Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Waldek M.]

Not sure if you’re still having cyano issues or not? But to follow up on my recommendation of TM nitribiotic here’s my results. Nothing changed in tank otherwise.

July 5th. Constant dirty glass and cyano all over the sand bed. 1-2 doses of TM nitribiotic performed so far. It was way worse than this photo prior. I dose it in front of left front powerhead

Just got back from vacation 9-10 days away. Glass was spotless minus a ton of coralline so razor scraped clean the glass.

First morning light.

Daytime spectrum

That was last weekend and it’s even better now. I’m sold! 100% believer in it. Curious if you or anyone else with cyano, Dino’s, dirty glass, etc would see the same results? I hadn’t seen the sand bed in over a year/ever really until now

Following your example, I tried it for the first time four weeks ago, and I can see that it works—or at least it has so far. I apply half the dose directly into the sand and pour the other half into the sump, right onto the biological filter media. I’m not sure if this is the right way to do it, but it’s the method I came up with, and it’s working for now. I do this weekly, using a dosage of 3.5 ml per 370 liters of system water.

 

[salty joe]

Just caught up on your mag, sorry it did not make it. i want to get one for my Allards but IDK...Is your clown trio a mated pair and a third wheel? That's how my Allards were for several years until they got to breeding size. Then one day third wheel disappeared. Gone.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just caught up on your mag, sorry it did not make it. i want to get one for my Allards but IDK...Is your clown trio a mated pair and a third wheel? That's how my Allards were for several years until they got to breeding size. Then one day third wheel disappeared. Gone.

They appear to be male female and juvenile. I had a trio like that in the past in a gigantea, but these guys continue to hang together even without an anemone. :)

 

[Waldek M.]

Cyanobacteria Treatment

It’s been a bit over 5 months since I last treated for cyano with the antibiotic tylosin (Chemiclean). Cyano has begun to become significant again, and today I’m treating again. Hopefully it works as well.

This morning I added 2 g of Chemiclean to my system (dissolved in a cup of tank water). I removed the collection part of my Tunze skimmer, added one air stone and two open tubing bubblers to my sumps, and increased flow through the tank and sump systems. I set the refugium lights to be on 24/7 all for increased O2. I also removed the GAC.

Last night I turkey basted the display. Here are a couple of before pictures from this morning:

Aren't you afraid to use Chemiclean so often? Your experience also shows that it only works temporarily. No one knows why it appears or why it vanishes; I’ve had it myself many times—it would come and go without any apparent reason, or at least none that I could identify. That’s why so many people set up bare-bottom tanks, though I’m not a fan of that look. I recently used TM’s Nitribiotic and it worked, but no one knows for how long.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Aren't you afraid to use Chemiclean so often? Your experience also shows that it only works temporarily. No one knows why it appears or why it vanishes; I’ve had it myself many times—it would come and go without any apparent reason, or at least none that I could identify. That’s why so many people set up bare-bottom tanks, though I’m not a fan of that look. I recently used TM’s Nitribiotic and it worked, but no one knows for how long.

I’ve tried a variety of things, but I cannot do some that will work, such as high flow, because I am trying to keep the tank as quiet as possible.

I’m not sure bare bottom would matter since the cyano grows on the rocks and back coralline at least as much as the sand.

I’m not sure there is a treatment that is a long term solution, but I will continue to explore options such as reducing organics. C

 

[Waldek M.]

I’ve tried a variety of things, but I cannot do some that will work, such as high flow, because I am trying to keep the tank as quiet as possible.

I’m not sure bare bottom would matter since the cyano grows on the rocks and back coralline at least as much as the sand.

I’m not sure there is a treatment that is a long term solution, but I will continue to explore options such as reducing organics. C

High flow doesn't really work on sand either—or rather, it does work, but by burying things rather than clearing them away naturally. I experimented with that too, but to no avail. If you want to tackle the issue that way, buying sand-sifting gobies would be a better option. I had some and actually liked them, but I had to give them up because they kept burying my low-lying corals

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Tank is doing fine after the Chemiclean treatment a couple of weeks ago. Here are some pictures from this morning:

 

[Dan_P]

Dino Fears

I’m concerned that at least some of the brown pest I now see in the display is perhaps the same thing that I thought might be dinos.

I cannot get a close up picture to detail it, but there also clearly is some green turf type algae under the brown, and in a very few places by itself. The brown stuff does trap bubbles like folks report for dinos. Pics below.

I gave the system another 3 grams of the sodium silicate solution to promote diatoms over dinos.

One change, aside from upping nutrients a while back is switching to phyto feast live from the Dinkins phyto, but I have no idea in the significance of that.

The uv lights have not been used in a week or more.

Any thoughts or ideas are appreciated .


Tank rock

Side glass not scraped

What happened to the photos?

 

[EnterName]

What happened to the photos?

Looks like they got deleted (or access permissions changed) on the server-side but the reference is still in the post.

The direct links to the images don't load either:
https://www.reef2reef.com/attachments/img_3455-jpeg.4151518/

 

[MNAquariums]

I’ve tried a variety of things, but I cannot do some that will work, such as high flow, because I am trying to keep the tank as quiet as possible.

I’m not sure bare bottom would matter since the cyano grows on the rocks and back coralline at least as much as the sand.

I’m not sure there is a treatment that is a long term solution, but I will continue to explore options such as reducing organics. C

Have you tried adding beneficial bacteria on a regulair basis?
There are several studies showing that sometimes one or two bacterial strands can dominate the biofilm, reduce competition and open up surfaces for things like dinoflaggelates and cyano.
Regular dosing can help rebuild and prevent these issues log term.

Regarding DOC, Fauna Marin coral Bloom or similar oolite-based additives bind DOC into a form corals can use and whatever is left gets removed by the skimmer.
Much less harsh and have it´s benefits for stability.

 

[Garf]

Have you tried adding beneficial bacteria on a regulair basis?

Do you know of any? I assume you mean stuff from a bottle?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What happened to the photos?

I see two pictures on my iPhone right now in the quoted post.

Do you see them now?

 

[Garf]

Do you see them now?

Yep, looking good. I've been getting a lot of dodgy photo links.

 

[MNAquariums]

Do you know of any? I assume you mean stuff from a bottle?

Indeed, there are plenty from differnent brands. Fauna Marin Bacto Blend, Microbacter7, Aquaforest Bio S are just some of all out there.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Have you tried adding beneficial bacteria on a regulair basis?
There are several studies showing that sometimes one or two bacterial strands can dominate the biofilm, reduce competition and open up surfaces for things like dinoflaggelates and cyano.
Regular dosing can help rebuild and prevent these issues log term.

Regarding DOC, Fauna Marin coral Bloom or similar oolite-based additives bind DOC into a form corals can use and whatever is left gets removed by the skimmer.
Much less harsh and have it´s benefits for stability.

In this post earlier in the thread I tried Microbe Lift Special blend, without clear resolution of the cyano.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/randys-tank-and-learn-thread.1103636/page-124#post-14035547

 

[MNAquariums]

In this post earlier in the thread I tried Microbe Lift Special blend, without clear resolution of the cyano.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/randys-tank-and-learn-thread.1103636/page-124#post-14035547

For how long did you dose this?

 

[EnterName]

There are several studies showing that sometimes one or two bacterial strands can dominate the biofilm, reduce competition and open up surfaces for things like dinoflaggelates and cyano.

I would absolutely love to see those studies. Do you happen to have any URLs or DOIs?

Considering the very low biodiversity in bacteria products (with the exception of AF Life Source mud, where we don't know whether the bacteria are still alive, since they weren't selected to survive being "bottled" and are simply present in the mud), I could even imagine that adding the same bacterial strains over and over again actually reduces biodiversity (Yao et al. 2026). Or at the very least, that it has no real effect on it. There are hundreds of bacterial families in most reef tanks (each containing many genera, species, and strains), and you're basically adding something like 10 to 30 strains from families that are pretty much always present anyway, because they're so good at surviving that they can even handle being bottled.

Obviously, I'm not saying you should stop if something has been working for you. I'm just surprised to hear that an actual benefit of these products has supposedly been shown, when everything I've read so far points in a different direction. So if you manage to find those studies I would love to read them!

 

[MNAquariums]

I would absolutely love to see those studies. Do you happen to have any URLs or DOIs?

Considering the very low biodiversity in bacteria products (with the exception of AF Life Source mud, where we don't know whether the bacteria are still alive, since they weren't selected to survive being "bottled" and are simply present in the mud), I could even imagine that adding the same bacterial strains over and over again actually reduces biodiversity (Yao et al. 2026). Or at the very least, that it has no real effect on it. There are hundreds of bacterial families in most reef tanks (each containing many genera, species, and strains), and you're basically adding something like 10 to 30 strains from families that are pretty much always present anyway, because they're so good at surviving that they can even handle being bottled.

Obviously, I'm not saying you should stop if something has been working for you. I'm just surprised to hear that an actual benefit of these products has supposedly been shown, when everything I've read so far points in a different direction. So if you manage to find those studies I would love to read them!

I don´t have links to any particular studies, but interesting that you mention AF Life Source.BRS have a very good video: Ep. 7 “Best Biome Cycle? Aquaforest Life Source vs. Real Reef vs. Gulf Rock vs. Marine Pure brick”.Here they sent biome samples to a lab, and the results were very interesting. It doesn’t show anything magical happening from dosing bacteria, but the impact of adding bacteria is clearly reflected in how the biome develops.

With dosing bacteria it’s not about increasing biodiversity in terms of number of species. It’s about adding the right functional groups that shift competition and biofilm structure.

 

[ReeferBud]

Molybdate Dosing

Since molybdate is a needed trace element and it was quite low in my tank (and also low in IO in rtparty’s salt study) I decided to dose it.

I bought this from Amazon:

https://a.co/d/3nafdvq
$26 plus shipping for a pound that will last me for centuries. Share it with your friends. lol

Sodium molybdate dihydrate
Na2MoO4*2H2O
About 40% molybdenum by weight

Dissolve 10 gram in 1000 mL RO/Di. Concentration is 4000 mg/L or 4 mg/mL.

Adding 1 mL per 100 gallons boosts molybdenum by 4mg/378 L = 0.011 mg/L (11 ug/L).

According to Oceamo, my molybdenum is 1.6 ug/L. I want to boost it to 15 ug/L, or a rise of 13.4 ug/L.

I estimate my water volume is about 900 liters, so I need to add about 12,000 ug (12 mg).

Thus I would add 3 ml of my dosing solution of 4 mg/ml.

I will add that in several smaller portions to prevent high concentrations from impacting organisms before it mixes in.

I also added a similar concentration to my new salt water.

@rtparty

Any concern with it being fertilizer / animal
Feed grade and not food grade?