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Originally Posted by AJ_77
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Mitch: what do you mean?
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I guess what I'm trying to say, and I don't mean to offend anybody, is that we pay so much attention to the "higher order" creatures - fish, corals, anemones... that we tend to forget about all the bacteria, algae, pods, various worms that are just as much part of the reef setting as anything else.
The very things that give us all so much trouble.
Except that the ratio of complex organisms to the simpler variety is so out of whack in our small systems that the balance swings so dramatically it winds up overwhelming one area/lifeform or another.
We really need to reduce the amount of "higher life" in our tanks, IMO.
In my case, in my main tank, I've got a nice carpet of cyano going on right now, even though I've changed my flow patterns to blow right over the affected sand. I know that hair algae isn't far behind, even with my big skimmer. Flatworms are there, too.
In my sump, however, nothing. Clean as a whistle. 6 or 7" sand bed in my sump, 2 or 3 inches now in my main tank. Why cyano in one and not the other? I'm not exactly sure, but I think I can say with certainty that I just plain have too many animals/corals in my set-up. I'm not upset about it. It is what it is. The ecosystem (if I can call it that) is doing exactly what it is supposed to do.
We wind up overloading the necessary support system for our fish, corals and anemones.
No amount of equipment can make up for that.
These aren't hydroponic vegetables.
Mitch