Algae bloom problem

[Aquanic]

I would adjust your feeding to less food more often and also keep the UV going. Consider running more filtration including carbon

I only have one reactor, so I'll just try to keep up more with changing the media. I am pretty good about changing my filter fleece every 3-5 days.

 

[Aquanic]

Interesting that this is occuring with the UV. How new is the bulb in the UV? This is the second tank in recent memory where UV sterilizers appeared to not work for blooms, which is argued to be their greatest strength.

That's my thought, and why I'm so perplexed. I got the UV cause i've been having this issue and i was tired of dealing with it. so i shelled out the $250(which is cheap for a UV, ik) to solve the problem, and it did until now. The bulb is only about a month old. no more than a month and a half.

 

[Reefahholic]

lol it's just hitting the 4 month mark. plus it's a bare bottom. i have some sand in a container and a bunch of biomedia in the sump to try and get decent surface area.

What kind of rock do you have in the system?

 

[Aquanic]

What kind of rock do you have in the system?

Just regular porous reef rock from an LFS. I got most of the rock as live rock. I got half-ish from an LFS and the other half from my old 55gal system that I transitioned everything from.

 

[Aquanic]

Here’s an updated pic. Since the last pic i have: turned out half the lights and turned off refuge light, almost stopped feeding, clenaed the UV bulb and ensured functionality, cleaned the sump of detritus and replaced the filter floss twice, cleaned the skimmer and made it skim more wet, changed carbon reactor that had GFO to just carbon, blew out detritus from the display, did a 30 gallon water change and a few days later did a 15 gallon water change. Not all were done in the same day but just letting y’all know what I’ve done cause it ain’t workin

 

[Aquanic]

My nitrates are now 1ppm and phosphates are still undetectable. I just tested everything else and nothing else has changed much. The tank doesn’t seem to respond to water changes (clearity wise) and seems to be untouchable by the UV. Does anyone have any clue how I could clear things up. I’m scared that if it doesn’t start to improve soon I’ll lose coral due to not enough light and so the tank can get some nitrates and phosphates for them.