So one day I just started growing sps corals.....well kinda.

[revhtree]

Congratulations Rev! So happy for you! I'm having the same struggle you had without the success story you have had. I'm going to keep on with my husbandry and hopefully will turn the corner like you did! #Ihatedinos

Went a full year and got serious on fixing it first of this year. I was dozing 90mil of Vibrant in my 450ish gallons EVERY DAY!

 

[jsker]

It always sucks when you are trying to fix a problem and it just doesn't seem to be making a dent. This hobby is all about patience and perseverance, and you proved it fighting through those dinos.

So True.

 

[Joe G]

Congratulations, your persistence payed off. [emoji1417][emoji1417][emoji1417]

 

[Geebs19]

Woop woop! What a beautiful looking tank!

 

[Pmj]

Your story mimics mine, and we've posted in some of the same dino threads. I tried vibrant with elevated nutrients for quite a while and dinos are gone (afaik), but for the past fews months it's just cyano and film algae (like the glass is covered daily). Nutrients arent especially high either. But, like you said, anything is better than dinos. My corals have been growing great as long as there wasn't dinos and PO4 wasn't at 0.
I appreciate the thread. I'm going to increase my wc & manual cleaning to hopefully get rid of the cyano and film algae at this point and hopefully be in the same place.

 

[GoldeneyeRet]

Awesome!

 

[Dsnakes]

Glad to hear it @revhtree water changes still don’t excite me!

Let’s see some pictures, you can do it!!

 

[Greenstreet.1]

Let’s see some pics @Rev. Nice tank but we want to see yours[emoji33]

 

[blackizzz]

Well I wish! LOL! That's not my tank that is inspiration from @Brad Syphus and his tank!

Oopsie Guess that's what happens when you like pictures better than text I'm sure your tank will soon be just as beautiful then, especially with inspiration as that!

 

[Brad Syphus]

I hope I can inspire you more Rev. Glad to hear your tank is on the right track.

 

[MamaLovesHerReefTank]

@revhtree happy to hear that things are finally turning around for you. I wish you would have been showing progress pics so we can all see how far your tank has come and that patience, maintenance and perseverance is what works 9 out of 10 times in this hobby. There is no shame showing the difficulties we have with our tanks. It shows those just starting out that a beautiful mature reef tank, takes time and sometimes lots of work to get that way. Congrats once again for getting everything back on track.

 

[Maritimer]

Glad to hear she might be turning around for ya, Rev!

A point, though ... If I can share photos and videos of my algae farm, you can share yours . . .

~Bruce

 

[gig 'em]

Thanks for share by your success story! I just ordered my first bottle of Vibrant and your story is very encouraging to me

 

[revhtree]

Your story mimics mine, and we've posted in some of the same dino threads. I tried vibrant with elevated nutrients for quite a while and dinos are gone (afaik), but for the past fews months it's just cyano and film algae (like the glass is covered daily). Nutrients arent especially high either. But, like you said, anything is better than dinos. My corals have been growing great as long as there wasn't dinos and PO4 wasn't at 0.
I appreciate the thread. I'm going to increase my wc & manual cleaning to hopefully get rid of the cyano and film algae at this point and hopefully be in the same place.

I smashed the cyano once with a dose of Chemiclean and then the water change regimen each week did the trick. I’m also using Fritz Reef Pro salt. I am changing about 15% a week.

Glad to hear it @revhtree water changes still don’t excite me!

Let’s see some pictures, you can do it!!

I made it easy to do water changes where it takes literally just the time to drain and pump the water back. 20min

I hope I can inspire you more Rev. Glad to hear your tank is on the right track.

I’ve always admired your love for your tank so much that you actually enjoyed maintenece. At least I think you said that! Ha! At any rate I know for a fact you’re very consistent with your maintenece and the proof is in your awesome reef! Thank you!

 

[Crabs McJones]

Uh oh, @revhtree got the SPS bug. It hit me hard man, but you're going to love it. I'm happy that your tank is finally headed in the direction your happy with
But you know what they say my friend, pics or it didnt happen! ;Hilarious

 

[revhtree]

Thank you all and pics are coming I promise!!

 

[hart24601]

It’s not fun to document issues your tank has, I know, but at least it’s comforting to think you are helping others with the same problems especially if you overcome the obstacles - and even if one doesn’t have the answers it can still be of use to others!

 

[reefwiser]

But I wasn't really going to give it up!! But thanks for the words of wisdom and truth!!

As you know David the truth is not what most people want to here.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yep kinda happened like that! Well there's a bit more to the story.

With this new tank it's been a HUGE struggle to say the least just keeping algae at bay much less keeping coral alive. And when I say algae I' m referring to the devil itself also called dinoflagellates or devil dinos! Up until a couple months ago I was beat down by the stuff and seriously ready to throw the towel in see here.

But around the end of March first of April I started heavily dosing Vibrant as documented here. Much more than the instructions say. I noticed things started looking better on the dino side but even the, overrun with algae, frag tank was shedding itself of hair algae and bubble algae. Hope was here! Fast forward a few days later and I had a small set back here due to user I believe but this wasn't failure it was a kick in the pants! I got my game face on and almost doubled the dosage of Vibrant I was using that was already 4 times what was instructed for my tank EVERY SINGLE DAY! Figured out I probably triggered the re-bloom because I left my, plumbed in, frag tank light on for 5 straight days. After continuing to dose for at least 3 more months less and less I decided that I had won and decided to stop! Haven't dosed since.

After I "beat the devil" I was faced with a huge outbreak of cyanobacteria. But to me cyano was a tank reprieve from death row because anything was better than dino algae. I hadn't performed any water change since beating dinos because I didn't want to do ANYTHING that would trigger those evil suckers from coming back and taking over but I decided to take the chance. I begin to siphon and do water changes but it only got worse. I was worried about using chemicals so I started this thread.

After some more back and forth, siphoning and water changes I decided to take the plunge and I treated the tank. Most of the cyano was gone but what was left never left and it looked as if it would start a comeback. Resisting with everything in me to retreat I stuck with a regular 15% water change each week and low and behold the cyano started to decrease. During this time something else happened....my corals started to become super healthy. Acro frags went from deaths door to now surviving. Plate corals, the easy ones, started to color up! Even the soft corals started opening up and reproducing faster than ever!

Today, oh today, the tank is more than a tank. It's turning into a REEF TANK finally! The only algae ruling the glass and rock work now is the one algae I welcome, coralline algae. It's purdy and pink! I had pretty much had zero success with any type of sps corals in the new tank but today not only are all my frags alive but they are thriving, coloring and growing at rates I have never seen before in any of my tanks. I'm feeding more than ever, my fish are fat, the frag tank is covered in coralline as well and life on the reef is looking good!

It's been a battle but now reefing is so simple it's as if someone hit a switch and my tank started growing sps corals. I'm super excited during this season of reefing. I quit experimenting with this and that. Trying the latest and greatest things to achieve the success I longed for. It's still not where I want it to be but now I feel as if only time stands in the way of me and a full blown mature reef tank. And I also know that more time is needed to make a believer out of some of you but that's what I intend to do.

So to recap what did I do?

1. Stopped the algae from growing.
2. Started changing my water once a week.
3. Running Carbon and changing it every two weeks.
4. Clean my skimmer every week.
5. Kept it simple.

Honorable Mention: Added some bio-diversity via Reef Nutrition and Miracle Mud. I also added to my Cleanup crew.

Closing...

Have you ever seen the reef tank of @Brad Syphus? If you know anything about him and that reef is that he is religious when it comes to his weekly water changes and equipment cleaning. He has stated that he actually enjoys the maintenance. I always wondered how in the world that would be possible. Now I know! I love changing my water each week now when the reward is a clean tank and growing corals. I just love knowing I am refreshing them with new elements and clean water. So for now I'll keep on keeping on and leave you with photos of Brad's tank for inspiration. One day I'll post mine to inspire you just give me a bit more time!

Wow- That's a tank !

 

[Terence]

Blah blah blah.

People don’t want to just see you crossing the goal line - they want to see you marching down the field - even if you fumble once or twice or miss the uprights like a certain team. It’s about the journey.

Pics or it’s all just blah blah blah.