Ryans Reef

[mng777777]

The deal with problematic algae is that over time, detritus and nutrients settle at the base of the plant or on the rocks and nothing removes it, so there is a food source irregardless of water quality and unless you can get rid of the settled detritus on the live rock and sand you will continue to have outbreaks and returning difficulties, Ive used cucumbers and conchs for the substrait, tuxedo and long spine urchins for the live rock and walls, ive lost two abalone and one tiger cowie to the long spine, the fish have been spiked several times but have survived. as the long spines are getting bigger, i will remove them soon, so you can get a long tool and start pulling out the longer algae, the urchins will cruse the area and clean up the detritus on the rock, next time it comes back pull out the long stuff and eventually it will start to dissipate. I have been able to clear my system up apprx. 70% and am working on the remaining. This is a point where a lot of hobbyist leave the salt side, but if you are aggressive in controlling the algae, it will eventually subside if you have animals in the system that will clean the areas once the long algae has been removed. pm me if you have any questions on what i posted here. hope something here helps. I do intend to leave some algae in the system, the chromis like to spawn in the turf algae and fight me when I try to remove it.

It sounds like even if he was dedicating the necessary time, without the right CUC he would still have been doomed. What do you guys think is the best for the detritus in my tank? I am leary of adding a cucumber but I would be up for an urchin and some conchs. What type and how many?

 

[cthegame]

Maybe your lifestyle just doesn't fit in with what's need to keep a SPS dominated tank. It takes dedication and the available time to do what needs to be done. The key to SPS is stability...which pretty much means doing something to your tank everyday, whether it just be adding top off water if you don't have an ATO or dosing ca/alk.
I've said it before, I've seen lots of nice softie/LPS tanks. In fact, I think my tank was pretty nice for the 15 yrs it was setup with only softies and LPS. ;)
I don't think getting a different tank will make your problems go away. The tank doesn't cause the algae...it's what's inside.

I agree completely

 

[yote]

Capts right about time being an issue with a tank full of SPS.I know I have to do something to mine EVERYDAY.If I'm off on a hunting trip or working a shutdown,I have to leave the wife extremely detailed instructions on what to do and what not to do.
I think that if your just going to cook half your rock,you might as well be farting in a windstorm.
I'd try taking a day and doing a large water change and scrubbing every rock in the tank untill there was not green on it anywhere.That way your getting ahead of the algae and getting rid of the nutrients its got trapped.Then up your CUC by at least double.I'd probably even triple it.
Then give the tank time to settle down.Go with softies and LPS like Capt suggested for a while,then slowly start adding SPS back in.

 

[BigH55]

I had this happen to me when i switched to my 110 from my 75. I figured hey i got the lights, filtration, and everything else everyone else had so I should be able to keep SPS. What I didnt know is that my tank was to young and even though I only transfered everything into my 110 with the water it still cycled a little and killed all the sps i had. The LPS and Softies made it, but all stonys are now just expensive deco in the tank.

 

[RyanG]

Maybe your lifestyle just doesn't fit in with what's need to keep a SPS dominated tank. It takes dedication and the available time to do what needs to be done. The key to SPS is stability...which pretty much means doing something to your tank everyday, whether it just be adding top off water if you don't have an ATO or dosing ca/alk.
I've said it before, I've seen lots of nice softie/LPS tanks. In fact, I think my tank was pretty nice for the 15 yrs it was setup with only softies and LPS. ;)
I don't think getting a different tank will make your problems go away. The tank doesn't cause the algae...it's what's inside.

Im am going to agree 100% with you on this Capt, I am pretty sure that my lifestyle really doesnt lend it self well to the daily dosing and upkeep that SPS require, also I dont think that I would solve any problems by getting a different tank. Basically at this point I have hit my reefing low, which might not be saying much for the short amount of time that I have been in the hobby.

Between the SPS crash that I have gone through lately, and still may be going through, and the unexplained loss of fish I am very disappointed with the direction that my system has gone. I have tried very hard from day one to research and learn as much as possible and it frustrates me to no end to seem to be failing at it. Im not going to lie to myself and you all and say that the money aspect of it doesnt bother me. It surely does, but and I mean a big BUT it bothers me a whole hell of a lot more that;

A-I have somehow contributed to the deaths of these creatures and
B-I cant explain the loss in the fish!

The loss of the corals is entirely my fault I got lazy and slacked off on my water change regimen for 5 weeks or so, and at the same time got lazy on my testing for three weeks. My fault entirely, and I am willing to accept that and also not attempt to hide it from you all, whom many of I consider friends. The algae played a part in this as it aggrevated the corals quite a bit and I noticed this before my lazy/frustrated period began.

Im trying to use my honesty and the constructive criticism that I have had and what Im sure will come after this post to reinvigorate my love for this hobby.

So there it is in all of its ugly truth. Hopefully this can be a rebirth of my system and the joy that it used to bring me.

 

[RyanG]

I think that your tank may just have been "too new" to handle SPS. I believe there are some things going on in new tanks that we can't measure, hence the differentiation between "mature" and "established" tanks that you hear about all the time. You got the SPS bug and started adding them soon after your tank cycled, if I'm not mistaken. So it may not be some sort of measurable water quality issue. Just that you didn't wait long enough.

Sarah you too are 100% correct also, even after all of my research when I was setting up my tank told me not to go SPS right off the bat, I did just that. I set this tank up solely with the purpose of keeping SPS which now I need to come to terms with the fact that my life just isnt going to allow it at this point in time. Its kind of a hard pill to swallow, and now I just need to accept it and find a new passion for my coral selections in the future.

 

[Bifferwine]

Hey, exactly the reasoning why my tank now is primarily mushrooms, zoas and softies. Zero maintenance required!!

 

[dustin_P74]

when are you starting your ricoridia forest

 

[RyanG]

Heres my problem with that, I really dont like soft corals, I like nephthia and it ends about there, my tank will end up being mostly LPS Im sure. Probably going to be adding some more Rics though Biff, just for you.

 

[BigH55]

Dont get down man. I've seen plenty of LPS and Softy tanks that would crush an SPS tank. We all get lazy from time to time, the only difference is that more mature tanks tend to handle laziness a little better. Ive never been good at acros so I decided to quit growing them. On the other hand, I can grow an LPS really well so i tend to like them quite a bit. Heck when I started, I killed mushrooms and coouldn't get xenia to live. I thought I was the worst reef keeper ever. Someones always worse, look at it that way.

 

[Alexander]

how long was the tank setup before you added sps? i thought your tank was setup for a while. guess i was a little wrong. I really hope you can find joy in your tank. I too unfortunately have hit that LOW you speak of in the hobby as you know. probably why I have not been on the forum a lot lately. I think life got too busy and I got off my usual maintainence on the tank. however I am trying as hard as I can to get back in shape here and the motivation to do so drove me to setup that ro/di unit now it will be much easier for me to do water changes.

As John mentioned about detritus on the rocks I have been noticing that there has been lots of settlement on the rocks and I have not done anything about it. would do manual algae removal and still as soon as it was taken out there was more back. now what I have started doing as of last week is blowing off the rocks with my turkey baster while doing a water change and syphoning out most that i can and the rest will hopefully get suspended back in the water column and filtered mechanically. My tank already looks better this week. not much but better. also using urchins definitely helps. even my longspine will take down hair algae that is over an inch long.

Best of luck to you friend!

 

[RyanG]

Well after reading through some of my previous posts I figure that I started adding SPS with the birdsnest on Nov 22, 2008, about six weeks into having the tank set up. For all of you newer people to the hobby that is WWAAAAAYYYYYYY to soon. Look at my death tole if you need reassurance.

 

[mng777777]

hey take a deep breathe, pick up and move on. You still have a killer setup that others only dream of having. yours has a little trouble now, it's just an opportunity to grow be that much better the next time around. Don't give up, after Doc, we can't lose another.

I am truly sorry about your losses!

 

[RyanG]

Im not going anywhere, I have set my mind on something and I never quit anything while Im losing. Its a challenge to me know to get this system looking prim and proper. Kind of my mindset on most things I guess.

 

[mng777777]

I'm glad to hear it! You are already sounding like your spirits are up.

 

[RyanG]

They actually are, my little rant helped get a lot of stress and hidden crap off of my chest. Its hard form me to tell you all of my failures and shortcomings but after I did I really started to feel better instantly. I even walked by my tank and enjoyed what I was seeing for the first time in a month or two. I also forced myself to clean the glass 100% the right way last night too. Just a series of little things that I am making myself do to help improve my impression of the system, so far so good.

 

[RyanG]

The real bitch of my dissatisfaction with my tank is that it has lead to an overall funk over many other parts of my life, so Im hoping things really are coming around.

 

[Alexander]

The real bitch of my dissatisfaction with my tank is that it has lead to an overall funk over many other parts of my life, so Im hoping things really are coming around.

as you know i can totally relate with that.

 

[daugherty]

all the crap with your tank sucks but we all have our problems and make mistakes but if we learn from them and from each other we will have a great setup but if we dont learn from them we are doomed. keep your chin up. i also am about to pull all my rock out and scrub the hell out of it. i still have the colionial hydroyds an can not get rid of them they will just not die but spread like flys on poop.

 

[dcantucson]

The real bitch of my dissatisfaction with my tank is that it has lead to an overall funk over many other parts of my life, so Im hoping things really are coming around.

I tuned in just in time for the funeral.:sad:

I've spent the last two hours reading the posts on your tank and I feel as if I have, if nothing else, learned (or come to the realization) that this hobby is so difficult! Even the best of experts have suggestions, but no sure answers. Its like we're all high wire walkers... a little to the left or the right and it's all over. One week your on top of the world and the next week.... It's very scary in the beginning for us newbies. I've had my tank for 1.5 years and during the first 10-12 months I killed so many living creatures it isn't possible to list. I spent thousands of dollars on livestock, meds & treatments, equipment, etc... After about a year everything turned around and now I am experiencing the happiness that so many on here talk about. With that said, because my success is at this point short, I constantly am fearful that something will go wrong and disaster will strike again. I guess this fear will go away with time and continued success (I hope - fingers crossed).

I'm sure almost everyone has wanted to abandon the hobby after getting into it at some point, but something keeps us going. Better days will come for you too! :sad:Sorry for all your losses and frustrations. Stay in the hobby, if you quit now you'll regret it later.