Question on life cycle of Things in the tank

[Ryan777]

So if you get cyano, Dinos, hair algae, etc will they eventually recede over a long period of time?

I just wonder if the spread happens because the tank has a lot of what those things need to eat and grow. Then after the explosive growth if they have eaten most of all nutrients, will they go away or at least reach a “normal” reduced level?

sorry if this requires a long winded explanation or if there is a book I can read, please let me know which one is good.

thanks!

 

[brandon429]

no they will not

you will see an intermix of testimony from a small % of people where those invasions went away with low work, and then the real pattern you can expect is found here:

Nuisance Algae (including bacteria)

Need help with nuisance algae, cyanobacteria, or dinoflagellates? Maybe you just need an ID of what you have in your tank? This is the section for you.

www.reef2reef.com

that's big $$ on the line, tanks are destroyed and taken down by unbeaten invasions.


You can specifically see that managing nitrate and phosphate has a low incidence of curing there, it only helps sometimes

don't consult any books or talks, simply look to see what is working here above.

that sample is the best up to date science of invasion control in reefing.

 

[brandon429]

additional helpful detail:

take time to study invasion help threads there and on any reef board

do you see a pattern of posters advising what worked for them> 99% of respondents in help threads state what worked for them

same for reef talks, formal talks on algae control from a podium/anywhere/or from books

those are author's perspectives about their own tanks.


your tank isn't their tank, their home variables aren't yours, so their advice isn't likely to help unless you get lucky. Try and find the rare posts where a respondent is giving you a link to *other people's* reef tanks they fixed. since your tank isn't in their home, you'll need to shop ideas that have been shown working in other people's reefs as stated by one of the myriad posters on that board.

for example, in that forum, you see up top a six hundred page thread on reef flux/fluconazole

you will also see in daily posts several people who say fluconazole worked for them, at home, and they give you no bad outcome reports.

but what's in the work thread? 600 pages of 5% cures and 95% tradeoff invasions between GHA, cyano, dinos over and over. work threads are what happens in other people's reefs. no book, or podium talk can ever approach the degree of cures and honing that work threads provide.

 

[bushdoc]

What you are describing is an ideal situation, but it’s not always happening, probably because our tanks are just an imperfect imitation of nature, so often you need to intervene one way or the other.

 

[Ryan777]

Thanks guys, you have the experience and I appreciate it.

 

[george9]

I think if the tank owner did nothing, various types of algae would grow forever and dominate a tank. But if you catch invasions before they get bad, are on top of manual removal as pests begin to pop up and continue good husbandry, you can nudge your microbiome in a direction you want. I've found in new tanks with 0 bacteria and new rock, it's a race for bacteria and algae to populate the rock (bad or good) and you have to do the work to keep the 'bad guys' from winning. In the absence of intervention and continuous husbandry (ESPECIALLY in a brand new system), I think tons of nuisance pests would take over our closed systems before they become established with the 'good guys' leading to an ugly tank that doesn't mature like one would hope.

The more I learn about this hobby, the more I realize it's about 'setting the sails' and letting nature take course. It's important to re-adjust the sails from time to time (manual algae removal, start increased water changes, add an algae scrubber etc.) to go in the direction you want. Ultimately you can't stop everything, but manual intervention when pests just begin to crop up in new tanks is key for a stable system with minimal algae issues down the line.

 

[brandon429]

Well said agreed

 

[Ryan777]

I think if the tank owner did nothing, various types of algae would grow forever and dominate a tank. But if you catch invasions before they get bad, are on top of manual removal as pests begin to pop up and continue good husbandry, you can nudge your microbiome in a direction you want. I've found in new tanks with 0 bacteria and new rock, it's a race for bacteria and algae to populate the rock (bad or good) and you have to do the work to keep the 'bad guys' from winning. In the absence of intervention and continuous husbandry (ESPECIALLY in a brand new system), I think tons of nuisance pests would take over our closed systems before they become established with the 'good guys' leading to an ugly tank that doesn't mature like one would hope.

The more I learn about this hobby, the more I realize it's about 'setting the sails' and letting nature take course. It's important to re-adjust the sails from time to time (manual algae removal, start increased water changes, add an algae scrubber etc.) to go in the direction you want. Ultimately you can't stop everything, but manual intervention when pests just begin to crop up in new tanks is key for a stable system with minimal algae issues down the line.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Thanks for the thoughts.