Cycling a new Biocube 32

[brandon429]

That is specifically above the norms that most people would do, thank you for such complete documentation!

your system shows coralline deposition and coral flesh growth which excludes algae...now you’ll be able to select the method you think fits best as you start to change less and allow internal storage or various filtration schemes. If anything goes downside as fancyness increases, strip the system back to these gold basics. The tank can always return to CPR strokes to regain back from any challenge.

hey if you wanted to see something I feel is directly related to your thread: an exact white rock start having zero hand guiding, where rocks go if left allowed to roam vs what they do when discipline is applied on page three.

Algae Identification

its a little different, on our sand rinse thread we dont remove the sand while water is in the tank, we disassemble the entire system down to an empty aquarium. we dont do that to always take the long road its specifically to keep you from clouding up the tank while corals are in there. a 45 is...

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it shows how a white rock start owner can whip a reef back into shape

uglies are optional in every tank, what catches my eye are people who opt out.

it also shows pre invasion intervention is possible, we can lift out and guide rocks externally when they’re starting to get growths we think might be concerning. I link your thread Daniel to people who have new white rock setups they want to age into purple reef rocks, that thread shows how hand guiding is best started early if the tank allows for such easy access, it’s better not to work backwards to clean.


your tank D shows that breaking the work up into preventative steps, before invasion, allows positioning of coral much faster and more overall enjoyment until things turn purple.

 

[Daniel266jz]

That is specifically above the norms that most people would do, thank you for such complete documentation!

your system shows coralline deposition and coral flesh growth which excludes algae...now you’ll be able to select the method you think fits best as you start to change less and allow internal storage or various filtration schemes. If anything goes downside as fancyness increases, strip the system back to these gold basics. The tank can always return to CPR strokes to regain back from any challenge.

hey if you wanted to see something I feel is directly related to your thread: an exact white rock start having zero hand guiding, where rocks go if left allowed to roam vs what they do when discipline is applied on page three.

Algae Identification

its a little different, on our sand rinse thread we dont remove the sand while water is in the tank, we disassemble the entire system down to an empty aquarium. we dont do that to always take the long road its specifically to keep you from clouding up the tank while corals are in there. a 45 is...

www.reef2reef.com

it shows how a white rock start owner can whip a reef back into shape

uglies are optional in every tank, what catches my eye are people who opt out.

it also shows pre invasion intervention is possible, we can lift out and guide rocks externally when they’re starting to get growths we think might be concerning. I link your thread Daniel to people who have new white rock setups they want to age into purple reef rocks, that thread shows how hand guiding is best started early if the tank allows for such easy access, it’s better not to work backwards to clean.


your tank D shows that breaking the work up into preventative steps, before invasion, allows positioning of coral much faster and more overall enjoyment until things turn purple.

I will definite give it a read and I completely agree. I saw only two spots of Cyano in my tank on the rock which is probably the only two dead zones that don’t get too much flow no matter how much I try. I went ahead and scraped that off and siphoned it out and I have not seen it cone back I also increased my flow rate. At the same time I’ve siphoned out my sand plenty of times with no harm to corals and no ammonia spikes. This has helped a lot in keeping the sand looking pretty good. I will keep on the documentation for us both until we reach our purple rock goal and I think I will forever use this method even in my other tanks in the future because I’ve not struggle anywhere near my other reefer friends which are always saying to me that they have an algea problem! I appreciate all the help!

 

[Daniel266jz]

Quick little update- All the fish are doing good looks like my Duncan corals are also starting to sprout spots around their polyp that look like more heads ready to grow. Blasto is looking very good you can clearly see its new heads which is about 3-4. My shrimp I recently got also went through a successful molt last night! Should I take the moly out or leave it in the tank?

 

[brandon429]

Those molts are either directly eaten and degrade harmlessly or the mere form laying there overtakes you and prompts removal. Though I know they are usually just recycled eaten and part of reef nutrient pathways when it happens in my shrimp tanks I see a dead cockroach

pls do not let my ocd sway you

if you did nothing lol it goes away in ten days, reducing to chitin and minerals they’re not significant anything. All reefs look good under blues


it’s really hard to have all whites on for pics and still look sharp, that reef does look sharp. Whites reveal all the flaws for tanks, areas of accumulation and plant dominance peeking out etc

 

[Daniel266jz]

Those molts are either directly eaten and degrade harmlessly or the mere form laying there overtakes you and prompts removal. Though I know they are usually just recycled eaten and part of reef nutrient pathways when it happens in my shrimp tanks I see a dead cockroach

pls do not let my ocd sway you

if you did nothing lol it goes away in ten days, reducing to chitin and minerals they’re not significant anything. All reefs look good under blues


it’s really hard to have all whites on for pics and still look sharp, that reef does look sharp. Whites reveal all the flaws for tanks, areas of accumulation and plant dominance peeking out etc

Thank you for the compliment and I will also just leave the molt there it doesn’t bother me much haha

 

[brandon429]

Coral eating shrimp exoskeleton

My skunk cleaner had molted and I heard mixed thoughts on removing the exoskeleton but I decided to leave it there this time. Fast forward to the next day and I see my elegance with three spines sticking out it’s mouth. At first, I’m curious and slightly panicked but I notice that the shrimp’s...

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really good timing there too ha nice

 

[Daniel266jz]

Coral eating shrimp exoskeleton

My skunk cleaner had molted and I heard mixed thoughts on removing the exoskeleton but I decided to leave it there this time. Fast forward to the next day and I see my elegance with three spines sticking out it’s mouth. At first, I’m curious and slightly panicked but I notice that the shrimp’s...

www.reef2reef.com

really good timing there too ha nice

Haha guess it’s staying in. It’s giving me thoughts of grabbing that and feeding to my rock flower Nems hahahaha

 

[Daniel266jz]

So I put it near my biggest RFA and he is devouring it guess it’s true they like it hahah

 

[Daniel266jz]

Update- everyone’s doing well and healthy. My blasto heads are getting bigger. I received my Steve’s led upgrade and am in the acclimation period. I also went ahead and bought a new power strip with GFI protection I just need to get some wire management items. The lights are great and make the tank look way better. Now I can control much more in the tank. Has anybody used the Storm features or the start/end time overdue? Right now I have my own custom schedule. I also bought a black color frogspawn and a Jedi kind trick along with another montipora. My dragonet is doing very well as I’m introducing more pods from my cultivation every week and she als eats frozen brine! I have my sand another siphon and also added a dry rock. I cured my dry rock in RO/DI for 2 days and then gave a good rinse before it went in. I’m thinking of buying an actual timed power strip later on. I currently have 5 fish but would like another if I am able to keep it. Was thinking of something small, any ideas? I have (2) clowns, (1) cardinal Bangai, (1) fire fish standard, (1) ruby red dragonet.

 

[brandon429]

how great, really following along here its really maturing ideally.

 

[brandon429]

Everything dying pls help

Ok so I have never posted on here before but I just signed up bc I need help. I have a fluval evo 13.5 with an AI Prime. Starting around december I saw a little tissue necrosis on the bottom of my pocillopora, and I thought it was just bc it was not getting enough light, but within the next few...

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Daniel I think of your tank when I read the first paragraph


it’s due to being opposite, with opposite outcomes. Following this test and dose method above (what all reefers initially think constitutes successful nano reefing) requires accurate tests first of all...our hobby lacks them. rarely do three hobby test kits for any param agree on a sample measure, threads show.


see how vibrant use/strictly through-water algae control has compounded problems? Imagine the accumulating die off. There’s no telling how ion levels have been handled with opposite than your tank: low to no consistent water changes no rock hand guiding externally, no heavy bluing ramped up etc.


your whole thread will be used in that rehab, if he selects correctly for the job. he needs to rip clean the system to remove filth pent up now. Detail clean the rocks, metal pics outside tank, target peroxide, rinse saltwater and eject detritus. Lights, low white med blue much lower intensity

ramp up

**instate our specific, in excess of norm, target feed and cpr system. The stepped up work interval balances all params fully, test nothing. Sustain for four months till ego takes over completely, detail the tank back into noncompliance lol. Rinse/ repeat


we have direct control over corals in our tanks they’re not disease prone. They’re prone to light burns, alk spikes, horseshoe testing, and underfeeding, and mixed chemical poisoning from hands off algae technique.

 

[brandon429]

If we tell someone with a nano, that isn’t performing, to read pages 1-10 of your thread and be able to pass a deep test on it, will they then be reefing bro lol.

plus, his tank is a third your volume, easier access.

doesnt it make sense now that smaller tanks are even easier to run our method? you can pump more feed in, because taking water out is so simple. We only have to find: the will to work.

water in water out balances all params always. Busy= disease free

stagnancy takes on bioslick wastes and housing for disease, and algae, and feed...

people need to be handling their nano reef as a WHOLE unit, at once at least sometimes, instead of a zillion different params.

that reef myopia leads to issues. We correct them by CPR it always works it’s why nano reefs are easier than large reefs.

 

[Daniel266jz]

If we tell someone with a nano, that isn’t performing, to read pages 1-10 of your thread and be able to pass a deep test on it, will they then be reefing bro lol.

plus, his tank is a third your volume, easier access.

doesnt it make sense now that smaller tanks are even easier to run our method? you can pump more feed in, because taking water out is so simple. We only have to find: the will to work.

water in water out balances all params always. Busy= disease free

stagnancy takes on bioslick wastes and housing for disease, and algae, and feed...

people need to be handling their nano reef as a WHOLE unit, at once at least sometimes, instead of a zillion different params.

that reef myopia leads to issues. We correct them by CPR it always works it’s why nano reefs are easier than large reefs.

Very true. It’d be nice to follow along and see how the steps and methods in my thread help the OP of that 13.5 Fluval Thread. I look back to check on the other guy that commented on my thread but I see no content for him, I wonder how his tank is doing... Also small update: new dry rock is starting to color up with algae and what not. All my corals seem to love the new light upgrade but so does the algae. I’ve been getting pretty crazy glass algae and I think it’s because of the new rock due to deposits of food starting to build up within it causing a bit of a bacterial bloom. I will probably be doing a water change earlier this week so I can siphon my sand which has also accumulated more algae(diatoms again) probably because of the new better whites on the light and I’m going to cut down the whites to 8 hours only. I also noticed a tiny bit of cyano growing in the same spots as last time and these will be blasted with a turkey Baster and siphoned up during the water change. My Tisbe pods are producing very fast and I’m harvesting once a week. I’m going to be hatching baby brine myself ( I built a hatchery inside my aquarium cabinet) for my dragonet , this will be put in a feeder cup I constructed myself using the plans from a famous post floating around. Fish are doing well and eating well with big appetites , no diseases or signs/symptoms of diseases has been noted since I started with my initial clowns, I am always keeping an eye on them. Salinity is at a constant 1.026 and temp is 78.6-79.3>, no other Params have been checked in I don’t know how long lol

 

[brandon429]

I want some pods and diversity boosting u have sold me. It’s only good and never bad, want. My tank has been rip cleaned more times than I can count, time to up diversity using today’s availabilities. Thank you for that reminder, it’s an investment back into my tanks lifespan.

June 22nd I’ll want to see that tanks update pics from the emergency forum.

your tank in my opinion is immune from ever having to post there. Your willingness to CPR for a little while/initial mass instead of initial starve + directly manage substrates in the air, not the water should that ever be required, is why. Those two things in the work thread above are dearly lacking. CPR method rehabs bad tanks while keeping good tanks from ever going bad

its a tradeoff: slightly wasteful water habits for absolute certainty coral growth and no coral disease as long as it’s sustained. *less wasteful methods have a place, but we lose the certainty aspect.

 

[Daniel266jz]

Here is a little before and after pics of my tank and it’s water change done just today. Siphoned sand and cyano and did a 5 gallon water change- also changed out filter floss. For some reason my tank got pretty cloudy after the water change I’m thinking it’s from stirring up the sand but it’s never done that before.

 

[Daniel266jz]

Update: Ive been having an algae spike. I just did a water change and siphoning of the sand and today it’s full of diatoms and my glass algae tinted my glass a pretty dark green, my cyano came back on my two spots and I will be blasting it with a turkey Baster and then siphoning it up. Any ideas? I have a strong feeling that it might be that new dry rock causing this. I haven’t picked up any of my tests I just keep cleaning away at it.

 

[brandon429]

the cumulation between feeding/waste from corals and fish begins...it fills those prior clean spaces had at the start. Turkey bastering kind of mixes it all around...some settles back among rocks and sand, some might be kicked up for filters to remove, and as it swirls around its used by invaders for feed.

This is where your tank lets you see what kind of invaders will select based on your tank's unique retention traits, lighting power, feeding etc. Clouding will always manifest as invaders in nearly all new tanks, so you are approaching the classic decision of catch up rip clean or start offsetting leaking waste in the water, coming from clouding accumulation.

*its possible to siphon off the water and not have to make new, that's the hardest part of a rip clean.
you could catch mostly that water for reuse, it wont cloud on the way down. the final 25% or 33% of the water will have the fish, sand and it will be cloudy as you catch fish for holding.

rinse rocks in saltwater externally, or flush them by twisting in a bucket of saltwater.

sand is fully tap rinsed, then ro, then put back.

then put back old water and fish into a cloudless setup, and then lastly the rest of the new water.

that's if you want it snapped into compliance...a time will come where the reef is so packed you wont want to do that, so if that time is now for you to allow waste/clouding but still manage invasions with least work, then you can begin testing and adjusting but it will never beat clean starts and clean management. You got all this time w no uglies due to the first clean approach.

*planning ahead for corals really set in place, and hundreds of dollars more corals plus these, all locked in, your tank is housing too much detritus. Imagine the compounding by then, based on what you see now, once rip cleaning is stopped for good.

Options include having no sand, that makes all detritus removable.


options include the nitrate and phosphate binders we almost always see people with sandbeds having to use (since rip cleaning takes so much work) but that ushers in the era of dinos risk, which you currently are not going to catch.

 

[Daniel266jz]

the cumulation between feeding/waste from corals and fish begins...it fills those prior clean spaces had at the start. Turkey bastering kind of mixes it all around...some settles back among rocks and sand, some might be kicked up for filters to remove, and as it swirls around its used by invaders for feed.

This is where your tank lets you see what kind of invaders will select based on your tank's unique retention traits, lighting power, feeding etc. Clouding will always manifest as invaders in nearly all new tanks, so you are approaching the classic decision of catch up rip clean or start offsetting leaking waste in the water, coming from clouding accumulation.

*its possible to siphon off the water and not have to make new, that's the hardest part of a rip clean.
you could catch mostly that water for reuse, it wont cloud on the way down. the final 25% or 33% of the water will have the fish, sand and it will be cloudy as you catch fish for holding.

rinse rocks in saltwater externally, or flush them by twisting in a bucket of saltwater.

sand is fully tap rinsed, then ro, then put back.

then put back old water and fish into a cloudless setup, and then lastly the rest of the new water.

that's if you want it snapped into compliance...a time will come where the reef is so packed you wont want to do that, so if that time is now for you to allow waste/clouding but still manage invasions with least work, then you can begin testing and adjusting but it will never beat clean starts and clean management. You got all this time w no uglies due to the first clean approach.

*planning ahead for corals really set in place, and hundreds of dollars more corals plus these, all locked in, your tank is housing too much detritus. Imagine the compounding by then, based on what you see now, once rip cleaning is stopped for good.

Options include having no sand, that makes all detritus removable.


options include the nitrate and phosphate binders we almost always see people with sandbeds having to use (since rip cleaning takes so much work) but that ushers in the era of dinos risk, which you currently are not going to catch.

I will definitely keep a look out on the tank and if so I have an extra 5 gallons and maybe I can do a rip clean and return all but the last 5 gallons of the water as that will be completely new water. Do you still have your rip clean post floating around?

 

[brandon429]

That sand rinse thread is growing for sure! These two runs are recent from the post, and they’re a lot like your tank in that they’re the first post-set up deep cleans:

 

[brandon429]

Algae Identification

its a little different, on our sand rinse thread we dont remove the sand while water is in the tank, we disassemble the entire system down to an empty aquarium. we dont do that to always take the long road its specifically to keep you from clouding up the tank while corals are in there. a 45 is...

www.reef2reef.com

Sand/tank RIP clean - During - After - Updates

I’m guessing that’s what this is. So some of you know I’ve posted some threads about diatoms in my established tank. I can’t rid them for the life of me with water changes and 2-5 ppm nitrate and .3 to .10 phosphate. My tank itself is stable and looks good except for this dang brown sand. so...

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