Before vs. After Ugly Stage! pretty proud of how it turned out.

[Andreas' Reef]

Hi, I just wanted to share my tank before and after the ugly stage. The algae dissolved after 6 months and I'm very proud of how it turned out. I'll be shopping for corals tomorrow.

Before:

After:

 

[P-Dub]

Nicely done!

 

[aurora.k]

Congrats!!

 

[BrotatoSalad]

Love seeing these kinds of posts! Gives folks starting out their first reef a light at the end of the tunnel. What's the shortlist on first corals going in?

 

[Karen00]

Nice! It always helps other newbies to see the progression and to get a sense of the timeline so they don't get discouraged which can easily happen when you keep seeing all the beautiful tanks. Healthy reef tanks don't happen overnight.

 

[MtnDewMan]

Looks great

 

[jrill]

It looks good now, but don't get too comfortable. Plenty of rocky road ahead.

 

[laezur]

Awesome work! There may be some ups and downs ahead, as you add corals and feed them etc but you’re on the right path now. Only just starting to get over my uglies too at 11 months

 

[Andreas' Reef]

Love seeing these kinds of posts! Gives folks starting out their first reef a light at the end of the tunnel. What's the shortlist on first corals going in?

Zoanthids
Kenya trees
Maybe some mushrooms
Duncan’s
Toadstools

 

[Lavey29]

Zoanthids
Kenya trees
Maybe some mushrooms
Duncan’s
Toadstools

Good starters although the kenjas can get out of hand. If you go with leather corals make sure you run carbon too.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Nice. I would suggest getting something to seed corraline algae. Either from a bottle or scrapings from another person's tank your trust to be pest free.

The look of your rock shows its definitely mature enough to grow it, so you must just not have any spores to start the process.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

Nice. I would suggest getting something to seed corraline algae. Either from a bottle or scrapings from another person's tank your trust to be pest free.

The look of your rock shows its definitely mature enough to grow it, so you must just not have any spores to start the process.

I'm starting to see some purple on the powerhead, it is kinda circular and tough. I think it;s corraline.

 

[Fishy888]

Awesome job so far! Hopefully that purple is coralline. I read on here recently that coralline likes to start on plastics such as powerheads, circulation pumps, overflows, etc first.

I can't wait to see the new corals. Keep us posted.

 

[Airwolf]

Looks like a biocube! My tank is about 3 months in, added a few corals. Looks a lot like your first picture, have a bit of hair algae in spots, diatoms and some cyano that doesn't seem to be increasing to much.

Care to share any of your routines and what you attribute the success to?

 

[flyingscampi]

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

My coralline (purple) started growing on the powerhead after six months.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

Looks like a biocube! My tank is about 3 months in, added a few corals. Looks a lot like your first picture, have a bit of hair algae in spots, diatoms and some cyano that doesn't seem to be increasing to much.

Care to share any of your routines and what you attribute the success to?

Weekly 20% water change. I had really really really bad cyano a few weeks after the GHA cleared up on mine.

 

[The_ReefB0y_FOX24]

Wow I am only 2weeks2days in and I have tons of algae plus cyano you can't see it on cam.

 

[Andreas' Reef]

Awesome job so far! Hopefully that purple is coralline. I read on here recently that coralline likes to start on plastics such as powerheads, circulation pumps, overflows, etc first.

I can't wait to see the new corals. Keep us posted.

This looks like corraline, wouldn’t you say?

 

[Fishy888]

Certainly looks it to me.

 

[Oldsman]

Nicely done ! We took down our biocube 32 after a nasty bat w velvet. Planning a 75 this fall.