Lack of Bacteria and tank crash

[SpSDrew]

My tank is currently 7 months old. I believe I’m another victim to the lack of beneficial bacteria from starting from dry rock (real reef rock). Corals did amazing and grew like crazy then I hit a brick wall. Corals started fading and the growth was next to none. PE went way down. Parameters were spot on and consistent.

90 gallon tank with 60 gallon attached frag tank
3x kessil 360x with aquatic life T5 hybrid
2x mp40s (65% reef crest)
Tunze wavebox (25%)

Alk- 8.0
Ca- 420-450
Mg- 1400
Ph- 8-8.3
Nitrate- 5-10
Phosphate- 0.03-.09

After watching a video where mike p. Stated a similar situation with one of his tanks he added cured liverock to his tank and noticed a major difference over a few weeks

I went on ahead and ordered some Florida keys rock (KP aquatics) that arrived today. I plan on curing it for a week or two and then adding it to the sump and attached frag tank to give my tank some more beneficial bacteria. I’m also adding in more dr. Tim’s bacteria to the tank during this process. I have an order for some Walt Fiji liverock that I’m awaiting confirmation on.

Has anyone else experience a similar experience with starting a tank on dry rock only ? I’ve tried to make any changes to the tank ahead of time. My lighting schedule was increased to a 7 hour peak photo period with a 2 hour ramp up/down. Added a wavebox to solve some dead spots I was having.

 

[Vamsi]

check this out

Why cant u keep sps?

Well first and for most im not a scientist or marine biologist my theory base only on my experience and observation on my reef tank. I just want to help those that have problems keeping sps. In this discussion please keep it positive and dont make it to “i know better than u or led is better...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Nano sapiens]

I think you'll find this of relevance:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/e...ome-in-a-new-aquarium-using-live-rock.665936/

Search for 'Aquabiomics' and their related articles if you are interested in some deep dives into the reef aquarium microbiome.

Adding a quality bottled bacteria to a new dry rock established aquarium is a fine idea, but shouldn't be necessary in a system that has been running for many months. True live rock will have a diverse assemblage of the microbes that are essential to our reef systems.

 

[K7BMG]

I am no expert on beneficial bacteria, and fairly new to reefing.

I have seen Mike P videos and his success and k ow he is knowledgeable.
But I dont know that its possible for the beneficial would die off.
There may be an instance where something kills it somehow.
In any case I am going to follow alon and read the posted articles in the morning.

 

[SpSDrew]

I’m hoping this liverock is the cure to my corals not growing and their lack of color. I have been feeding the tank heavily with oyster feast, reef roids, amino acids. My phosphates still remain low so there is plenty of active bacteria but possibly not a wide variety.