The Garden -- Rakies shallow SPS cube

[Rakie]

Yeah nutrients slowed my dino sp. down but didn't end them. It took a few different approaches combined to get it go bug off. It is and has been gone for awhile.

I suppose a small update is in store --

1) Sand Cleanse: Due to the encouragement of several people I've decided to become a sand stirrer. This was not something I had done before, but my sand came with a large amount of organics in it originally... And it desperately needed a real cleaning. Thanks to @saltyfilmfolks for linking a good video from a member here on blowing out the sand, and thanks to @CoralNerd for continually encouraging me to do the same.

Seems like my sand really needed it... This is the back quarter of the tank being blasted with a turkey baster

Lots of socks, lots of filter floss, lots of dark skim.

2) Removed Chaeto: This is simple. When my tank was at it's absolute best chaeto wasn't part of the equation. I enjoy running around 20+ no3 / .05+ po4. It sounds like an oxymoron with conventional thinking -- but my corals never looked better than when I had these numbers.

3) Removed siporax: Same as above, additionally this is exactly when my Dinos were introduced. I foolishly forgot to wash and soak them -_- at least 5-6 months progress, countless frags, and way too many mini colonies dead -- MOST LIKELY because I forgot to wash some dang (@mdbannister) media properly. Oops.

4) Hair Algae: Sprung up after the death of my dinos. Now before you start telling me to go ULNS, I'll say I've run nutrients at this level with zero algae problems. This is just the cycle of repair in my tank. It's going through a stage of 'the uglies' is all.

5) I'm about to dose my next shot of Flucon to take out the tiny smidge of bryopsis I've got hanging around (on my snails only, it seems) and my GHA.

 

[GoVols]

Rakie,
Are your algae issues resolved. I feel your pain and have been there too.

Freddie

 

[Rakie]

Rakie,
Are your algae issues resolved. I feel your pain and have been there too.

Freddie

Funny, I just posted a second before you. I'm done with the nasty stuff -- No more dinos, extremely limited bryopsis. Now all I've got is GHA and I can deal with that. GHA is not the nightmares dinos are!

I'm about to dose Fluconazole and give it however long it needs to kill off the GHA. I've been Tempted by Vibrant... But I'm considering it for a moment before dumping in the Flucon

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

A constant chess game.
Glad it's progressing. And thanks for the tag.

 

[GoVols]

This is just the cycle of repair in my tank. It's going through a stage of 'the uglies' is all.

Rakie,
You've nailed it.

 

[GoVols]

Funny, I just posted a second before you. I'm done with the nasty stuff -- No more dinos, extremely limited bryopsis. Now all I've got is GHA and I can deal with that. GHA is not the nightmares dinos are!

I'm about to dose Fluconazole and give it however long it needs to kill off the GHA. I've been Tempted by Vibrant... But I'm considering it for a moment before dumping in the Flucon

LOL,
We posted the same time.
Your on it and the Dino's are behind.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Funny, I just posted a second before you. I'm done with the nasty stuff -- No more dinos, extremely limited bryopsis. Now all I've got is GHA and I can deal with that. GHA is not the nightmares dinos are!

I'm about to dose Fluconazole and give it however long it needs to kill off the GHA. I've been Tempted by Vibrant... But I'm considering it for a moment before dumping in the Flucon

I'm dealing with some yuky red fluff in my 55 right now. I gotta say, I am now so impressed with the turban and astria snails. I have bare spots on my rocks. It's funny though how they get lost and water the glass pretty much uselessly.

 

[Rakie]

LOL,
We posted the same time.
Your on it and the Dino's are behind.

Yep, and compared to dinos GHA is a walk in the park. (knocking on wood anyways)

I'm dealing with some yuky red fluff in my 55 right now. I gotta say, I am now so impressed with the turban and astria snails. I have bare spots on my rocks. It's funny though how they get lost and water the glass pretty much uselessly.

Astria snails are great, and if you can get banded trochus they are also pretty amazing. Trochus are workhorses, and they seem to munch on a fairly wide range of algaes.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Astria snails are great, and if you can get banded trochus they are also pretty amazing. Trochus are workhorses, and they seem to munch on a fairly wide range of algaes.

Agreed. I have some too. I keep having to take them off the glass and putting them back to work in the algae mines.

 

[Rakie]

Agreed. I have some too. I keep having to take them off the glass and putting them back to work in the algae mines.

Yeah they seem to get full and lounge around if there's plenty for them to eat LOL

 

[Daniel@R2R]

After my dinos finally went away, I was left with gha too. Turbo and trochus snails are your friend.

 

[Rakie]

My trochus love the glass -- Unless you mean Astrea snails. I was actually thinking of getting some hermits too... but they kinda suck.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yea, I don't have a lot of hermits. They eat my stomas.

 

[Rakie]

Here's a couple shots I took the other day. The ones that are obnoxiously colorful had the RB XHO on. I don't prefer actinic shots but once in awhile they're okay.

I uploaded on Tapatalk, so I can't write between the pix to label. So in who knows what order ---

- Red Aussie Table w/red polyps
- Red planet
- Aussie Pink Floydish with and without XHO (Pink Floyd w/ light blue body)
- Strawberry lemonade
- Little purple tenuis
- Rainbow table
- Random Zoa (unknown)

 

[GoVols]

Rakie,
Your corals are looking great!!!

Freddie

 

[Rakie]

Rakie,
Your corals are looking great!!!

Freddie

Thanks freddie! All the mini colonies were lost, but the frags held on. They're finally getting a chance to come out and color up a bit. I really need to get an Avast porthole or something to get good shots of these suckers. They're starting to really color back up finally..

Nothing more exciting then watching 6 months of brown corals get all colory.

 

[Rakie]

Well, my tank is going through it's final stages of the uglies.. Cyano. It's not terrible, but now that all the other algae are dead this guy things he can weasel his way in there.

For those not counting, here is the chain of events, in order of appearance. Current stage is Red.

Bryopsis --> Dinos --> Bryopsis again --> Dinos --> Dinos --> Bryopsis --> GHA --> Cyano --> ???

Sucks huh?! Each algae started a chain reaction. Killing bryopsis lead to dinos, killing dinos let bryopsis take over, killing dinos over a LONG period of time was necessary to rid bryopsis and not spark dinos again, which lead to GHA. All that's left is this new red jerk.

 

[GoVols]

Bryopsis --> Dinos --> Bryopsis again --> Dinos --> Dinos --> Bryopsis --> GHA --> Cyano --> ???

Rakie,

Thanks for posting the above events and we're all pulling for your reef.

Freddie

 

[Rakie]

Rakie,

Thanks for posting the above events and we're all pulling for your reef.

Freddie

LOL, thanks. It's not too bad, a little tuft of cyano isn't a bad issue really. Just the last gasps of a dying algae issue.

 

[Even Further]

I have the same skimmer model. Curious, what is the water height on your skimmer?