rock in the sump for a bit too.

I like to see threads like this, it shows how the industry has changed and willing people to show the proof.

keep it up man!

LadyTang2 · Jan 17, 2020

brandon429 said:
In the new forum they write we must wait a month since the bacteria that form nitrite and nitrate evolve on different timescales in the cycling aquarium.

There’s no weight to the statement though, consequence, your thread shows. They do form on different time scales but it doesn’t matter because nitrite and nitrate are unimpactful in cycle measures, only ammonia matters. Bio spira doesn’t contain full spectrum one shot complete live rock bacteria, it contains strains that control ammonia. The rest fills in over time, and nearly all cycling info being circulated in the new tank forum is out of date and in no way being adhered to in the larger scope. Unsticky old outdated threads, add this as a sticky.

When your tank is new and your trying to prevent the uglies, what nutrient goals do you shoot for? I like slightly higher levels in mature tanks but what about in that early phase?

brandon429 · Jan 17, 2020

I handle all invasions as independent from nutrients at all times.

Invasions in new tanks are a matter of how we’re going to access directly to kill or remove them... nutrient measures don’t impact my course of action so it’s ideal to recommend others disallow new tank uglies

A tank is indeed prone to takeover and early invasion when new, where coralline isn’t in place to help bio reject algae anchoring

So I expect to work more up front than when the tank is older and has more bio rejecting surfaces like coralline or coral flesh (nobody online has reported algae growing on the flesh part of a brain coral, it’s always on the exposed perimeters or skeleton)

If I have to take apart my tank to clean the sand, or the very bottom scape, that is done. At no point in reefing do I let a surface misbehave it will be cleaned by skip cycle external cleaning if required, over time I was able to back off to zero levels of algae work with common water changes bi monthly

Most coral flesh except for zoanthid species is totally algae rejecting...nobody has reported algae growing on the bubble portion of a plerogyra for example. Taking up real estate with healthy corals outcompetes algae like fescue outcompetes dandelions for vital space control

As the tank ages we learn it’s ideal nutrient balance and work balance to arrive at it always looking as nice as Ike’s tank here but with less work than the starting days

brandon429 · Jan 17, 2020

If anyone sets up a reef using ShoelaceIke’s method and your tank doesn’t look this sharp over time, reverse course and impose your will on it. Don’t let surfaces go down the road of catching invasion, my lawn is free from dandelions by doing the reverse of allowing them to take over

He imposed a will of no cycle wait time on this tank, and the system did comply. SLI has sole responsibility for keeping it sharp, even if his prior arrangement gets a challenge one day like an overfeed or some other noncompliant event his choice is either permit it or clean it and resume mighty sharp looking course.

The most amazing aspects of this thread are it’s hidden details it’s not just the anemone power and the roguish nature of bucking every rule in reefing lol

-a dry start circumvents the typically required fallow period wait time, this is amazing. If he uses prequarantined fish, which are getting more avail in the hobby, he begins under instant disease protocol with no 76 day wait by starting with dry rocks that can’t harbor crypto. Even if these aren’t pre quarantine, they aren’t getting extra disease from the new start and he can focus on securing fat healthy specimens, and maintaining them with feed of highest quality. Seems to be currently occurring here.

-his assembly is a context for the crazy evolving world of microbiological claims going on in the hobby right now. His awesome diverse bac community, nitrite community etc balances out in the future it doesn’t have to start that way. Nobody would agree to that if you type it out but leave out his work example. They’d all tell you without nitrite compliance and nitrate measures the whole system will crash. His assembly should make any microbiologist levying rules for reefing consider advices carefully.

Hbhirschey · Jan 22, 2020

I'll be using biospira this weekend. Curious of your light schedule as I have read some hues cause different algea out breaks.

shoelaceike · Jan 23, 2020

Usually on at 8 and off at 10

shoelaceike · Jan 23, 2020

Full power between 9 and 6

Hbhirschey · Jan 23, 2020

shoelaceike said:
Full power between 9 and 6

Thanks. And assuming you're running all spectrums of light. Not holding back on any certain ones. Full power between 9am-6pm.

shoelaceike · Jan 23, 2020

Hbhirschey said:
Thanks. And assuming you're running all spectrums of light. Not holding back on any certain ones. Full power between 9am-6pm.

Yes

brandon429 · Jan 24, 2020

ShoelaceIke

ammonia question

I use the API test kit and with ammonia it will read .0 after the 5 min mark and if I let it sit to about the 7-10 min mark it will change to .25...does this happen with anyone else ? would you say I have 0 ammonia or .25? tank is about 2 months old, I used bio spira to cycle. I have 6 fish and...

www.reef2reef.com

There's another skip cycle tank your thread just closed out. We can routinely consistently close out cycles without factoring cheap test reads, the examples are updated here. Nice work and documentation youve made. I already know your day one anemone looks all day four hundred lol nice one

shoelaceike · Mar 2, 2020

brandon429 · Mar 2, 2020

Your bacterial diversity colonies are catching up, making up biologically appealing substate for colonizers.... those pigments are evolving the color of the reef from reflective / new into aged/ purple eventually

Not just the already purple rock areas but the small details like corners of the tank, patches in substrate are forming coralline and coloration soon