Cycles in Reefs

[Paul B]

I just baked a bunch of corn muffins and while they are cooling I thought of something.* (Yes I like to bake and do other things, But only Manly things, shoot me)
I was looking at some threads and I realize there is something that goes on in our tanks that is never discussed.
Cycles.
If you keep a tank long enough you will notice these cycles.* 5 years may not be long enough.* My tank has been getting cycles for it's entire life, some cycles last a few months and some last a few years.* There are times my tank was filled with leather corals and SPS, then it will all shrink with in a week or two and SPS corals will grow like crazy.* In a couple of years they may die back and hair algae will take over, then flatworms or Godzilla Larvae.
I believe these cycles are caused by three different things.* The first is coral wars.* Corals live in cycles that are controlled by the moon.* In most homes the corals can't "see" the moon, only the TV so I assume they get confused, especially if you watch a lot of Lady GaGa video's.* Corals exude chemicals to either attract other similar corals to settle near them and other chemicals to keep competing corals away.* Those chemicals stay in the water for varying amounts of time but occasionally it is too much for competing corals and they either shrink or die.* Then something else may take over that space and when it grows large enough it may exude it's own chemicals and kill the SPS.
This is the reason for many of the problems in tanks that have been running fine for many years.* (yes, skimmers probable remove some of these chemicals but work with me here)

The next cause of cycles are from bacteria.* Bacteria run our tanks, not us.* Bacteria are very good at what they do as long as we don't interfere with what they do by adding silly chemicals like antibiotics, copper, Prizapro, napalm etc.
But bacteria are living things with all of the problems we have.* OK, maybe not "all" the problems, I don't think they get acne,*but they*can be*infected by viruses as we are.
Depending on the Virus*some strains of bacteria may die while others may just lose their ability to dance.* But whatever happens, it effects the water and not always in a way we want.* *

The next thing is algae.* Many of us wrongly think of algae as a bad thing.* But if there was no algae your parents would never have been born and if they were not born, you may not have a job.* Algae is a good thing.* It makes oxygen, cleans pollutants from the water, and adds some chemicals.* Algae also grows inside corals and most corals can't live with out it.* If you succeed in eliminating all of your nutrients, you will also eliminate your corals.** Adding chemicals to eliminate algae, bacteria or viruses is almost never a good idea as those cycles have a way of working themselves out.
After many years of tweeking I learned that sea water is very stable as long as I don't mess with it, and I never do.
I find these cycles interesting.

I forgot when I took this picture but it must have been in the late 80s or 90s.* That giant leather grew in a few months from an inch to a foot high.* Then after a few years shrunk down until is shriveled away.



SPS will grow for a few years, then die and allow something else to grow in it's place.



This giant mushroom grew from fingernail size to 10" across in weeks.* After a few years it disappeared.



No one wants this.* I also don't remember when this was and it was probably caused by something in the NSW I changed the water with.* But whatever caused it, I did nothing to eliminate all this algae.* I didn't do anything because that was the healthiest the tank ever was with everything spawning and the corals looking great.* When that cycle ended in a few weeks and the algae left on it's own, the water was perfect.* Algae knows how to purify water and if I would have added some sort of chemical to eliminate it I am certain the tank would have had all sorts of problems.
I probably just pulled it out and ran my diatom filter a few times.



One day I had this.



And before I knew it, I had this.



So I am trying to say, don't get crazy when these things happen.* Cycles happen much quicker in new tanks and as a tank ages get much farther apart.*

 

[MIKE NY]

Great write up Paul and couldn't agree more. My tank has been cycling for years and don't know no why. It will go a few months with a growth spurt good coloration and a few months just looking OK sometimes losing a piece or two even some fish too. Everything tests within acceptable ranges, lights, temp etc.... I'm thinking possibly some trace elements.

 

[Paul B]

I was out in my boat this week and as I was eating a raw oyster and drinking a "Land Shark" beer something hit me. I mean after the seagull pooped on my head. The bay where I do most of my boating in the Long Island Sound also goes through cycles that last a few years.
Many years ago when I was a teenager, me and Lincoln would go fishing for flounders and for every flounder we caught we caught 2 or 3 sand sharks. Then eventually the sand sharks were replaced with bergalls, nasty little cunners that steal your bait and they are too small and bony to eat. Then the bergalls were replaced by porgies, which were a good thing as I kind of like eating them, not as much as I like flounders. But the flounders disappeared to be replaced by sea robins. I know some people eat those, but I would rather eat the seagull.


On the mud flats I used to collect steamer clams which aren't to bad to eat and they were extremely common. I haven't seen one of them in years except on my plate at a restaurant a few weeks ago.
The tide pool I go to to collect amphipods was always filled with hermit crabs. When my Daughter was young, I used to tell her we were going to Hermit Crab City. I have not seen a hermit crab there in a few years.
The only thing that never changes is horseshoe crabs. They are always there and everywhere although you can't eat them. If you could eat them, there would be none to be found.


The last time I went fluke fishing I got 18 of them. That was about 7 years ago, now the only fluke I see is in the Coney Island Aquarium.


For about 15 years I dove for lobsters and every dive I would get my limit of 6 of them. The lobsters all disappeared in one season and no one knows why.
Some years like two years ago I caught 80 blue claw crabs on one day. Last year I saw one, this year I see some young ones so maybe they are coming back.


I used to see Supermodels on the boats al the time, but in the last 3 or 4 years all I see is Rosanne Barr clones.
Of course I ain't getting any better looking either which is probably why the Supermodels are staying away.

But cycles are normal in our tanks and in the sea.