7 months in. Need Help.

[Re42674]

I have a 75 gallon IM Nuvo EXT with a Synergy TS26 sump (23 gallon total volume). I am running a bubble magus curve 5 skimmer. I also am running gfo and carbon through a media reactor. I have 2 radion XR 30 set at 20% at the highest point in the day (I am worried that even the 20% is too much).

My parameters are:
Phosphates: 4 ppb (per Hanna ULR) 0 PPM (per Hanna regular checker)
PH: Red Sea Marine Care Test kit: somewhere between 8.0 and 8.2
Apex System: 8.08
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: Close to zero...Slightly pink, but definitely not a 2 on the Marine Care kit

Akalinity: 8.1 dkh
Calcium: 425 ppm
Magnesium 1380 ppm

Salinity: 1.025

Water Temp: 79

Fish: 2 clowns and a flame angel

Corals: mostly lps and soft with a couple montis

I do 15 gallon water changes weekly with Coral Pro Salt Mix. I am using rodi water.

Questions:

How high should I have the radions set?

Based on my parameters, what should I be doing different and what, if anything, should I be dosing at this point. My coral load isn't too big. (I may mess up the names, I seem to never be able to remember what the names are correctly). I have a montipora cap, a montipora digitata, 5 zoa colonies about the size of a frag plug each, 4 mushrooms, a zenia, a hammer coral, two gsp type corals and two acan type corals.

I am having issues with algae. Brown and some new red looking algae. Is this normal still at this stage or do I have something wrong? Should I be doing something different. How can I get rid of this stuff?

Also, I cannot get chaeto to grow. I have a e200 macroalgae light but it doesn't seem to be doing the trick. I just bought a Kessil h160 to see if that will help, but I haven't installed it yet. Maybe the skimmer is doing a good enough job on its own and not leaving enough nutrients for the chaeto?

I've attached pics to hopefully give you guys an idea of what it looks like. Any advice or guidance would be really appreciated. Sometimes this tank just feels overwhelming in trying to figure out what is the right thing to do.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[cracker]

Hey Re4 , I think they will tell you your new tank is going thru "the ugly " phase. Your number sound good . I can't advise you on lighting. Don't know enough about it. here's a bump for more eyes .

 

[Re42674]

Hey Re4 , I think they will tell you your new tank is going thru "the ugly " phase. Your number sound good . I can't advise you on lighting. Don't know enough about it. here's a bump for more eyes .

Thanks. As long as it’s normal growing pains I’m good with that. I just get worried I’m doing something wrong.

 

[cracker]

Me too !

 

[Billldg]

I agree with @cracker , that looks like the ugly phase and if in fact it is it will go away. I would recommend slowing down on the water changes though. 15 gals a week is probably around a 70 to 80 percent change monthly. I would recommend a 25 percent water change monthly. Parameters look good to me except for nitrates and phosphates, they seem a little low and could set u up for a Dino outbreak.

 

[Mal11224]

Definitely looks like some algae issues. You may need a par meter to determine how much intensity is needed. You don’t really have corals that demand a lot of light yet. Your tank is out competing your macro algae, which is likely why it is not growing.
How often are you feeding?
How is your flow? May need to adjust that.
Your numbers look good for the most part. This will be a tough fight but you can get through it. May take a toothbrush and some manual labor.
Welcome to R2R!

 

[MnFish1]

I agree with @cracker , that looks like the ugly phase and if in fact it is it will go away. I would recommend slowing down on the water changes though. 15 gals a week is probably around a 70 to 80 percent change monthly. I would recommend a 25 percent water change monthly. Parameters look good to me except for nitrates and phosphates, they seem a little low and could set u up for a Dino outbreak.

I don't think he is changing that much - if his total water volume is 95 gallons or so.

 

[Billldg]

Also, if you nitrates and phosphates r at or near 0 then chaeto will not grow. The purpose of having chaeto is to remove nitrates and phosphates from the water. I would pull the gfo and stop skimming for a little while and let your nitrates and phosphates rise to 10 nitrates and at least .08 phosphates. Then let the chaeto do its thing and remove it for you.

 

[MnFish1]

This is must my opinion - lets pretend you put rock with nothing else - ok maybe a couple fish - into a tank - what would happen? It would be covered by algae. or something else that grows on rock. If you cover that rock with coral or something else - the coral will grow - IMHO - its all about the ratio of surface area - to nutrients. Since there is nothing else to 'grow'. Algae will grow. If you left yoru tank this way - in 10 years - you would still have nuisance algae (if you didnt add anything else) - and your coral didnt grow. I think the 'uglies' are merely because there is nothing else growing on a lot of 'fertile ground'

 

[Billldg]

LOL, and Welcome to R2R!!!

 

[Fiesty]

I would say on your radions to run at probably around 60% for starters. (*just reread your first post that u running at 20%? Seems low to me but cant know without a reading.) This is just a wild guess but what i would try as a starting point if i were u (i jave radions myself). Par meter would help and be proper but i realize not everyone has access to one. Also, might have missed it but didnt see a mention of a clean up crew / etc. to feed on the algea? If u dont already have it, I'd add a reasonable but large volume of various varieties of snails and possibly a sea hare (especially if u end up with green hair algea.) Also, at some point maybe think about stocking fish that eat algea for future ease of problems. A two barred rabitfish is a great algea fighter and good reef fish if your tank is large enough. Adding livestock only recommended to point of keeping your water quality in order. Right now all the algea growing is going to eat up a good chunk of your nutrients so that something to keep in mind as u make changes.

And im not as expert as many others here so consider that with my my suggestions before following my advice Just my thoughts as to what id try.

 

[Re42674]

Definitely looks like some algae issues. You may need a par meter to determine how much intensity is needed. You don’t really have corals that demand a lot of light yet. Your tank is out competing your macro algae, which is likely why it is not growing.
How often are you feeding? I am feeding two small feedings a day with hikari marine s pellets. Should I do less?
How is your flow? May need to adjust that. I have two of the apex wavs. I’ll upload a pic of their settings. I’m glad you brought it up because I’m always concerned that I have too little or too much flow. Any more than where I have seems to blow everything around, but then again I’m unsure of what proper flow should look like.
Your numbers look good for the most part. This will be a tough fight but you can get through it. May take a toothbrush and some manual labor.
Welcome to R2R!

 

[ScottR]

I’ll just share my “opposite” experience. My tank is almost 7 months old and I have almost no algae. I don’t run GFO. No chaeto. I however have a very diverse biome in my tank. Tons of filter feeders, corals, inverts. Live rock. I think they all work together to keep the tank in check. Someone mentioned that adding corals to cover surface area will help and I agree. If you have nothing else in there, algae has the green light to take off.

 

[Mal11224]

I would make sure not to overfeed and perhaps feed a little less to reduce your nutrient level. Looks like cyano to me and you may want to increase your flow some to help combat it. Cyano will grow in low flow environments. I would definitely, at the very least, remove the gfo from your system, as mentioned, and let the chaeto help you control your nutrients. Hopefully you have a good light for your fuge. It helps. Get a nice cheap toothbrush and try to get as much of it out as you can. Filter socks will catch a lot of the algae that floats away. Eventually, you will be able get control of it. There is plenty of information in this forum that explains how to deal with algae issues.

 

[Mal11224]

One more thing. Get a clean up crew in your tank if you do not have one yet.