albert_dao's 2012 Nano Contest Entry

[albert_dao]

Originally Posted by nanoreefnewbie

Yea hey I'm on day 13 cycling and almost done I'm taking the patient route lol...starting too get the ugly brown gunna add clean up crew here next day or two..

Oh, yah, lol. I hated that. I use to cycle tanks by letting them sit and was subject to "ugly algae tank" syndrome like everyone else. Now I just rely on turbocharged bacteria and ceramic medias to insta-cycle the tank and keep algae from ever gaining a foothold.

The trade off is that I can't used uncured liverock, which I am okay with. I have a pretty good selection of reef rock which I scrub and dry out in between tank switch-ups.

That said, I am really warming up to this "mud flats" look with the river-worn, volcanic substrate and rocks.



**** Livestock addition: I almost forgot to mention this! Last night, I seeded the tank with roughly 20 large bristleworms and 15ish micro brittlestars. I also threw in a cube of chopped mysis to keep everyone happy. I am constantly surprised at how much food a tank with good bacterial ecology can handle. My previous tanks each received a cube of mysis every night with zero climb in nutrients or algae issues. I'd be hard pressed to run a tank using any other method.