Top 10 Fixes to Turn the Nasty, Brown Stage of Your Saltwater Tank Cycle Around!

Don't let the ugly, brown phase of your saltwater aquarium cycle get you down! Today on BRStv Problem Solvers, Ryan and Randy are in to share their TOP 10 tips for avoiding, or at least mitigating, what is widely considered to be an inevitable part of our reef tank's cycle: The ugly phase. Whether is nuisance algae, dinoflagellates, or even nasty cyanobacteria, we have you covered! Check it out here!
#BRStv

00:00 - Problem Solvers - Ugly Phase
00:07 - #1: Be Patient
00:50 - #2: Turn The Lights Off
01:51 - #3: Acclimation Mode on Lights
02:37 - #4: Tangs for Algae
03:23 - #5: Cleanup Crew for Sand
03:54 - #6: Wiping out Cyano
04:19 - #7: Dinos?
05:01 - #8: Consider Bacterial Solutions
05:48 - #9: At Least check Nutrients
06:28 - #10: Consider Copepods

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*Legal Stuff*
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[teresafincher]

This is my first saltwater tank and I have to say a huge thank you for your teaching. I was about ready to put my hand in and take it out. So thank you for telling me to be patient.

[AccuMation]

Having tubeworms and flaming scallops in the aquarium can help. Sea slugs and goby or tangs, are great at reducing growth overload. My remedy for both the 30 gallon Oscar tank and the 175 gallon reef tank, is a...Diatom filter. Use-it once a week for a couple hours in each tank. Use a filter-screen(not touching the coral!), and it will suck-out the unsightly growth. And I leave it alone on the crushed coral bottom. It acts as a natural filter, boosting the effectiveness of the undergravel filter. Been doing this for three decades. And a Diatom is an absolute aquarium necessity. I change twenty percent of the saltwater, once-per-month, and clean the gravel maybe once-a-year, to unclogged the undergravel filter. I've had the original coral, in the tank since the beginning...1991.

[ericserechen]

Noticed Vibrant wasn't included on the table hahaha

[Arizona]

Todays problem “impatience.” Nailed it.

[alaskacosplay]

I personally don't mind the ugly look. It makes me think of the local beach I go to when I go on a summer holiday and not to a white sand beach. There's brown algae everywhere there and I feel sorta homesick whenever I look at my tank. Homesick but happy. And besides, having algae to grow is basically an all you can eat buffet.

[tookmyhandle]

Came here for the vibrant jokes, stayed for the content!

[ileimho]

I have a newer (4 month) nano reef, and #1 was the fix :)

[saltwaterandlime]

Would really help of yall could do a guide specifically on pods. Everyone recommends them, but no one says exactly what to buy. I've tried several times and I'm pretty sure I'm just buying expensive bottles of water with nothing in it.

[dylanb]

Completely avoided the ugly phase using the Jake Adams method. Full LPS and softie reef day 1. Tank is 2 months old and had 1 water change.

[aftamatt]

No Vibrant on the table 🧐. Lol we know what’s up. Nice video guys! Exactly what I needed actually lol

[federicomanglavite]

Just wonder why they haven't addressed the vibrant in the room.

[Scott-cyzv]

I have been beat down by Diatoms over the past week and a half. My Nitrite is 0ppm, PH 8.0, Nitrate 5ppm, Ammonia 0ppm and I still got hammered!! So what I did was take out my Marco rock out and cleaned it with a tooth brush. Cleaned and replaced most media in my Fluval 207 Canister filter (Charcoal, and bristle pad. I rinsed out all the sponges and media balls all in the tank water that was in my canister filter so there was a good amount of beneficial bacteria still present in them. I’ve used the magnet and cleaned all glass. Pythoned my live sand. And put in 8 snails 3 days ago. And today I noticed more diatoms forming on the rock again. So I used a turkey baster and blew it off. I did a 25% water change 3 days ago and a 50% one today. And lastly I’ve ramped my white colour on lights down to 50% and just kept the blue at 90%. I used to have lights on 12.5 hours a day. But effective 2 days ago I have em on for 7. While this has been going on I had my newly purchased clown fish jump out of the tank and found it the next day. So I rushed to the fish store 2 days ago and got a smaller one to go with my other one. My tank is 6.5 weeks old. I have 2 clowns and a yellow watchman gobie presently in the tank. Now my questions here are as follows and any input is MUCH appreciated!!
1) Is there anything I’m doing wrong, or anything I can do better to fix the issue?
2) when I add another 2 fish, what would be best for my 38 gallon bowed front tank?

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ANY HELP

[Marinetuck]

What no more vibrant after that study was released? lol

[Maxher]

Its been like almost 3 months for me and i have cleaned it many times and it still coming back

[vascojardim]

On the subject of nutrients, we NEED a Neptune PO4 and NO3 automated tester!!!

[therevanchist]

Sea Hare has been keeping things in check so far for me

[tackleland]

Hi guys, thank you another informative session. I have an issue with the Brown Snot Weed, can you please share the link you were talking about so I can get it sorted. Cheers, keep up the great work!

[MrJarzy]

Watched this 3 times so far. Good stuff. Not a fan of chemicals thou.

[Damien-hsfn]

Thanks for the first advice, that’s very helpful to know! But can I scrape algae off my glass and clean the substrate or will that mess with the natural process?

[thilog]

Easiest fix is not to cycle your tank. Start quick with loads of corals. Their bacterias fill the biological niches. They use ammonium as food source. Then the fishs. Don‘t know why this myth of cycling a tank is still so popular in the US. In Germany nobody cycles tanks anymore. My tank started day three with corals. No ugly face, no algaes whatsoever.