Newbie

[AlyciaMarie]

Hi everyone,My name is Long and I m new here.
Just started a 225 g mixed,cycled with rapid Algae barn about 3 weeks ago with dry rocks bare bottom.Been dosing Micro 7,Micro clean,Pods and phyto daily,CUC (Tuxido urchin, 60 variety snails,50 hermit crabs),40W Aqua UV .I m trying to reduce the Ugly Phase to a minimum.so far so good with only 50% intensity 5 hrs daily(ATI T5 Hybrid).

Current live stock
5 Green Chromis
1 Small Blue Tang
3 Orange Anthias
1 Lawnmower Blenny
Candy coral
A few chalices
Leather coral
Mushroom

Water parameters all basic
Nitrate 12
Phosphate .3(slowly bringing it down with GFO)

Any suggestions are welcome please.

Thanks and I m glad to be here.

Welcome to Reef2Reef, friend!

 

[phillyb614]

 

[Buckster]

Hello Long and Welcome to R2R!

 

[PharmrJohn]

Hi everyone,My name is Long and I m new here.
Just started a 225 g mixed,cycled with rapid Algae barn about 3 weeks ago with dry rocks bare bottom.Been dosing Micro 7,Micro clean,Pods and phyto daily,CUC (Tuxido urchin, 60 variety snails,50 hermit crabs),40W Aqua UV .I m trying to reduce the Ugly Phase to a minimum.so far so good with only 50% intensity 5 hrs daily(ATI T5 Hybrid).

Current live stock
5 Green Chromis
1 Small Blue Tang
3 Orange Anthias
1 Lawnmower Blenny
Candy coral
A few chalices
Leather coral
Mushroom

Water parameters all basic
Nitrate 12
Phosphate .3(slowly bringing it down with GFO)

Any suggestions are welcome please.

Thanks and I m glad to be here.

Greetings and Welcome to the Boards. Well, you started incredibly fast. In order to minimize the ugly phase you'd have needed Live Rock rather than Dry and no lights for the first couple of months. You've got livestock in there I wouldn't have expected to see until at least three plus months in (that being said, I'm incredibly conservative). The key to limiting an ugly phase is to make sure you've got a system that is proliferating Bacterial Colonization on all surfaces without a light source to allow for photosynthesis. But now that you have coral in there, the lights are necessary. At this point, I'd slow your roll. Bigtime. Let the ecosystem catch up and move forward in a slow, methodical manner. And expect an ugly phase.

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R Long.