My tank in entering the ugly phase

[Waters]

Sorry Waters, but I gotta STRONGY disagree on this. My opinion CuC are VITAL to the over all health and longevity of a marine ecosystem. I have a 300g display with a 125g sump for around 360g total water volume. Here is a list of HALF of the CuC I have in my tank. This batch was added when my tank was roughly 3 months old, I started to see algae creeping into the sand bed. I am using these screen caps from Reefcleaners.org because they give a description of what each type does for your system, and what types algae they will eat.

When my tank was 6 to 7 months old I added the following package.

Tank is a year old now.

I also have a couple peppermint shrimp, a fire shrimp, a skunk cleaner shrimp, a Harlequin Shrimp and some Berghia Nudibranchs in there as well.
If clean up crew wasn't vitally important to a healthy reef system, then Nature wouldn't use the

Are CUC important....sure....are they required, no. I currently have no clean up crew in my tank, going on two years now. Yes, all of the organisms you listed do serve a purpose....but the purpose they serve can be accomplished by more than just including said organisms....which is why I stated they aren't required. Awesome collection of fish BTW Our tanks can't really be compared to nature.....if I could swim around with a magic eraser and clean the worlds reefs, CUC wouldn't be required there either lol.

 

[Bruttall]

All them pretty sticks you got!!! I am just starting to add acro's to mine.

 

[jabberwock]

Now is also a good time to start a Coral Snow regimen. Here is a recipe I found here on these forums, really wish I could remember who posted it originally, love to give him/her credit.

Calcium Carbonate Link; https://tinyurl.com/yc5cjbdx

For 500ML of solution, add 10 level tablespoons of powder to roughly 425-450ML of RO/DI water.
Shake the bottle up, and let it sit for two hours. After which, it will be ready to use.
Now, I don’t believe that you can overdose with this product, but a good recommended dose is 5ml per 50gl of aquarium volume.
Be sure to shake up the bottle prior to each use as the powder can settle.

The Mix
Take your measured solution of Coral Snow and add it to a small container.
A plastic or glass cup will suffice.
Next, add 10 drops of Microbacter7 per 5ML of Coral Snow.
Allow 5 minutes for the solution to sit and then dose into your aquarium.
Note that Coral Snow will cloud your aquarium for at least two hours. Filter socks and Protein Skimmer(s) should be left on.

Application
I use a DIY mixture of Calcium Carbonate to clarify the water. The solution acts as a flocculant, helping to export tiny free floating matter.
Now, you could just stop right there, and use this solution simply for water clarity, but, you would be missing out on some of the greatest benefits that the complete formula has to offer.
Combining the Coral Snow with bacteria has an outsized effect on undesirable things such as Cyano slime.
To get the full effect, you’re going to want to take a turkey baster and manually remove or blow off all cyano and other desirable organisms off of the rockwork and sand.
If you’re able to, run some filter socks in the sump to help capture any large free floating waste.
Now, your going to want to add the Coral Snow solution in a cup and then add the bacteria. You can go a little on the bacteria, slightly more than the manufacturers recommendation.
Allow the solution to sit for five minutes and then administer it to the aquarium.
For the full effect, I will turn off the main system pump and allow the solution to have time to coat the surfaces of the aquarium. Generally, I will let process play out for an hour before turning on my main pump and filtration.
After the hour is up, the main pump is turned on, filter socks setup, and skimmer turned on. The skimmer is going to play a key roll here in helping to remove the particles that have bonded to the coral snow.

Enhancing Coral Snow to Feed Corals
After some weeks, and the system is clean and clear you can then move on to some more advanced methods and mixtures.
I like to add bacteria, Zeofood, and Selcon to my mix.
The Coral Snow will help to distribute the nutrition directly to the corals. When dosed correctly, you should see a feeding response from corals, especially SPS who will extend feeding tentacles.

Now, not all corals will immediately go into feeding mode during the day. It will take some time but eventually they will be conditioned to do so. All things considered, the feeding mix has done very to aid with growth of corals in my system.

I do a weekly treatment on my aquarium, I do not run any socks, matts or sponges, no mechanical filtration at all. My water is crystal clear, in fact so clear it almost looks like my fish swim in air. Picture from March 22nd my tanks 1 yr birthday!

Pretty sure this is bad advice for a 7 gallon nano. Just sayin'.

 

[Bruttall]

Pretty sure this is bad advice for a 7 gallon nano. Just sayin'.

This is the thread I got the Coral Snow recipe from. Pretty sure it will work in any size tank as you adjust how much you add according to your water volume.

Extreme Water Clarity and Cyano Eradication, Made Easy!

Edit 10/092023: Note that I have tweaked the formula a bit. You can find an updated video here: Coral Snow Link: Coral Snow Hello all! I have been reefing now for about 25 years, and over those many years I have picked up many tips, tricks, and best habits/practices. From a hobbyist and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Uncle99]

Feed your system to develop those algaes and bacteria that’s what will keep your sand white and rocks clean.

Cant see them, but they are there. But you need a ton of them and that takes time. The best ones develop slow.

Nutrients stay in the bands and stable, a dash of live phyto, some pods.

You need to keep things clean until a time, where you notice everything is staying clean without much help from you.

End of That stage unless you get lazy on maintenance, then ugly returns.

 

[Waters]

All them pretty sticks you got!!! I am just starting to add acro's to mine.

Too bad you weren't closer...I could give you a head start lol.

 

[nano7g]

Just an update. I seem to be out of the diatom phase now. So it lasted maybe 2 two weeks. This week there’s nothing growing on the glass or rocks, or its receding. I’m assuming I’m still in some other phase of the ugly phase. I see a few tiny bright neon green spots. My tank has little pods on the glass now which I assume helped eat the diatoms.

 

[lil sumpin]

Assuming your tank is 7 gallons, a single trochus or turbo snail will do a lotta work once you start seeing green algae.