The Dreaded Ugly Phase
You have hit the dreaded ugly phase of your first saltwater tank or your most recent setup, now what? You have heard it takes weeks to months to get through and to just let it run its course and do nothing. But why? Why not speed up the ugly phase and start building up your tanks microbiome from the beginning.
Three things to add to every new system:
1. Beneficial bacteria
2. Copepods
3. Live phytoplankton
Beneficial bacteria is the most important thing you can add to your tank. Not only do you need a lot of good bacteria, but you need diversity as well! The more families of bacteria you can add the better. Studies have shown that tanks with under 15 bacterial families tend to have more tank issues than those with more. The less beneficial bacteria you have the more room for bad bacteria to tip the scales and create an environment for cyano and or dinos!
Copepods should be added as soon as your ammonia reads 0. Adding copepods early on in your system can be a huge help at keeping the uglies away! Adding them early even before fish allows them to breed without predation as most fish love a copepod snack. Copepods love diatoms and great at helping keep them at bay in your tank. For the healthiest microbiome a mix of copepods is best, but for benthic diatoms a species that is also benthic is a good choice. Tisbe b. and Apocalypse p. are both great options.
Lastly, phytoplankton added daily. Phytoplankton will not only feed the pods but it compete with the benthic diatoms on your rocks, glass and sand for nutrients. Phytoplankton is just more effective at using the nutrients than the benthic diatoms are and they will eventually recede. Using pelagic diatom strains of phytoplankton is ideal. The benthic diatoms usually are around due to silicates in excess numbers. The pelagic diatoms use silicates to build their cell walls and can help reduce the amount of available silicates for the benthic diatoms. Your corals and filter feeders will also benefit as they will filter it out of the water. They will also benefit from the phytoplanktons photosynthesis process. The phytoplankton will create vitamins, fats, aminos, acids, lipids, etc. that will pass onto the consumer of the phytoplankton.
Your system will always have benthic diatoms present and that’s a good thing. They are an important part of our reef systems and as long as we keep their numbers at bay with a healthy microbiome they wont show in clumps everywhere on your systems surfaces. Doing the above three isn’t a sure fire guarantee to skip the ugly stage, but it should shorten your time there.
Three things to add to every new system:
1. Beneficial bacteria
2. Copepods
3. Live phytoplankton
Beneficial bacteria is the most important thing you can add to your tank. Not only do you need a lot of good bacteria, but you need diversity as well! The more families of bacteria you can add the better. Studies have shown that tanks with under 15 bacterial families tend to have more tank issues than those with more. The less beneficial bacteria you have the more room for bad bacteria to tip the scales and create an environment for cyano and or dinos!
Copepods should be added as soon as your ammonia reads 0. Adding copepods early on in your system can be a huge help at keeping the uglies away! Adding them early even before fish allows them to breed without predation as most fish love a copepod snack. Copepods love diatoms and great at helping keep them at bay in your tank. For the healthiest microbiome a mix of copepods is best, but for benthic diatoms a species that is also benthic is a good choice. Tisbe b. and Apocalypse p. are both great options.
Lastly, phytoplankton added daily. Phytoplankton will not only feed the pods but it compete with the benthic diatoms on your rocks, glass and sand for nutrients. Phytoplankton is just more effective at using the nutrients than the benthic diatoms are and they will eventually recede. Using pelagic diatom strains of phytoplankton is ideal. The benthic diatoms usually are around due to silicates in excess numbers. The pelagic diatoms use silicates to build their cell walls and can help reduce the amount of available silicates for the benthic diatoms. Your corals and filter feeders will also benefit as they will filter it out of the water. They will also benefit from the phytoplanktons photosynthesis process. The phytoplankton will create vitamins, fats, aminos, acids, lipids, etc. that will pass onto the consumer of the phytoplankton.
Your system will always have benthic diatoms present and that’s a good thing. They are an important part of our reef systems and as long as we keep their numbers at bay with a healthy microbiome they wont show in clumps everywhere on your systems surfaces. Doing the above three isn’t a sure fire guarantee to skip the ugly stage, but it should shorten your time there.
