I'm very close to quitting after 2 years...

[Reef_at_Sea]

Hello,

As stated in the title i'm struggling very hard with my reef tank, my current waterbox 50.3 AIO has been running for 1,5 years now & the amount of problems don't add up to the amount of joy, since the beginning i always had problems with high nitrates wich didn't reallly show in the tank but corals were never super happy.
Then i made the decision to make it more easy for myself and set my tank up for soft corals only, best choice i made!
Yet a couple of months ago dino's showed up.... After adding UV and fixing my nutrients the dino's went away.
But after that i got cyano instead & a heck of a lot aiptasia..

Currently i'm doing my best to battle the last 30% of cyano that is still in my tank but the aiptasia infestation got out of control... I tried adding big nudi's but i think they still got eaten by my macro. bipartitus wrasse. & my peppermint shrimp dissapeared..
Yet, most of the aiptasia is on the sand for some reason.

Now i'm thinking if i should just suck out all of my sand at once (if that is safe to do?) & replace it by new non alive sand to battle the aiptasia or if i should just throw in the towel.
The amount of time i'm putting in the tank is a little too much for me since my social life & career is picking up a little more lately but the amount of money that requires to solve all these problems is a bigger issue...
Or maybe i should just pull out the corals and make it a FOWLR? but that doesn't solve the aiptasia problem.

Really sucks, cause i love my tank & fishies but it never really looked like a proper reef tank...

I added a picture for reference.

 

[MossyFroggyLove]

Dont quit! You will never fail until you stop trying.

Aiptasia and cyano on sand? Use your fingers to sift through the sand daily or every other day. You can also get sand sifting CUC. I got myself an orange lip conch which keeps my sand pretty clean. Aiptasia on rocks and glass? Cut off their "stalks" cleanly and immediately suck them out using a siphon or a turkey baster. I used to have the same problem as you, and i know how much pain it is. You just need to focus and do maintanence as frequently as possible. Siphon out as much of cyano as possible.

Your tank already looks really amazing! It would be a shame if you give up now.

 

[Neon_Devil]

For the aiptasia look into berghia nudibranchs. A good CUC can help get a tank in line as well.

 

[mcarroll]

it never really looked like a proper reef tank...

You may have to learn to go more with the flow of the tank, no pun intended. ;)

But in seriousness "what a proper reef tank looks like" sounds like a pile of expectations built on highly coiffed pictures of faraway reef tanks. If there's even a whiff of that, you need to do a mental dump and get into your tank's groove.

IMO your tank looks great. Try to enjoy THAT aspect of it, even if it's not perfect to some standard. :)

Yes, the aiptasia sounds like an easy fix if it's all in the sand. (Is it really??) Sand is CHEAP to replace and EASY compared to almost anything else you could consider.

Ending up in Dino land after your tank had decent ("high") nutrient levels also tells me you and the tank have been "all over the place" in terms of husbandry. That could be a result of consuming too much guidance from the internet...a common thing. If that's true even a little, then getting one or two good books might be all it takes to tie things together better for you going forward. There are tons of great book options, but Martin Moe's "Marine Aquairum Handbook" is maybe the single best one to start with. It has always been very comprehensive and kept up to date....recent editions are available in print and (last I checked) eBook as well.

If you eventually think you can "relax into your tank" then I say keep at it....reefs are amazingly resilient if you allow it and help them along a few ways.

BTW, if you want to make it a fish only tank, then the live rock and EVERYTHING can go. You can put new rock in or just go with fish tank decorations....lots of choices going that route, and that should get rid of the aiptasia. Stragglers should be easy to see, at least.

BTW2, if you started with dead rock before, there is, IMO, a 4th option.

Tank options:
1. keep it
2. fish it
3. dump it
4. live rock it

Replacing 100% of the contents with new live rock (eg tampa bay saltwater) is another option. If you can QT the new rock in another tank for a little while just to be safe, it wouldn't be a bad idea. Also let them know your tank situation and they might have some guidance on what to buy.

 

[Ancient Mariner]

I agree your tank doesn’t look bad. Good choice to go the soft coral route.

For the Aiptasia, the Berghia nudibranchs take months to start making a dent. How long ago did you introduce them? You really don’t see them after they are introduced into the tank. If you think your wrasse is eating them, I’d remove it and introduce more nudibranchs and wait another 2-3 months to see results.

In terms of vacuuming the sand for the cyano and Aiptasia, I’d just remove the surface layer with the nuisance organisms but do NOT replace it at all (dry or live) as the cyano will then have free rein to repopulate. The battle against cyano is to allow the microorganism ecosystem to develop on the surfaces of the sand grains and rocks that will out compete the cyano.

Here’s a link to my thoughts on cyano:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/why-does-cyano-grow-here…and-only-here.1087149/
So the battle with Aiptasia and cyano is a slow and painful one but winnable. Don’t give up!

If in the future you want to retry hard corals (LPS or SPS) you might try upgrading to more powerful lights. It’s also possible that as the micro ecology of the tank matures, you might just test out a few low price frags with the current lights and see what happens.

 

[Lasse]

The Aiptasia problem - add a file fish (Acreichthys tomentosus) or a copper band (Chelmon rostratus). A Chaetodon kleinii could also be an option but it is known for also attacking other soft corals polyps than aiptasia.

The cyano problem - be sure of PO4 levels above 0.05 and NO3 levels above 2 ppm. Test also this method. It has work for me but I replace the bottled bacteria with some liquid from my skimmer (skimmate). I start with 3 table spoones of fine CaCO3 powder (original use for clear up and pH adjust in home brewing of beer) and around 100 ml skimmate for three days in the evening. Repeat with 2 days after a week and so on if needed.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

I'm thinking about replacing 50/60% off my sand. Is that something i could do without having too much unbalance?

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

The Aiptasia problem - add a file fish (Acreichthys tomentosus) or a copper band (Chelmon rostratus). A Chaetodon kleinii could also be an option but it is known for also attacking other soft corals polyps than aiptasia.

The cyano problem - be sure of PO4 levels above 0.05 and NO3 levels above 2 ppm. Test also this method. It has work for me but I replace the bottled bacteria with some liquid from my skimmer (skimmate). I start with 3 table spoones of fine CaCO3 powder (original use for clear up and pH adjust in home brewing of beer) and around 100 ml skimmate for three days in the evening. Repeat with 2 days after a week and so on if needed.

Sincerely Lasse

I have read that the file fish is a hit or miss? & adding a copper band in my "small" 50 gallon just doesn't feel right.

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

For the aiptasia look into berghia nudibranchs. A good CUC can help get a tank in line as well.

I should really look into my CUC again, i feel like i don't have enough at all.

 

[Subsea]

I perused thru your threads. I noted one thread with dyeing CUC. Some Dinoflagellets are toxic when phosphates bottom out.

After 55 years of reefing, I have never moved away from softies: pulsing Xenia and GSP have worked well. I did expand my reefing to focus on diverse filter feeders which includes ornamental sponges.

With respect to Aptasia, peroxide works well for ones attacked to rock. While I have used in tank treatment, it is much easier to remove rock from tank and dip toothbrush in peroxide and brush it off, rinse off and return to tank.
With aptasia in substrate, if they are not attacked to bottom glass, they are removed easily with syphon hose during partial water change. When aptasia anemone is attached to side glass, it is easy to scrap off and syphon out.

I have some Aptasia in this tank. I don’t consider them a crisis.

 

[ReneReef]

I’ve got a simple answer that has been given before.

Get more light.
Double it! Seriously.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sps-schedule-for-2x-ai-prime-16.1112037/
The two primes is the absolute bare minimum. But you’ll need to run them all channels at 100% during a 6 hour midday peak.
But I would highly recommend to increase to total wattage.

Looking at your tank and your previous topics, I see an environment where corals can’t thrive.

Corals need lots of light, more than algae do. Basically, algae can always thrive.

Yes increasing light will increase algae growth. So increase grazing. Then you create an environment where corals be able to thrive and eventually win from algae.

Currently, your tank is most comparable to a marine biotope found underneath the canopy of a mangrove forest, not a reef biotope.

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

I’ve got a simple answer that has been given before.

Get more light.
Double it! Seriously.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sps-schedule-for-2x-ai-prime-16.1112037/
The two primes is the absolute bare minimum. But you’ll need to run them all channels at 100% during a 6 hour midday peak.
But I would highly recommend to increase to total wattage.

Looking at your tank and your previous topics, I see an environment where corals can’t thrive.

Corals need lots of light, more than algae do. Basically, algae can always thrive.

Yes increasing light will increase algae growth. So increase grazing. Then you create an environment where corals be able to thrive and eventually win from algae.

Should i really tho? my tank will be mostly soft corals from now on.

 

[ReneReef]

Should i really tho? my tank will be mostly soft corals from now on.

Yes.

If you don’t, nothing will change and you might as well quit now.

And why not? First step is so simple:
Program those lights all channels 100% for 6 hours midday. Morning and evening you can do what ever you like.
Do that today and come back to us in a couple of months, with the results.

What are you waiting for????

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

Yes.

If you don’t, nothing will change and you might as well quit now.

And why not? First step is so simple:
Program those lights all channels 100% for 6 hours midday. Morning and evening you can do what ever you like.
Do that today and come back to us in a couple of months, with the results.

What are you waiting for????

i'm very tempted to do that but i have read that the UV could melt in AI primes.
Also, the channels can go above 100% or do you mean full wattage of the lamps, all channels to max?

 

[Subsea]

I’ve got a simple answer that has been given before.

Get more light.
Double it! Seriously.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/sps-schedule-for-2x-ai-prime-16.1112037/
The two primes is the absolute bare minimum. But you’ll need to run them all channels at 100% during a 6 hour midday peak.
But I would highly recommend to increase to total wattage.

Looking at your tank and your previous topics, I see an environment where corals can’t thrive.

Corals need lots of light, more than algae do. Basically, algae can always thrive.

Yes increasing light will increase algae growth. So increase grazing. Then you create an environment where corals be able to thrive and eventually win from algae.

Currently, your tank is most comparable to a marine biotope found underneath the canopy of a mangrove forest, not a reef biotope.

For you, doubling light intensity, may be a simple answer. I disagree wholeheartedly. OP indicated in his post that he moved away from SPS.

ALSO, explain how doubling light intensity will eliminate Aptasia.

 

[Furyshock]

Hello,

As stated in the title i'm struggling very hard with my reef tank, my current waterbox 50.3 AIO has been running for 1,5 years now & the amount of problems don't add up to the amount of joy, since the beginning i always had problems with high nitrates wich didn't reallly show in the tank but corals were never super happy.
Then i made the decision to make it more easy for myself and set my tank up for soft corals only, best choice i made!
Yet a couple of months ago dino's showed up.... After adding UV and fixing my nutrients the dino's went away.
But after that i got cyano instead & a heck of a lot aiptasia..

Currently i'm doing my best to battle the last 30% of cyano that is still in my tank but the aiptasia infestation got out of control... I tried adding big nudi's but i think they still got eaten by my macro. bipartitus wrasse. & my peppermint shrimp dissapeared..
Yet, most of the aiptasia is on the sand for some reason.

Now i'm thinking if i should just suck out all of my sand at once (if that is safe to do?) & replace it by new non alive sand to battle the aiptasia or if i should just throw in the towel.
The amount of time i'm putting in the tank is a little too much for me since my social life & career is picking up a little more lately but the amount of money that requires to solve all these problems is a bigger issue...
Or maybe i should just pull out the corals and make it a FOWLR? but that doesn't solve the aiptasia problem.

Really sucks, cause i love my tank & fishies but it never really looked like a proper reef tank...

I added a picture for reference.

Don’t quit so easily there’s solutions to your problems for aptasia you could add a file fish which is my recommendation or peppermint shrimp or copperband fish but the ultimate solution to getting rid of aptasia is to get at least 2 or 3 nudibranch from top shelf aquatics and they’ll eat all of the aptasia in your tank

 

[Lasse]

I have read that the file fish is a hit or miss

I have experiences with file fish (wild caught) that is very good - never been any miss with those - but if they are small - it takes time. Today - it looks like this filefish is mostly breed and very small. You are in the Netherlands - it should not be difficult to get a wild caught there.

But a Chaetodon kleinii is the best solution - but you risk some of your softies polyps.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[ReneReef]

For you, doubling light intensity, may be a simple answer. I disagree wholeheartedly. OP indicated in his post that he moved away from SPS.

Fine.

ALSO, explain how doubling light intensity will eliminate Aptasia.

I did mention the word Aiptasia (or Aptasia for that matter) for a reason. My advice is not aimed to address that problem. Obviously.

Good luck all, I’ll leave you to it.

 

[stE26wy14]

try peppermints!! ur tank really looks great, my tank rn is overrun by aiptasia, but im doing well

for some motivation, I came close to quitting soooo many times, stuff contanstely dying, fish wouldn't live for more than 10 months, I couldn't find a rhythm. what worked for me was just leaving it be, I was constantly trying to do the most for the tank, but that wasn't the solution, leave it be, still dose and everything, but let the tank do its thing, im in hs, so I dont have too much money to spend on reefs, this is mainly a budget tank with coral I won or budgeted for, been at it for 2 years, gone through a ton, but it gives me something to admire. u got this man!! u will push through

 

[Reef_at_Sea]

I have experiences with file fish (wild caught) that is very good - never been any miss with those - but if they are small - it takes time. Today - it looks like this filefish is mostly breed and very small. You are in the Netherlands - it should not be difficult to get a wild caught there.

But a Chaetodon kleinii is the best solution - but you risk some of your softies polyps.

Sincerely Lasse

As i do respect your knowledge & skill Lasse, i must disagree with putting a Chaetodon Kleinii in my 50 gallon tank? Those fish are a little on the large side & are going to murder my corals just as well.