Tear down and start again..?

ReefdudeAdam

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Long story short…

tank is only 3 months wet now, dry rock & love sand. Dr tims to start etc.

tank cycled, great news. Couple fish. Levels stable, couple more fish, levels stable.. weekly testing weekly WC..

Had my UV go down for a week about 3 weeks ago, sourced new ballast and good to go… during the days it was down my tank turned to this…
Now that his tank is in a main walk through in our house.. she hates it as it is let alone it looking swampy..

Before I take the scale out and toothbrush it all, replace the sand and start again… could you recommend anything at all???

TDS is 0 always, silicate test unmeasurable RO and tank water.
Phos did creep to 0.11 due to me being a bit lazy with sock changed but only for a week now she’s back at 0.03. Nitrate did go pretty low for a couple weeks. Again, me trying to bring down phos.
I’ve never had this on any of my tanks.. am I lighting too long? Too much white? Wrong food choice?(mainly frozen)
 
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ReefdudeAdam

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AA170FA0-02FD-4092-912D-1CEA37168D46.jpeg
 
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Beau_B

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Looks to be GHA. I think most of us have been there to some degree. Pluck it and scrub the best you can. Up your snail game. Get your nutrients under control. Consider adding a refugium or reactor if possible. I think the timing of the UV was coincidental.

Lots of info on the forum already about tackling the problem. Rip clean might be an option, but don't tear it all down and dry it out as a full reset... You would end up here again!
 
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ReefdudeAdam

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Doesn't look that bad. Just ride it out.
Convinced she’ll leave me if it gets any worse! I am getting it in the neck! I’m not in a rush to go adding stuff to the tank to kill it, just wanted to hear if anything may aid the swamp situation.
Thanks
 
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ninjamyst

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actually, took a closer look at the photo and your corals dont look too happy. The frogspawn or hammer on the left is fully retracted.

you can try:
  • manually remove as much of the algae as possible
  • get more CUC to mow that down (turbo snails are great for GHA)
  • dose bacteria like Dr. Tim's waste-away
 
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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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see if this fix isn't exactly matched for your condition. its the best possible method you could choose:

key details

you already know how your reef will turn out before running it

everything else is just experimenting for days on end. We can tell you the exact date your tank looks like the ones above, its the day that you complete the job. not getting a close-job date from the other methods is so retail dependent. we know down to the minute when your tank will look like those above.
 
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Dkmoo

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Tear down and restart and you'll have the same problem in 3 months again. Its part of the ugly phase that all tanks go through. Manual removal and wait.

Don't turn on the UV, give your microfauna a chance to take hold and mature the tank.
 
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