Dealing with the ugly stage...tough to deal with...

[NeilRogers]

My readings are within parameters:

Salinity: 1.023
Temp: 78
Phosphate: .05ppm
ph 7.7
Nitrate 3.9ppm
Nitrite 112 ppb
Calcium 502
Ammonia .1ppm

It feels like I should be doing something??? It's brown and ugly

 

[Reefer Matt]

My readings are within parameters:

Salinity: 1.023
Temp: 78
Phosphate: .05ppm
ph 7.7
Nitrate 3.9ppm
Nitrite 112 ppb
Calcium 502
Ammonia .1ppm

It feels like I should be doing something??? It's brown and ugly

How old is the tank? And do you have a pic in whiter light?

 

[NeilRogers]

8 weeks...working on a pic

 

[Mikeltee]

Don't do a thing but maybe feed more to get your Phosphates up. If and when that turns to hair algae start adding clean up crew. If hair Algae gets out of control, wait for all of your rocks to be covered and get a sea hare. He will die when the Algae if gone so make sure you are at the tail end of the stage. You want brown and ugly. You don't want bubbles. You will get bubbles if your Phosphates get any lower.

 

[NeilRogers]

Don't do a thing but maybe feed more to get your Phosphates up. If and when that turns to hair algae start adding clean up crew. If hair Algae gets out of control, wait for all of your rocks to be covered and get a sea hare. He will die when the Algae if gone so make sure you are at the tail end of the stage. You want brown and ugly. You don't want bubbles. You will get bubbles if your Phosphates get any lower.

I just got a few bubbles today (first I have seen)

 

[Maxcito]

I started with dry rock in my first system, diatoms lasted 2-3 weeks then 3 months of dinos (all shades of brown) then I got some red (cyano). Looks like you’re probably still cycling you don’t need the lights on

 

[Mikeltee]

This is a sign of healthy progress.

 

[Mikeltee]

Keep your lights on you have been Cycled for 6 weeks.

 

[Mikeltee]

I just got a few bubbles today (first I have seen)

Get your Phosphates up immediately. It might be too late.

 

[NeilRogers]

8 weeks...working on a pic

 

[Mikeltee]

That's probably dinos. Here's what you do... Get your Phosphates up to .1 and hold them steady. Start dosing Microbacter7 according to the directions. These bottled bacteria will use up more of your Phosphates so you will need to adjust to stay over .1ppm. It takes a 40x amscope $100 Microscope to confirm the strain of dinos, but I've been around the block for a minute so I will tell you your options if it is indeed dinos.

If the bubbles go away at night, it is a water bound strain and can be irradiated with a closed loop display plumbed UV sized 1 watt per 3 gal of water. These are the easiest dinos to get rid of. Some will go away within a couple of days, but keep the UV running for a few weeks. A 15 watt is good up to 40gal, but I run a 40w on a 40gal. Tune the flow to 95gph for a 15 watt.

Most likely the bubbles won't go away at night. This requires dosing 38% waterglass silicates at 2-3ppm (about .4ml daily but you want the Hanna Checker to confirm you are over 2ppm).

This may sound like a lot of I'd say about 50% of us go through it when using dry rock. It's just part of the game. Of course I could be wrong and you might not have dinos. You need a Microscope to ge absolutely sure. If you want to learn all about dinos, join the Mac's Dinos thread on Facebook. He has a help file to download which will explain everything. Let me know if you have any questions. I fought Coolia dinos for over 2 years on my main display and now I'm fighting large cell in my 40gal mess around tank.

I'm not sure if you have any fish or coral, but if you ever start over I recommend never dropping below .1ppm Phosphate. you need to be checking at least once a week with a Hanna Checker. I dont trust anything else. You can increase your odds for success with using dry rock by getting some tamapabaysaltwater.com sand, not using bottled bacteria, and keeping your lights off for a month. That way your rock gets populated with great beneficial bacteria. I wouldn't put any fish in there until the month is up. I'm getting some TBS sand for my 40gal as soon as they start shipping again. If you decide to fight the dinos, if that is what you have, I'd get some TBS sand as well. It will get your back up and running a lot quicker.

Check the classifieds here for a UV. I recommend the 15w AquaUV and the 40w Lifeguard QL series but I think that's too big for your tank.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I just got a few bubbles today (first I have seen)

Bubbles can come with any type of algae... oxygen is created through photosynthesis and the bubbles can easily get "stuck" in hair algae, cyano, film algae's, etc.

Your tank is only 2 months old. Sounds like it's right on track. Just enjoy researching future fish and coral and in a few months you'll look back and remember this ugly stage fondly

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Also, there are different types of dinos. When I started my first reef tank, I had what, at the time, I thought was cyano, but looking back, it was definitely dinos. Also had some when I recently started up a nano. Both times, all I did was siphon out as much as I could each day (I used a turkey baster) and was patient. One day I looked at the tank and the dinos were gone. No other intervention or chemicals needed.

 

[Mikeltee]

Honestly, it looks like diatoms except for this red. You will know within a week if it's dinos. This Red looks like it's about to turn to dinos. If you have strands forming with bubbles on top I'd lay money down on the table that it's dinos. Your Phosphates are just too low...

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

That's probably dinos. Here's what you do... Get your Phosphates up to .1 and hold them steady. Start dosing Microbacter7 according to the directions. These bottled bacteria will use up more of your Phosphates so you will need to adjust to stay over .1ppm. It takes a 40x amscope $100 Microscope to confirm the strain of dinos, but I've been around the block for a minute so I will tell you your options if it is indeed dinos.

If the bubbles go away at night, it is a water bound strain and can be irradiated with a closed loop display plumbed UV sized 1 watt per 3 gal of water. These are the easiest dinos to get rid of. Some will go away within a couple of days, but keep the UV running for a few weeks. A 15 watt is good up to 40gal, but I run a 40w on a 40gal. Tune the flow to 95gph for a 15 watt.

Most likely the bubbles won't go away at night. This requires dosing 38% waterglass silicates at 2-3ppm (about .4ml daily but you want the Hanna Checker to confirm you are over 2ppm).

This may sound like a lot of I'd say about 50% of us go through it when using dry rock. It's just part of the game. Of course I could be wrong and you might not have dinos. You need a Microscope to ge absolutely sure. If you want to learn all about dinos, join the Mac's Dinos thread on Facebook. He has a help file to download which will explain everything. Let me know if you have any questions. I fought Coolia dinos for over 2 years on my main display and now I'm fighting large cell in my 40gal mess around tank.

I'm not sure if you have any fish or coral, but if you ever start over I recommend never dropping below .1ppm Phosphate. you need to be checking at least once a week with a Hanna Checker. I dont trust anything else. You can increase your odds for success with using dry rock by getting some tamapabaysaltwater.com sand, not using bottled bacteria, and keeping your lights off for a month. That way your rock gets populated with great beneficial bacteria. I wouldn't put any fish in there until the month is up. I'm getting some TBS sand for my 40gal as soon as they start shipping again. If you decide to fight the dinos, if that is what you have, I'd get some TBS sand as well. It will get your back up and running a lot quicker.

Check the classifieds here for a UV. I recommend the 15w AquaUV and the 40w Lifeguard QL series but I think that's too big for your tank.

This is overkill IMO/IME.