How did you defeat the ugly phase?

What did you use to defeat the ugly phase?


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Ocean’s Piece

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This is my newest upload. It’s a 30 second YouTube Short of my new tiger conch snail, Carlos. My previous conch snail, Alberto, died recently and my sandbed has suffered ever since. I had a light dusting of cyano pop up (and now a Dino outbreak, but that was for different reasons), and I soon realized the importance of conch snails in my reef. I defeated the last phase of cyano several months back by deploying one of these conch snails. It’s easily one of the best purchases I have ever made. But I want to hear from you. How did you defeat the ugly phase? I included a poll for you can vote, and made it unlimited choices, because some people may have had multiple factors that ended your ugly phase.

I would appreciate if you gave my video a like, subscribed to my channel, and commented on my video. Let me know you came from R2R! My channel is really starting to get a lot of traction over the past few uploads, and I want to continue to push these uploads out to more and more reefers. The best way you can support my channel is simply viewing my videos. I spend many many hours making some of these videos, so I encourage you to check out some of my previous uploads! Trying to reach my goal of gaining 100 subscribers by the end of February, and it’d make my day if you express your support for I can continue to make these uploads for you guys!

Channel link (go subscribe!):
 
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Wasabiroot

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1. Sufficient flow to reach dead spots
2. Careful monitoring of nutrients, both avoiding excessive measurements as well as avoiding letting them bottom out
3.sufficient cleanup crew
4.manual removal
5. Stable parameters allowing the correct microfauna to win out over nuisance
6. Patience as it's normal and usually goes away with time
7. Some say live rock helps shorten or avoid ugly stage
 
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Ocean’s Piece

Ocean’s Piece

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1. Sufficient flow to reach dead spots
2. Careful monitoring of nutrients, both avoiding excessive measurements as well as avoiding letting them bottom out
3.sufficient cleanup crew
4.manual removal
5. Stable parameters allowing the correct microfauna to win out over nuisance
6. Patience as it's normal and usually goes away with time
7. Some say live rock helps shorten or avoid ugly stage
That’s a similar approach to how I went about defeating a lot of it. I’d say my conch was the best at wiping it out, but I believe flow and parameters were also major contributions to it going away.
 

Schraufabagel

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Been battling red cyano for almost 2 months. Chemi-clean, fixing RODI system, carbon dosing, scrubbing the surfaces clean, water changes, and much more haven't fixed the issue. I've finally resorted to a complete rescape and moving everything to a new tank that will hopefully have more filtration room
 
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Ocean’s Piece

Ocean’s Piece

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Been battling red cyano for almost 2 months. Chemi-clean, fixing RODI system, carbon dosing, scrubbing the surfaces clean, water changes, and much more haven't fixed the issue. I've finally resorted to a complete rescape and moving everything to a new tank that will hopefully have more filtration room
I had a bad red cyano issue. It was the worst. Had some diatoms on the sandbed, nothing too messy, but man, red cyano made my sandbed look like a red grassland. I didn’t have much on my rocks though, and after I added that conch, it was gone in 4 days. So if you’re struggling with it on your sandbed, give a conch a try. Hopefully some people suggest some methods on here that have helped them eliminate their ugly phases.
 
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Ocean’s Piece

Ocean’s Piece

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patience. whatever you do keep chemicals as a last resort.
If conches didn’t work, I was going straight to chemi clean, I was so done. Im glad I didn’t and spent my money in better ways. Plus, patience is something every aspect of his hobby needs.
 

Schraufabagel

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I had a bad red cyano issue. It was the worst. Had some diatoms on the sandbed, nothing too messy, but man, red cyano made my sandbed look like a red grassland. I didn’t have much on my rocks though, and after I added that conch, it was gone in 4 days. So if you’re struggling with it on your sandbed, give a conch a try. Hopefully some people suggest some methods on here that have helped them eliminate their ugly phases.
That's definitely something I've considered. I may have to stop by my LFS
 
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Ocean’s Piece

Ocean’s Piece

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That's definitely something I've considered. I may have to stop by my LFS
You won’t regret it. As said above, you need to have a big enough tank, preferably a tank with 1 sq ft of a sandbed with and inch or more. Plus, make sure you have enough algae populations on the sandbed, but I assume you do since you’re stuck in the uglies.
 

vetteguy53081

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It is very common and often associated with newer tanks and silicate from new sand. It can also occur in established tanks. Easy to say wait it out but I understand, some of us simply dont like looking at it.
To add to diatom causes, diatoms feed mainly off of silicates but also consume dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Unfiltered tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to jump start a bloom if you use it to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from the tank. The best way to prevent this from happening is to filter water through a RODI unit, although you can still get a diatom bloom when using RODI if the cartridge that removes silicates expires.
Diatoms are typically harmless to a captive reef and can be beaten once their food source expires. Once you stop the source, the outbreak should last a couple more weeks so just be patient and it will pass. For major outbreaks you may want to consider the three day blackout. Diatoms are easily wiped from the glass with a magnet glass cleaner, a turkey baster or sponge. Be prepared for them to re-establish themselves quickly, they are likely to be able to resettle and have exponential growth rates. To prevent their return, practice good aquarium maintenance by doing regular water changes, keep the substrate clean, don’t overfeed the fish, ensure your skimmer is running at an optimal level and rinse out filter socks and sponges on a regular basis.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.
 
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Ocean’s Piece

Ocean’s Piece

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It is very common and often associated with newer tanks and silicate from new sand. It can also occur in established tanks. Easy to say wait it out but I understand, some of us simply dont like looking at it.
To add to diatom causes, diatoms feed mainly off of silicates but also consume dissolved organic compounds, phosphate and nitrates. Unfiltered tap water can contain silicates and is a good way to jump start a bloom if you use it to mix salt or to replace water that evaporated from the tank. The best way to prevent this from happening is to filter water through a RODI unit, although you can still get a diatom bloom when using RODI if the cartridge that removes silicates expires.
Diatoms are typically harmless to a captive reef and can be beaten once their food source expires. Once you stop the source, the outbreak should last a couple more weeks so just be patient and it will pass. For major outbreaks you may want to consider the three day blackout. Diatoms are easily wiped from the glass with a magnet glass cleaner, a turkey baster or sponge. Be prepared for them to re-establish themselves quickly, they are likely to be able to resettle and have exponential growth rates. To prevent their return, practice good aquarium maintenance by doing regular water changes, keep the substrate clean, don’t overfeed the fish, ensure your skimmer is running at an optimal level and rinse out filter socks and sponges on a regular basis.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.
I made the fatal mistake of not rinsing my sandbed when I started my tank. I think that's why I had it so bad when it came to the ugly phase and the sandbed.
 

vetteguy53081

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I made the fatal mistake of not rinsing my sandbed when I started my tank. I think that's why I had it so bad when it came to the ugly phase and the sandbed.
Good probability
 
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Ocean’s Piece

Ocean’s Piece

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Good husbandry and time. The ugly phase is not something awful. It's a natural part of the maturing process. Accept it.
Our tanks are very much like people. You get started, you grow up, get pimples and junk all on your body, grow up, and become a fully grown person that is fully developed.
 

JoJosReef

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QUOTE="Wasabiroot, post: 9819497, member: 172150"]
If your tank is large enough, a conch is worth its weight in gold to keep the sand clean.
[/QUOTE]

What is a good alternative to a conch in a small tank? Extra ceriths?

Not enough room for a conch to get around, I think:
IMG_20220115_155700161.jpg
 

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