The "Uglies"...how long did you have them?

[hotashes]

I think it's paramount that we get the uglies rid of early, as the longer it's left in hope then the more work we create. I'm glad I can look at my nano tank which is only 3-4 months old and enjoy algae free, extended coral, various fauna and inverts full of life. Yes I have a 1" maxima clam ;)

This way by learning how to hand guide a tank will help beat invasion, help to gauge when something needs attention by vision and not rely on test kits.

Test kits are just for setting up dosing equipment heh,

A.

 

[brandon429]

10-15 hours is imminent burnout CP, but my entire respects along the way for willing it. ok possibly we could hesitantly look into more export, the dreaded GFO heh, anything to reduce that export work what do you think

PS, I think that clarification made me like that tank even more, its not lucked. its 2018'd

Hotashes/CP opt outers

 

[hotashes]

10-15 hours is imminent burnout CP, but my entire respects along the way for willing it. ok possibly we could hesitantly look into more export, the dreaded GFO heh, anything to reduce that export work what do you think

PS, I think that clarification made me like that tank even more, its not lucked. its 2018'd

Hotashes/CP opt outers

Nope, opt out is not an option. I'm hands on

A.

 

[Coral Passion]

I only spend that much time on it as I enjoy doing it. I could spend less time as most things are automated but generally im fragging my coral and making sure its looking good.

 

[Coral Passion]

Infact the coral growth was going so well I decided to build a frag tank.

 

[brandon429]

Ok lemme find the thread where it was claimed not possible to have frags without live rock

not that I agree but I got called pretty good on it heh

If you got a water holder, a qual light, some feed and clean water u got a frag tank. That above is the turbo version nice

 

[Coral Passion]

Ok lemme find the thread where it was claimed not possible to have frags without live rock

not that I agree but I got called pretty good on it heh

If you got a water holder, a qual light, some feed and clean water u got a frag tank. That above is the turbo version nice

There is a sump with live rock in it. lol. You could definitely have it with no live rock as long as you dont have live stock in the tank. Live rock just adds that extra bit of margin of error

 

[brandon429]

Ha they win then heh

 

[NWatt]

More photographic detail...

Have you tried a blackout period? I had dinos bad and did a blackout for 7 days. Both tank and refugium. I added an air pump to my sump to add extra aeration and keep the pH from crashing. After 2 full days I dosed Brightwell Microbacter to help deal with the die off. I dosed quarter doses on day 4 and 6. After 7 full days I unwrapped my tank and did a full water test Nitrates and phospates were up there but honestly not terrible. Ramp up the lights slowly over a week. Day 8 I did a 20% water change making sure to vaccuum the rocks and sand really well. Added copepods and cheato to the fuge and dosing phyto to keep up the population. Started running Nopox to help get the nitrates and phosphates under control. I've kept up a 15% water change weekly and my tank turned around after about a month. LPS bounced back. I always have about 5 -8 ppm nitrates and .2 -.3 phosphates no matter what but everything is doing well so far.

 

[Curious reefer]

I just brush rock off with toothbrush but recently started using algaefix love it no algae plus I have a refuge in my sump with clean chaeto.

 

[BradB]

I was married 4 years before asking for a divorce.

 

[BluewaterLa]

I am in month 8 of the uglies and I'm getting worried/frustrated/pi$$ed off. Most of all, I'm wondering if my situation is normal. I've seen posts that say it's common to have the Uglies in the first year. So, how long did you have them?

This question will be answered differently by many folks off of their experience with their tank.
Having had too many systems to remember all of them in one sitting I can sure tell you its been different with many of them.
Generally you can expect the first year of your tank to be an up and down ride with uglies dominating the tank until your tank starts to mature and stabilize Though most importantly You get experienced enough to understand the hobby well.
Each tank's time with uglies will depend on several things not limited to but including...
Tank equipment, appropriately sized and how well it works.
Amount of live rock used or started with all dead rock.
Sand or no sand
Type of fish in system, how many , how fast you stocked them or how often you keep replacing or adding fish
Type of corals added, how many at a time, how may in total and what was added to the tank you did not see along with the coral.
Do you constantly add fish or corals either from loosing them or just adding more and not letting the tank settle with what you have initially or eventually.
What type of food you feed, how much, how often
Water changes, amount, how often or not at all thinking you have an established mature tank that is self sustaining to a point ?
Product dosed to tank, is chemistry and nutrient load balanced and stable ?
Husbandry over all and willingness to keep manually cleaning the tank of affected uglies along with natural critters to help.

Some personal tanks I have had held uglies or just hair algae for up to 2 years and had me pulling my hair out my head while others I've had lasted just a few short months.
Most often times we as humans will not admit to or even consider the possibility of ourselves as being a cause weather its due to being Lax on care of the tank, understanding of the ecosystem we are creating and including having undersized or ineffective equipment.
building a system for your ecosystem will determine a lot for sure as your tank can work with you Or Against you causing you to fight it and be frustrated all the time.
Evaluating these aspects can sometimes be the most difficult thing to do as we do not want to keep spending hard earned money on equipment ''upgrades'', being Brand , model or size and this is understandable to a point.

It takes time and lots of dedication on our part to learn what we need to know, get in tune with our tanks and develop that mysterious Eye for reefing that sometimes gets referred to.
My advise would be to first do not add any more living critters to the tank allowing the system to balance what it has now.
Evaluate your equipment on the system and how well it is or may not be working for you / tank.
Testing your parameters, evaluating / exploring possible root causes of your Uglies lingering and trying to eliminate or correct one at a time.
Keeping a log / journal of your daily testing, tank what evers will help you evaluate a good amount of information and notes in this process along with past . present and future issue or successes.

 

[jgvergo]

Have you tried a blackout period? I had dinos bad and did a blackout for 7 days. Both tank and refugium. I added an air pump to my sump to add extra aeration and keep the pH from crashing. After 2 full days I dosed Brightwell Microbacter to help deal with the die off. I dosed quarter doses on day 4 and 6. After 7 full days I unwrapped my tank and did a full water test Nitrates and phospates were up there but honestly not terrible. Ramp up the lights slowly over a week. Day 8 I did a 20% water change making sure to vaccuum the rocks and sand really well. Added copepods and cheato to the fuge and dosing phyto to keep up the population. Started running Nopox to help get the nitrates and phosphates under control. I've kept up a 15% water change weekly and my tank turned around after about a month. LPS bounced back. I always have about 5 -8 ppm nitrates and .2 -.3 phosphates no matter what but everything is doing well so far.

I did a three day blackout and......(drumroll please)......it WORKED!!! As you predicted, my Nitrates and Phosphates were up after the blackout, but I'd say they are at a healthy level (Nitrates 10, Phosphorous .015). The best part is that my tank is really looking much healthier and more colorful. It's brought back the joy of reefing again:D

 

[User1]

I would expect at least a year minimum unless you are using something like TBS live rock that is shipped under water. I'm currently about 5 months into a tank upgrade and don't expect to it being mature to my liking for at least another 7 months. Nitrates are 50 with phosphates .33. Rest of parameters are fine so just taking one thing at at time while it does its thing. More than likely I'll be addressing the nitrate problem first since it is the most consistent at trending high. Vinegar or Redsea nopox are on the table.

But anyway I voted a year. That is what I've more or less experienced with a few other tanks. This upgrade is a mixed bag due to cycle then moving a smaller tank into a much larger one.

 

[Punchanello]

I have the uglies too. A 5 month old tank. Battled green water for 2 months. Now that's clear and the light is hitting the rock again I have thick, luscious, green turf like algae on my rocks which the snails love but can't out compete. I assume this is normal.

I don't always quote myself but when I do it's for an update.

I'm beating the hair algae (slowly) but now I have cyano on the sand bed.

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Most of the diatoms on my sand disappeared after 3 months or so. However I had algae issues recently due to detritus buildup from the old sand in my tank. I am about to remove the last of it.

 

[KrisReef]

Tank was growing and coloring up when I got a new fish that liked to eat. More algae appeared and the tank looked ugly. Then introduced AEfw for a clean-up crew and they have chewed through about half of the colonies, and 85% Of the frag stock is dead, Then the regulator for my Calcium reactor failed, I purchased a second hand 2 stage one that had to be rebuilt but is now working great and the tank looks rough. large colonies were eaten to nubs, the nutrients they released to the AEFWd spiked Po4 and No3, so the algae began to cover the surfaces in the tang. I have focused on getting my nutrient values in order and for 8 months of more my tank has looked like the sale section in a dirty LFS frag blow out.

 

[ChaseBurke]

Vibrant. Stuff works. Better living thru chemistry.

Queens of the stone age quote?

 

[Hexabonal]

My tank was beautiful from 1 month, I think the biggest thing I did was putting a load of macroalgae in the tank and sump - it eats up excess nutrients and just general nasty stuff like crazy. I come from doing planted freshwater tanks and I know what a miracle plants are there - I find it insane that macroalgae as the equivalent is so underutilised in marine tanks

 

[Hexabonal]

(stupid repost)